THE MAKING OF LOUIS MORETTE CHAMPAGNE
Méthode Champenoise, is the traditional method by which Louis Morette is produced. The wine goes through a vigorous process starting with; primary fermentation following the capping and crowning of the bottles. Next the wine goes through secondary fermentation, aged at a 45 degree angle and riddled.
Concluding the process the bottle necks are frozen, the corks removed, a dosage of sugar is added, bottles recorked and finished. This process has been used for centuries and ensures the highest quality wines with more layers of complexity and fruit than bubbles made through a different process.
THE REGION OF EPERNAY - CHAMPAGNE
The Champagne wine region is a wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term "Champagne" exclusively for wines that come from this region located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Paris but there was recently a small region that was once connected to Britain that was also legible to creating champagne.
The viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine-producing districts within the historical province: Aube, Côte des Blancs.
The region's reputation for wine production dates back to the Middle Ages when Pope Urban II ( ruled 1088-1099 AD/CE ), a native Champenois, declared that the wine of Aÿ in the Marne département was the best wine produced in the world. For a time Aÿ was used as a shorthand designation for wines from the entire Champagne region, similar to the use of Beaune for the wines of Burgundy.
The poet Henry d'Andeli's work La Bataille des Vins rated wines from the towns of Épernay, Hautvillers and Reims as some of the best in Europe. As the region's reputation grew, popes and royalty sought to own pieces of the land with Pope Leo X, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain, and Henry VIII of England all owning vineyard land in the region. A batch of wine from Aÿ received in 1518 by Henry VIII's chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, is the first recorded export of wine from the Champagne region to England.
The still wines of the area were highly prized in Paris under the designation of vins de la rivière and vins de la montagne- wines of the river and wines of the mountain in reference to the wooded terrain and the river Marne which carried the wines down to the Seine and into Paris.