Pommery is now one of the top Champagne houses, producing over 500,000 cases of Champagne a year.
This is the front gate
Some shots of the Champagne house buildings.
Part of the package with the hotel where we were staying included a tour of Champagne Pommery. However when we turned up we were booked on a French language tour - Doh!!!
However we were able to rebook for the following day - for an English Tour.
Whilst waiting for the tour we had a look around the waiting area, which had lots of info about the history of Champagne and Champagne Pommery in particular.
This is the Le Grande Foudre.
After the Champagne is bottled is cellared in chalk caves that date back to Roman times. The caves keep the wine at the right temperature whilst it ages.
To get to the caves you have to go down the 116 steps into the cellars.
At the bottom
Madame Louise Pommery built the Vranken Pommery estate in 1868. A patron of the arts, she commissioned murals of people making and drinking Champagne, and had them carved into the chalk cellars of her wine estate.
The bottles were originally transported along the ceiling in the baskets you can see in the top right and left of the photo below.
Bottles are stored in various chambers. each major chamber is named after a city where Pommery is sold, along with date (year) it was first sold there.
Pommery do 6 different size bottles. These are the 9 litre bottles
The bottles can sit for many years depending on the type of Champagne.
Once the champagne has completed its extended lees ageing and is ready to be bottled it will go through a process known as “remuage”. This procedure is aimed at loosening the dead yeast cells and sediment that has formed at the bottom of the bottle, and slowly moving it towards the neck of the bottle which it will be removed or disgorged. This process must be done methodically and over time so as not to disrupt the champagne in bottle. Remuage can either be done by hand, by slowly turning the bottle a bit every day till it is vertically upside down, or done automatically by machine. By hand the process can take 2 months, by machine or gyro-palette the entire process can be accomplished in about 1 week. (mumulesvignes.com/)
Pommery do the smaller bottles , up to 750ml by machine. The larger bottles are still done by hand.
Every year some bottles are stored (I can't remember why). The old ones are no longer drinkable as Champagne only lasts about 13 years.
After the tour it's back up the stairs for a tasting
More Barrels
Only one or two glasses though
Here's the sizes of the bottles
And of course you exit through the gift shop
And then a long walk down the driveway (that's the cathedral in the distance) to jump into the car and head to Paris
No comments:
Post a Comment