The art of Champagne
The Vine, a real art
The "vine spirit" at Baron Albert Champagnes
The vines impose a schedule demanding work on vine growers. Throughout seasons, we prepare and look after our vines so that they can give out their best at harvest time.
The Baron Albert Champagnes have a real "vine spirit" embodied
in a total respect of nature. We have developed and strengthened this
spirit through the centuries by passionately doing our work as vine-growers
in order to obtain the best from our land and vineyard.
This spirit is part of a program of integrated viticulture. The first
components in the fabrication of Champagne, our land and vines are our
heritage. In order to maintain this legacy, we have set up a program
of integrated viticulture around the whole vine growing cycle. Our strenghs are:
- Working on the lay-out of the plots before planting in order to better respect the soils and the land,
- grass growing between the rows of vines,
- feeding the soil and the vine as a complement to the natural soil elements,
- manual work on the vine (pruning, binding, dressing…) in order to limit the use of motorised equipment,
- maintenance of the vineyards with partial grassing in order to fight against erosion and to preserve the soil's bacteriological activity,
- protection of the vineyards with the use of products in compliance Environment and the vine-workers.
More than a philosophy, integrated viticulture is a commitment from Baron Albert Champagnes to better upkeep our lagacy (land, air and water) and that of our children.
Presentation of our vineyards
Located in Charly sur Marne and in six other villages of the Marne Valley,
our vineyards, covering 38 hectares (95 acres) are planted in the unique "terroir" of
the Marne Valley. The three Champagne grape varieties are planted: Chardonnay,
Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir.
These vineyards, with an average age of 31 years, provide each year a constant and exceptional quality of grapes.
The harvest, a crucial time in the life of the vine-grower
At Baron Albert Champagne, the ripening is monitored from the end of August. This monitoring enables us to set up a logical grape-picking schedule in order to pick the grapes at their optimum ripeness. In Champagne, all grapes are picked by hand.
All our grape-pickers obey strict rules in order to obtain the best grapes. This selection includes:
- Discarding grapes which don't meet the House exacting health standards,
- Discarding unripe grapes.
The harvest time is a wonderful period which lasts between two and three weeks.