Do you remember?

Just as harvest was beginning we went back to bottling - just the wine for sparkling was left for this bottling cycle.  We had added the sugar back in August (remember this is a crucial step in sparkling winemaking because the yeast need something to eat in order for the second bubble-producing fermentation to occur) and were waiting for the yeast. Once we added the yeast, we inoculated by adding a bit of wine to the right amount of yeast to get things going. We let it sit overnight and then for another full day before we added it to the tank and mixed it into the wine. Then we were ready to bottle - first the Chardonnay for Blanc de Blanc, and then the Pinot Noir for Brut Rose. This time bottling was a little different since instead of using corks we use metal caps. This closure ensures a tight seal so the wine can undergo the second fermentation in the bottle without losing any of the carbon dioxide (or exploding/leaking). A team of 5 of us carefully ran the bottles through the line and the capper, and then arranged the bottles in horizontal stacks in wooden bins. The bottles will stay like this for about 2 and a half years. The actual fermentation will only take a couple of weeks, but then the wine will sit on the dead yeast cells, or lees, for an extended period of time. (In French this position is called en tirage.) The contact with the lees actually contributes to the classic Champagne-like flavors that are so desired in a sparkling wine - toasty, biscuity, brioche characteristics.

The Chardonnay Blanc de Blanc is in the classic green Champagne bottle:

The Pinot Noir Brut Rose looks so pretty in its clear bottle: