WINEMAKING

Manual harvesting, restricting quantities and volumes pressed, separation of the juices from different parcels, fifteen months of "rest" between bottling and disgorging--the regional regulations for making champagne are rigourous. Rather than resenting these rules as a limit to his creativity, Pierre considers them as guarantees of the quality of his champagnes. He even takes them a step futher: if the year's yield is sufficiently abundant, the secondary juices from the press are systematically set aside, and his cuvées are aged on the lees significantly longer that the required fifteen months. He finds the freedom to express himself in other areas, for example in his blends, which he doesn't hesitate to alter from one year to the next, and in the use of different receptacles such as stainless steel or enameled steel for their neutrality, and barrels of oak or acacia for the character that they bring to the wine.