ANATOLY IVANOV / PHOTOGRAPHY
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Ruinart champagne cellars

Founded in 1729, the House of Ruinart is the oldest champagne producer in the Champagne region, France.<br /><br />The uniqueness and originality of the Ruinart style defends and portrays the sheer perfection of the chardonnay; combining finesse and complexity, this grape variety is the most authentic, but also the most demanding. The Ruinart champagnes are exemplary and each component of the range portrays the subtlety and versatility of champagne wines.<br /><br />Gallo-Roman “crayères” or chalk pits are used by Ruinart as cellars. The sugar and the yeast react together to provoke a second fermentation, giving off as a by-product carbon dioxide bubbles. The sediment that forms as a result of this alcoholic fermentation eventually falls to lie on the underside of the bottle.<br /><br />The bottles are moved from their horizontal position and put into pupitres, racks with holes for bottle necks, which are gradually tilted to take the bottles from nearly horizontal to nearly vertical upside-down. Each time this is done by dexterously skilled workers called remuers (“shakers”), the bottles are also given a little twist, which encourages the passage of the sediment from the underside of the bottle to the cork.