Bailly Lapierre : a genuine, Crémant,

Our Crémants combineauthenticated the elegance of the outlook of the winegrowerorigin as he oversees the • Grape varieties:you said? grape varieties that have made Burgundy and slow transformation of the fruit of his vines. Pinot Noir, Gamay (reds), Chardonnay, Aligoté (whites). Champagne famous with the delicate finesse of Each one in the sequence of steps that brings • Harvesting: • I • LLUST OCK the perfect sparkle. Our wines benefit from an forth Crémant from the grapes is the object of Hand-picked grapes transported in open-sided crates RIOU BEDR S BUBBLE T OF THE appellation d’origine contrôlée –A.O.C.– which the utmost care... of 45kgs to prevent any damage to the berries. S FROM THE HEAR attests to their outstanding level of quality, • Yield of must: quality confirmed by the large number of awards In this small winegrowing area, Juice obtained on the basis of 100 litres from 150kgs of grapes. won and ever-growing international recognition. where the geology of the soil hails from • Vinification : Just as for still wines, it is the quality of the Kimmeridgian times and the landscape The selected musts, conveyed to the fermenting tanks, grapes and, thus, the quality of the work done is shaped to the pattern of vineyards are transformed into the base wines (still wine: with in the vineyards which underpin the ultimate and cherry trees, our greatest pride no bubbles) which are then blended. of a turn every 6 hours for 3 days, at the same time Bailly, our village here quality of Bailly-Lapierre’s Crémants. Our goal is in making sparkling wines from • Tirage : progressively righting the bottles. By the end of a week, a in Burgundy, is the birthplace is to retain in the very bottle the inspirational the inimitable Pinot Noir grape. The base wines are filtered prior to bottling, which is deposit will have settled in the bidule under the capsule. of the AOC Crémant de Bourgogne. carried out after the addition of the liqueur de tirage • Dégorgement : Since 1972, in an underground quarry (sugar and yeast). At this time, closure is with a bidule, The neck of the bottle, immersed in glycerol at -25°C, providing unique natural conditions, a hollow stopper fixed just under the capsule. freezes and the deposit and the bidule are held in the we have produced sparkling wines • Maturing on racks: lump of ice that forms. When the capsule is undone, the that belong to a world of enchantment. The bottles are placed on special racks to obtain the pressure in the bottle expels the ice cube along with the They come from superb noble grapes, sparkling mousse : the sugar and yeast added to the bidule and its sediment. The bottle is then topped up with hand-harvested then vinified still wine renews fermentation, which takes place liqueur d’expédition, the wine reserved for the purpose and patiently matured. in the bottle and must by law last a minimum of 9 which makes the last taste adjustment (demi-sec, extra- Our wines, sprung from the bedrock months. At Bailly it goes on for 16-18 months and dry, brut or extra-brut), and its final cork fitted. With its yet finely chiselled, gives birth to the sparkle. The bubbles are entirely accessories and label in place, the bottle is ready for sale. carry you away with their intense, natural, with no addition of gas, the resulting pressure The very long period between the grapes arriving in the truly mineral freshness... reaching some 6 bars. winery and the final sale explains the enormous number • Remuage : of bottles –some 5 million– that are kept in the cellars. The added yeast forms a sediment that must be removed. • Two-stage certification by the INAO (Institut To do this, the bottles are arranged upside down in National de l’Origine et de la Qualité) :

special bins placed on a rotating base which gives 1/8 first, base wines, then finished wines off the racks. certified FSC. paper, - Printed on recycled Stéphane Perche Maynard, : Olivier We stand here as a symbol astride the historic border between the lands of QUAI DE L’ - HAMEAU DE BAILLY SPECIAL ADVICE B.P. 3 - 89530 SAINT-BRIS-LE-VINEUX - • Remember to bring some warm clothing as the the Counts of Champagne TEL. +33 (0)3 86 53 77 77 deep cellars are quite cool FAX +33 (0)3 86 53 80 94 • Do not touch the bottles and the Duchy of Burgundy.

