Merry Christmas.

We wish you a Merry Christmas, bubbly and happy. For this special occasion, we are very happy to offer you the new label of our cuvée "Selection of plots".

Frost.

-5 to -6°C, this is the temperature of these recent mornings. To avaoid damaging the branchs and wood made fragile by rthe cold, we stoped pruning and can devote us to end-of-year shippment.

"Le Point" Magazine

Still a very good review and excellent feedback fo our vintage Carte Or 2006 and the Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut 2008 in the folder "Special Champagne" of the French national magazine "Le Point"

Deer in the snow.

The snow felt in large flakes when we had to go to validate the printing of our new labels for the "Selection of Plots" cuvée (a real scoop which we'll tell you more soon). On the way back, Marie-Noëlle was attracted by a brown shape in the middle of the vineyards. It was a deer that was also enjoying the beauty of the lanscapes.

Pruning.

Last monday we started the new season of pruning. It will last till late march.

Why starting so late ? Just because the sap of the vine is moving from the branch to the roots, where it will be stocked. If we prune too early, all the sap will not have time to move down and the vine should loose some pricious reserve. So, every year, we wait for the end of automn to start pruning, it help vine to support winter and to make the start easier in sping.

The goals of pruning are :

-Selecting the best branches to carry the grapes.

-Avoiding to have too much vegetation on the same area, by cutting branches and unfertile buds.

-Regulating the quantity of grapes and so the dilution of quality.

-Preparing the harvest of next year but also the only of the year after next year.

-Cuting old branches to have so young ones.

Ratafia

We talked to you about our ratafia a few months ago when we bottled it. It's now ready to be tasted.

The ratafia, it's must (grape juice) taken during pressing (at the end of the cuvée in our case) that is mutated with alcohol. This is to say that we stop the alcoholic fermentation (transformation of the contained sugars in the juice into alcohol) by addition of alcohol (secret) to reach 18 degrees. At this point, the sugars in the juice will not turn in alcohol and stay as "natural sugar taste".

During the 2009 harvest, we selected Pinot Noir and Chardonnay juice that we aged in wood barel for a half and the other half in glass canisters.

Now, we offer a blend of 50% Pinot Noir aged in glass canisters and 50% Chardonnay aged in oak barrels.

Have a nice tasting...

Tasting notes on an American and Belgium website.

The internet website named Champagnifique.be, who is made by a team of sommeliers and champagne lovers from Belgium and the United States just taste our cuvées carte Or vintage 2006, Grand Cru blend vintage 2006 and Rosé.


http://www.champagnifique.be/wordpress/?cat=665

The comments are good, we can say very good. Thank you Ed and Michiel to like our Champagne.

Oak barrel from the forest of Verzy.

We gave few evidence in recent weekks. It's today official, a magnificent oak barrel comes to take place in our winery.

Selected when he was still "standing  on it's roots" by Jérome Viart from the Tonnellerie Artisanale de Champagne (the only one on the Champagne Area) this oak comes from the forest of Verzy. In love with terroir, we couldn't pass up such a nice opportunity. Imagine that the tree we used to manufacture our barrel grow on the same terroir as our vines, the terroir our familly in living one since so many generations. The loop is closed.

After more than 36 months of drying, the "merrains" were shapped in "douelle" and put together loke a nice skirt. We asked for a soft and slow heating (180°C for 1h30) in order to cook the wod in depth but also gently so that the aromas will be delicate and subtile.Once heated, the "douelles" have been bent and rimmed to give birth to a beautiful barrel.

The laser marking finishes the work and pays tribute to the fisrt generations of the Champagne Henriet Bazin which already used such barrel in the past.

See you soon for the next step.

First frost.

It's sunday the 28th of october 2012 et we just change our clock's to be in the winter time. To confirm that we are now in the cold season, it frost this night.

Les leaves will not be attachet for a long time. The cold temperatures is going to fragilyse the connexion beetween the leaves and the branch. A light wind will be enough to detach them.

Carte Or - Vntage 1998

A lucky man, located on an other continent, is soon going to receive these 2 bottles. they just come from our secret "vinotheque". Carte Or vintage 1998. 60% Pinot Noir et 40% Chardonnay, Dosage de 2gr/l. We also found the old labels from this period.

Starling : the last harvesters.

