The Champagne house Joseph Desruets, passes on its know-how through the generations. From the cultivation of the vine in organic farming to the production of champagne, the House makes its work bear fruit with passion and tenacity. The last generation continues to press its grapes in an ancestral way using indigenous yeasts from our grapes and from the environment of our press used by our ancestors to give unique flavors to our wines.
To fully understand this peculiarity, we must go back to the stages of wine making in champagne. After pressing, the musts are placed in a vat where they will successively undergo two fermentations. Over a period of 2 to 3 weeks.
The first fermentation of Champagne wines is alcoholic fermentation which transforms the must into wine. After alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation converts malic acid into lactic acid. It evolves the flavors of the wine towards softer, more ripe and slightly milky aromas. Once these fermentations are completed, the wine is left to stand for a few months. At this stage it is called “clear wine”.
The role of indigenous yeasts
Indigenous yeasts come into play during the first alcoholic fermentation. When the winemaker uses the yeasts naturally present in the grape berries; more precisely on the bloom (thin waxy layer covering the skin of the berry); it is said to work with indigenous yeasts. Therefore, they are called indigenous when they come from the natural environment and have not been added to grape juice after controlled reproduction. In the case of a selection of yeast strain and multiplication thereof, one then speaks of selected yeasts.
Indigenious yeasts : feature of our champagnes
All of our wines will have spontaneous fermentation on our domain because no selected yeast will be added. Consequently, this particularity allows the identity of our terroir to be revealed and thus to perpetuate the atypical taste of Desruets champagnes.