WWW.BAILLY-LAPIERRE.FR • Keep children well away from the stacked bottles! - Photos www.madeinmouse.com Discover our cellars on an enchanted visit where you will feel true admiration for the magnificent sculptures carved out of the rock as you wend your way between the bottles stacked high. Find out all about making our Crémants From 1993 to 2002, Caves BaillySculpture Lapierre • L’Imagier (The Image-maker), the pressure from the swelling wedges, the slab split free. The stone is easily worked when it and how best to taste them. You will held an annual sculpture exhibition Robert Motti A relief representing the hill above Bailly and the contains its “quarry water” but as it dries out discover so much to marvel at as you move during which visitors voted to designate cellar entrance. On the other side, in the round, a a chemical reaction takes place, forming a deep into this world of enchantment. the best work of art. The award-winning sculptor was then commissioned by Caves sculptor puts the finishing touches on a statue. protective calcified coating. Bailly Lapierre to produce a work carved • La Crémantaise (The Lady of the Crémant), • La Porte de la Paix (The Door to Peace), directly into the rock. Jean-Pascal et Séverine Najean Michel Yseboodt The first painted sculpture in our cellars. Through its wall drawings with contemporary • La Déesse du ban des imagiers (The designs, this door speaks of art and beauty and Goddess of the Sculptors’ Stone), Yves Varanguin at the same time, by its couple symbolising all A little sur-Seine. Thus the site at Bailly was born. … to Crémants In the Middle Ages, sculptors were known as mankind, it is an encouragement to peace. The Bailly was recognised for its stone which was Our history is the story of how here in the “image-makers”. Top quality stone free of defects vine plant and the barrel conjure up wine and first extracted in open quarries, as is clearly Auxerrois, a region in the northern part of was reserved specially for them. the convivial pleasures we enjoy as we share a From quarry… evidenced by the rock faces now hidden by delicious wine. history winegrowing Burgundy, over generations we During the Jurassic period 250 million years vegetation. But the fate of quarrying at Bailly men and women have shaped the land on ago, the slow breaking-up of the Pangaean was truly sealed when, in the Middle Ages, which our vineyards grow. It is this terroir land mass gave rise to the Tethys Sea. in 1186, Pontigny Abbey acquired the site: –hard yet bountiful, famed for its quality from Present-day France was completely under Bailly would supply the stone for some of time immemorial– that binds us together. water; a few islands emerged, tropical in the greatest works in France’s architectural In 1972, together with others, we combined type. The landscape would have been like heritage –the Pantheon, Notre-Dame de our efforts to set up a project to create an the Caribbean as we know it: an island (the Paris, Chartres Cathedral… The changeover appellation d’origine contrôlée –A.O.C.– Morvan in central France), a coral barrier to underground extraction probably occurred “Crémant de Bourgogne”. In 1975, a statute reef (Mailly-le-Château and Arcy-sur-Cure) towards the end of the medieval period or the officially recognised our wine : it became • Bacchus, and a shallow lagoon (Saint-Bris) forming a beginning of Rennaissance, until quarrying France’s first Crémant appellation (along Daniel Cornillon habitat for shellfish and ichthyosaurs. Slow finally ceased altogether at the beginning with that of the Loire Valley winegrowers). The Roman god of wine and his motto: In vino veritas. sedimentation resulted in the build-up of of the 20th century. At this point, the great limestone deposits that erosion later extraordinary natural conditions so suited to • Le Pierreux (The Stone Cutter), cut away to form the Yonne valley and the special conservation infused in the quarries Yves Varanguin • Le Pressoir d’Henri (Henri’s Wine Press), limestone outcrops, more or less deep, that a new life: mushroom farming first (1927-70), The quarrymen, or stone cutters, cut large blocks Joël Berthelot run from Courson-les-Carrières to Châtillon- then wine cellars from 1972 onwards. • Le Coche d’eau (The Riverboat), from the rock face and afterwards cut each block The sculptor’s father with an old-style screw press. Yves Varanguin into slabs. First, they chipped a deep furrow all In earlier days, this boat plied between round the outside of the block by hurling a pointed • La Salle des Banquets (The Banqueting Hall) The cellars, deep in the Tonnerre bedrock, and Paris. It took 4 days to reach the capital lance at its sides. Then they knocked wooden Nowadays, banquets are no longer held here form a place of enchantment, a magical environment ideal downstream whereas 5 to 6 days were needed for wedges into the furrow between the back of the but exhibitions, craft shows and other similar for the careful ageing of Bailly Lapierre Crémants. a horse, plodding along the towpath, to haul the future slab and the block and, to prise the slab events, notably the Christmas Market. vessel back up against the current. free, soaked the wedges. Several hours later, under