Our family estate & our work

The work of Man at every moment

A family estate in the heart of an exceptional land

Family history

Alfred BAUDIN and Denis PONGNOT cultivated the respective vines of their parents at Cormoyeux in the 1900s. Their children, Gustave BAUDIN and Albert PONGNOT, took over the vineyards and started to produce and market champagne around 1960. Afterwards, Jean-Pierre BAUDIN and Hélène PONGONT (born BOUDE), set about consolidating and improving the vineyards. They expanded by buying more vines. They improved the quality of the vines by replanting the best plants that are much better adapted to our subsoil. They built modern buildings for processing the wines.

Creation of the Boude Baudin brand

It was in 1993 that Nathalie BAUDIN and José BOUDE merged the two estates, following in the family tradition, always caring about quality, a modern touch and with a respect for work with vines and wine.

New generation

Benjamin, the son of Nathalie and José, in turn reproduced the same essential processes of our fabulous craft to create the Champagne Boude Baudin, while bringing freshness and cultural modernity.

FROM VINE STOCK TO FLUTE, WE PRESENT OUR WORK

Pruning

As soon as the leaves fall, pruning can begin. We start each year by pruning the planted Meunier vines, the slowest growing of the four varieties of grape we cultivate. We prune the Meunier using the "Marne Valley” pruning system or "3-9-6", which corresponds to the number of buds left on each timber.

Later on, we prune the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Petit Meslier vines (a rare old grape variety found in Champagne which gives fine and fresh wines). These vines are pruned using the "chablis” system, a pruning system with a rachet (timber with 3 buds) at the stump, a stick and two extensions of 5-6 buds each.

Pruning extends from November until the end of March. There are two of us to prune the entire vineyard.

Tying

We use electrical binding pliers to attach the pruned timbers on the guide wires, which saves time. One person ties the vine as soon as the pruning team passes. This task takes around thirty days.

Disbudding

The date of this task varies each year depending on the growth of the vegetation. Generally, we start between the end of April and mid-May, for a period of 3 weeks. This work involves removing the non-fruiting buds (those that do not bear grapes). This will then limit vegetation, and therefore leaf clusters, which can cause disease outbreaks.

Growth stages

Like all plants, the vine begins to grow in the spring. It is only after a few leaves spread that it is possible to see the inflorescence. This will become a bunch of grapes after fruit setting. Later on, the seeds grow while changing colour. This is what we call veraison, or ripening. Then comes the harvest. Harvesting starts when the grape is at optimal maturity, i.e. a good balance between sugar richness and acidity.

Lifting – trellising

This takes place at the start of June; the summer temperatures allow the vine to grow by several centimetres each day. The young shoots have to be trained between metal wires hanging on the stakes. In order to keep up with the growth, we pass through each of our plots twice to raise the wires to the level of the stakes. This helps to reduce wind breakage and makes it easier for the tractor to pass. The tying that takes place after lifting involves separating the twigs from each other and keeping them straight between two wires. We separate each vine with a clip. Trellising ensures that grapes and leaves are not crowded to catch the maximum sunlight, thus enabling them to mature, and provides good aeration.

Trimming

Trimming, which can be manual or mechanical, helps to limit the vegetation on the top and sides of each row of vines. Typically, we perform three mechanical and one manual trimming operation, using a trimmer. The latter has the advantage of being able to clear foliage around the bunches, with the aim of avoiding disease.

Picking

Each year between the end of August and the start of October, the period of the grape harvest is both important and festive. Eight to ten days, where the vineyard is in a rush to bring in the year’s harvest in the best conditions. To do so, we are around thirty people, pickers, basket carriers, pressers and cooks, working towards one goal, crushing the most beautiful bunches of grapes.

Pressing

We use a traditional 2000 kg press. A press runs in four to five cycles and is divided into two parts. The first press, where we extract the cuvée, 10.25 hl and the second press where we extract the tail, 2.5 hl. Once all the must has run off, it is pumped into the settling vats in which it will remain for between 12 and 24 hours. Settling is the process of separating the must from the crop residues (pips, pedicels) by a process of sedimentation. The musts are then pumped to fermentation vats.

Riddling (“remuage”)

Once the wines are bottled, the bottles start a long resting period in the cellar of between 2 and 5 years for the unaged and 5 to 10 years for the vintages. Then we have to remove the cloudiness caused by yeasts of the foam setting in the bottle. This is known as riddling. This ancestral process consists in gradually drawing the sediment down into the neck of the bottle, from where it can be expelled.

Disgorgement

Disgorgement involves expelling the sediment from the bottle under pressure in order to make the wine completely clear. We are among the last in the Champagne region to carry out disgorgement on the fly, that is without freezing the sediment. Once the bottle is opened, a mixture of sugar syrup and wine (liqueur) is added to create bruts, demi-sec and brut nature champagnes. In this case, the liqueur is replaced by champagne. The bottles are then corked and muzzled and finally washed.

Foil wrapping

After being riddled, disgorged, washed and dried, we adorn our bottles with their most beautiful finery. This is the last step before they shipping. We put on a foil cap that covers the cork and its wire cage or ‘muselet’. A label and sometimes a back label is affixed to the body of the bottle, which includes the mandatory particulars and information and then it is put into the case.

Storage and tasting

In order to preserve the quality of the champagne while it is being stored, it is important to keep it away from light and at the most constant temperature possible (avoid sharp variations).

Shelf life varies, but it is important to know that when each of our bottles is marketed, it is ready to be tasted. The champagnes are matured in our cellars on lees. Keeping the bottles at home for several years thinking that the champagne will improve is not of any benefit.

The champagne is served chilled but not iced, at a temperature of 7°C to 10°C. Place your bottle in the refrigerator for at least three hours before consumption. If you are short of time, you may prefer a champagne bucket filled with half water and ice. As the water is a great conductor it takes just 15 minutes for the champagne to reach the right temperature.

A little philosophy...

It is a lot of work, involving a long process between our grapes off the vine and your champagne flute, but it is always with the same passion that we strive to produce quality wines, to give your taste buds the greatest of pleasure.