Riddling/Disgorging

After tirage the bottles begin the riddling process to consolidate and remove the lees. The bottles are placed in special racks that hold the bottles at a 45 degree angle with the neck pointed down. Every few days the bottles are turned lightly and the angle is increased which forces the sediment to be pushed down into the neck of the bottle. Within 8 weeks, the bottle is pointed straight down and all the sediment is in the neck of the bottle.

The next step is removing the sediment from the bottle. In this disgorgement process the goal is to remove all the lees from the neck without losing a lot of liquid.  Disgorging is a very mechanical and automated process now, which is accomplished by freezing a small amount of the wine in the neck of the bottle then removing the cap. The ice plug shoots out containing the unwanted sediment (lees).

Once disgorging is complete the bottle goes into dosage. This is where any lost liquid is replaced with the base wine and sugar can be added to balance the acidity level if desired by the producer/winemaker.

Finally, the bottles get corks and wire hoods. In most cases the finished bottles will rest up to one year in order to marry the wine and the dosage.  The bubbles will stabilize before being labeled and shipped out to consumers and retailers.