"I have been professionally harvesting grapes for over 30 years; champenoise-style wine making grapes for 20 years. The ability of winemakers at home to produce sparkling wines of exceptional quality has kept my champenoise campaign alive. My first grape for sparkling wine came from a vineyard near Santa Maria, California, in 1981. High acid and low pH marked these grapes. They produced incredibly fine champenoise style wine that lasted on the lees for over 16 years. Clean grapes, good acid, a pH that allows malolactic fermentations, and varietal character are characteristics I look for in champenoise grapes.

Generally it is best to blend vintages to balance acid and sugar. You want to limit your alcohol production to about 10% - 11.4% alcohol. This level of alcohol requires brix below 20.5°, and ideally below 19.5° brix. Juices may be combined prior to fermentation or wine may be combined after fermentation to arrive at your desired cuveé. If you are using juice / wine with a pH of less than 3.15, and have another juice(s) with over 3.15 pH, and have fermented the juices separately, start the malolactic fermentation with the higher pH juice first. Once the malolactic fermentation is active, over a matter of a few weeks, gradually blend in the lower pH wine. It is difficult to initiate malolactic fermentation in wines under a pH of 3.2, and very difficult under a pH of 3.1. Wyeast Labs does have a culture of malolactic bacteria that can ferment at low pH.
Happy bubbling!"

- Peter Brehm

2009 Grape Inspection and Recommendations for Wine

The White Salmon Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were harvested absolutely clean for Champenoise production. No SO2 was added at pressing and should NOT be added until completion of Malolactic fermentation.

Acid, brix and sugar are all in extremely good range for quality sparkly. Ferment at 55°F or cooler for a steady, slow fermentation. Use DV10 yeast, use a good portion and be careful to rehydrate, build a good starter and add to juice with less than 10°F temperature variation between juice and starter. Add good yeast nutrient once fermentation starts and at 14° - 12° brix (always before 12°). Retain light lees at end of sugar ferment after racking. Add malolactic culture and adjust temperature to about 70°F. At the end of malolactic fermentation, taste the wine for acid addition and test the pH of the wine. The wine should have a very slight acid edge, and I suspect that it may require a bit of tartaric acid addition. Add SO2 as soon as ML is completed, the amount to add is pH dependent. I suspect about 25 - 30 ppm, which would be approximately 1 gram of potassium metabisulpite per pail of juice. The wine must be cold stabilized and fined for protein removal before it can be prepared for its secondary bottle fermentation.

- Peter Brehm