Selecting the blends

The batches are separated according to the varieties and origins of the grapes.

The alcoholic fermentation is partly carried out in vats, while 15% of the wines are fermented in new, small-capacity oak barrels (220 litres).

Painstaking and expensive as this may be, the results are quite exceptional, judging by the quality of the wines. Each year, new barrels are bought with the long-term aim of extending this vinification method to almost 25% of the wines. No more, however, so as not to mark the taste of the wines too much.

Wood, yes, but used with care, like a cook using spices!

Stored in barrels and in vats, the must is then transformed into wine using selected yeast in the course of the fermentation process. This lasts about ten days. Next comes the malolactic fermentation stage, in which the malic acid is transformed into lactic acid. Finally, the wines are racked to be separated from the lees that have settled during fermentation, and they are then fined and filtered to clarify them.

It is now time to make the blend - the most important and most delicate stage in the elaboration of Champagne.
It is in the course of a collective tasting session in the presence of the house oenologist, James Darsonville, that the decision is taken as t James Darsonville, sont décidés the blends of the different cuvées and the reserve wines that are used to ensure the consistency of the Lenoble quality and style . These proportions are defined precisely and are kept secret by the firm.
The decision is also made as to whether to produce a vintage wine or not, depending on the quality and future potential of the wines tasted.

The wine can then be bottled from February onwards. Selected yeasts and the liqueur (sugar mixed with some of the wine) are then added to the blended wines.

Most of the bottles are sealed hermetically using a metal cap similar to the one on a beer bottle. It is this method that is the most widespread as it is the simplest and cheapest.
At AR Lenoble, however, we continue to use the age-old methods, sealing the bottles of the finest wines with a cork held in place by a staple. That is the case for the Cuvée Les Aventures.
Difficult and expensive as it is, since it is carried out by hand, this method is nonetheless incomparable when it comes to the quality of the wines.