On Wednesday morning (9 October) I went to see Philippe Brun who runs the press at his family’s business (Roger Brun) in Aÿ. As well as processing his own grapes for a fine range of Pinot Noir based champagnes under the Roger Brun label, Philippe runs a service for several top négociants, some of whom he also supplies with grapes, plus numerous small growers. It is his comments you can hear on the video. Also note that for his own grapes he uses not the large 40 kilos baskets but smaller 20 kilo versions because he wants to limit the likelihood of grapes being damaged and the risk they may start to ferment before they are tipped into the press. He also has a pneumatic press on the same site, but we look at how the 4,000 kilo Coquard press is run and also show the second pressing in the film.
Second Video: