Making Champagne - Riddling and Dosage

Once the champagne is finished its autolytic aging, 15 months minimum for non vintage and 36 month minimum for vintage wines, the bottles may be prepared for shipping and sale.

While the wine is in the autolytic state, it can live forever. it is sealed with a crown cap, and the resulting 6 atmospheres of pressure from the secondary fermentation have created an anaerobic environment. the wine is preserved perfectly.

The gas is distributed in the liquid, but the lees are settled to the side and need to be removed before sale.

This process is called Riddling, or Remuage, and takes about a month if done by hand. The bottles, still in the A-frame racks in the sur latte position, are grasped one by one, given a quarter turn, and a slight jar when placed back in the same spot on the rack. This is done twice a day for the month, and the effect is to loosen the lees from the side of the bottle and move them down towards the neck. the bottles are also tipped so that by the end of the month, the necks are lower than before.

The bottles are then ready for disgorgement. The bottle necks are submerged in a brine so that the plug or puck of yeast freezes, and then when the bottle is turned upright, and the crown cap removed, the sediment pops right out.

Now the bottles are left not quite full, and at this time they are topped off with the Liquer d'Expedition, which is made up of more wine and some sugar, known as the dosage. the amount of sugar is what gives champagne its different styles.

The bottles are sealed with the traditional composite cork and wire bail system, and labeled, ready for sale.

Once the crown cap is removed, the wine begins a slow but steady death and loss of gas. Not to say it will undrinkable, but it will never be the same it was in autolysis.

Bollanger makes a Champagne called RD, which stands for recently disgorged, and they stamp each bottle with a date of disgorgement.