Every year, we have the pleasure to admire the air show of starlins that come to steal grapes from clusters of the second génération, or from those forgotten during the harvest.

The show is superb ! Thousands of them, grouped as dark clouds, evolving in a perpetual choreography. Located on a field not far from the vineyards, they move in a long processon to clusters, tear off a fruit in very quickly, then go back to eat. The movement is almost endless.

Their pilots skills are very high, because, even if they fly every directions, and despite thei large number, thei never strike.

Tom, from Danemark.

Tom just leave after spending times with us. Tom is our importer for the Danish market, but it's also a friend with the one we have pleasure to talk about vines, wines and so mny other things.

He stays at home for an evening and a night and taste the nex Extra Brut cuvée with Marie-Noëlle and to tell us that the Champagne Henriet Bazin is selected by the sommelier of the great hotel Bella Sky in Copenhagen. Thank you very much Tom.

Bella Sky : 23 floors and 812 rooms.

Guess what it is ?

It ttook 4 years beetwen the cutting down and the delivery, with at least 36 moth of drying and month of traditionnal art working.

To be continued soon...

Almost ready for Christmas in Illinois.

We just receive the back labels to stick on the bottles of champagne Henriet Bazin for Chicago in Illinois (United States)

Wine shops and restaurants will soon be abble to taste our cuvées :

Selection : Blend of 50% Chardonnay from Villers-Marmery, premier Cru, Montagne de Reims and 50% of Pinot Noir from Verzy and Verzenay, Grand Cru, Montagne de Reims. 70% oft he harvest 2007 and 30% of reserve wine aged with the solera method, started in 1968.

-Blanc de Blancs - Marie-Amélie 2006 : 100% Chardonnay Vintage2006from old plots of vines  (more than 50 years old) on the vineyards of Villers Marmery Premier Cru, Montagne de Reims.

-Carte Or Millésime 2006 :The oldest cuvée of our estate, created in 1890.  Blended with 40% of Chadronnay Premier Cru de Villers-Marmery and 60% Pinot Noir Grand Cru de Verzy et Verzenay Montagne de Reims. Harvest 2006.

3rd day of harvest.

The dat start with the harvest of the Chardonnay of the plots that surround our house, then the harvest keep going in the terroir of Villers-Marmery.

Then, is the middle of the afternoon, rain start to fall, and waste our pleasure.

2nd day of Harvest.

The souvenir of a very nice sunrise on the vineyard of Villers-Marmery. It's 7:30 and 5°C but, the view is so beautiful !

For the rest of the day, Chardionnay are very nice despite som places with Mildew and oidium. The grappes are cutted and left on the soil.

1st day of Harvest.

At Champagne Henriet Bazin, harvest just started this morning. The weather is nice, but the wind is blowing from the north, and the temperatures are decreasing. It was only 7°C at 7h00 am. A cold biggining.

Despite the hard season in term of climatic conditions, the quality of the grapes is perfect. I'm only talking about the grapes that we collect, not the ones affected by mildiew or oidium. But the sound grappes are very nice, pêrfectly mature, without rotten fruits. The buckets are very nice.

But, as we were prepared to, the quantity are low compared to the last years.

Our fisrt presing machine has been loded at noon.

Mantis in the vines.

 Nature often offer nice surprises. It happens the day before yesterday when we came back home. passing along the vines, i saw this very nice praying mantis jumping on a leaf of Chardonnay...you can imagine that run to catch my camera and shot the beauty.

Give me a sign !

Climbing on a grape of Chardonnay. As you can se, it will need a few days more to be mature.

Harvest within 10 days.

The Harvest  will stard within 10 days at Champagne Henriet Bazin.

Our villages have created a network of control of maturity to provide accuraute dates of maturation for the harvest start.

The last samples and analysus were made last thursday an,d the results are :

Chardonnay from Villers Marmery will be picked-up from the 18th of September

Pinot Noirs from verzy and Verzenay will be receive their first shot of cisors on the 19th of September.

We are ready !

See you soon !

Ripening...again.

We spent 2 weeks on holiday, but vines kept working. Now, all the grain are blacks for the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and are light green for the Chardonnay.

As you can see on this comparative picture, grappes are now heavier because their haverage weight is increasing as the level of suggar is rising.

