Champagne holds its breath until the Saints de Glace (Ice Saints) are safely past (11, 12, 13 May), dreading a spring freeze that might destroy the future harvest’s fruitful buds.
Desuckering removes the non-fruitful buds (suckers or gourmands). Any unwanted growth is removed to optimise sugar concentration and encourage good sap flow.
The Champagne month by monthAll Champagne wines must spend at least 15 months aging in the bottle before release, rising to three years for vintage wines. In practice, the Champagne Houses cellar their wines for much longer: 2-3 years for non-vintage Champagne, and at least 4-10 years, if not more, for vintage Champagne.
Bruno Paillard comes from a long line of Champagne growers and brokers dating back to 1704. Hence his decision in 1981 to develop his own particular style of Champagne wines and establish his own Champagne House - one of the youngest of the Grandes Marques Champagne houses.
The Champagne Houses