Harvest will come soon...

Mildew on the grappes.

Since the time taht we are talking about it, here is finally, wth no doubt, the devastating effects of mildew on our grapes.Part of the grape don't have sap and the affected grapes dry and fall.

The ripening keep going.

Withe the sun and heat, ripening keep going. More and more fruits are turning dark et the grapes of Pinot Noir are starting to take their final color.

Hare on the terrace.

Last week it was an Hedgehog. Today it's a young Hare who came to visit us on the terrace. Our mouvements did'n't afraid it but the noise of the camera when i shot the picture did, even if I was inside with all the doors and windows closed !

The Ripening.

A few grains begin to change color under the action of the sun. We call this phase of the cycle of the evolution of the grape : The Ripening.

Pinot Noir are turning red.

Sugars are now starting to build up in the grape and causes a fall in organic acids. The grape is now at its final size.

The new color also marked the appearence of the phenolic compounds that are tannins :

-Anthocyanins are going to give the red color to the skin.

-Flavones make grain pale green, slightly transparent.

Young Hedgehog.

It seemed to me I have heard noise in the vine at the end of the day, but we had so much rabbits, hares and birds that surround us, I was not so much interested. And then, i saw this young hedgehog close to the terrasse looking for some worm or inscetes.

Dress code : Green with yellow polka spots.

The summer trend is green with yellow polka spots in our vineyards. If contamination of the leaves is real, we are plesed that the much drier and hot weather of the recent weeks allowed to limit the development of mildew. Te leaves are much affected, grappes have been largely spared. The Chardonnay of Villers-Marmery are doing very well, and the counting shows a little more affected grappes in the plots of Pinot Noir of Verzy and Verzenay...But the proportion is perfectly acceptable. Phew !

Lace of the Writter.

It is called "The Writter" or the "Gribouri", but his real name is the Eumolpe (Bromius Obscursus). It is an insect whith a close appearance of the scarab beetle. He is dark black and mesure 5 or 6 cm long. It appear from the end of april and eat the vine leaves by cutting them into small strips with its mandibles. These cuts are looking like letters and font. It's the reason why its nickname is "the Writter". It can also bite the berries and buds.

Herbaceous growth

The sun (finaly) of these few days, coupled with the large reserves of water contained in the soil have inflatted our berries. Clusters are still green and so they also came have the benefits from photosynthesis.

despite this nice and fast évolution, nature does not catch up time lost because of the lack of sun and heat of the last 8 weeks. Harvest is announced with at least 1 week on delay from the average dates.

Tasting comments of our Blanc de Noirs.

We have just been informed that our Blanc de Noirs was rated by two great sommeliers and champagne lovers on the more and more popular webesite "Champagnifique". (www.champagnifique.be)

The comment is very nice and we achieve the score of 91/100 with a potential score of 93/100... The cuvée is one of the best.

http://www.champagnifique.be/wordpress/?cat=665

We are proud and honored  to obtain such a very good score on such a serious website.

Thank you Ed Hodson and Michiel Demarey.

From Australia...by car.

We just had the pleasure an d the honor to welcome Avril & Ray, from Australia. They are crossing the world in their pick-up truck modified in a camping car.

They arrived in South Africa to cross African continent by the West side.
Then cross Gibraltar to reach Europe.
Spain, France and Belgium to join England and spend few days for the Olympic Games.

Already 11 month passed to travel and still 13 to go back by the East side of Europe and Africa.

Bonne route.

Summer ploughing.

Heat and rain this summer do not only promote fungal diseases, herbs also love humid soil. They proliferate and grow very quickly. Such a year, it's better to avoid them to extand in the vines.

In this case, it's our good ol "Bob" who returned to action. "Bob", it's the name of the tractor built in 1979 by the "Bobard" company on which whe installed the ploughs. It's lightweight and equipped with low tread tires. It's perfect to take care ofthe soil and avoid compacting it after being aeretad and opened.

Between the front and rear wheels, a traditional system, with "V" blades opens the soil in the middle of the road of vine.

 

On the sides, a flat blade articulated and equipped with a reminder spring go under the vines and collapse when it come in contact with the cep.

 On the back, three claws open the soil again after the tractor goes..

With this system, the roots of the plants and herbs are no more in contact with the ground, and so they naturaly die..