41. Sparkling Wine Production Flashcards
ideal grapes (3)? challenges & climatic conditions?
in contrast to still wines grapes need to:
- low sugar - because the second fermentation (giving bubbles) usually adds another 1.2-1.3% abv, so dry base wine of 10-11%
- high acid - fresh style
- sufficiently ripe so no green herbaceous flavour
- challenge for non-cool climate because it means picking the grapes early (low sugar, high acid) but potentially unripe and without much flavour
harvest - hand? expensive vs cheap wine?
- usually hand-picked to keep whole bunches
- for cheap wine machine-harvesting makes sense, especially in warmer regions to be efficient before grapes accumulate too much sugar and lose acidity
pressing - how? why whole bunch?
- gentle pressing (restricted by EU legislation) - to minimize extraction of tannins and colour
- uncrushed whole bunches reduces contact between skin and juice
5 methods?
- traditional
- transfer
- tank
- Asti
- carbonation
traditional method - what’s extra? vs transfer method?
- 2nd fermentation bottle fermentation
- transfer method also has 2nd fermentation in bottle but is then put into a tank under pressure (avoid expensive riddling and disgorgement)
traditional - base wine - fermentation vessel? characteristic? maturation?
- stainless steel, sometimes oak
- dry, neutral
- may have MLF and/or oak
- blending and taking some “reserve wines” is important
traditional - blending - why important (3)?
- style: allow to keep house style if different varieties, vineyards or vintages are used
- balance: e.g. Chardonny (citrus) vs Pinot Noir (red fruit)
- complexity, e.g. aged reserve wines, kept in oak
traditional - liqueur de tirage - when? what? how to close bottle? why? alc? and?
- added to blend before bottling
- wine, sugar, yeast, yeast nutrients, clarifying agend
- bottle closed with crown cap including plastic cup insert
- bottles stored horizontally when second fermentation takes place in cool cellar,
- alcohol raises 1.2-1.3%
- creates bubbles
traditional - yeast autolysis - what? why?
- when 2nd fermentation complete yeast dies, sediments at lees and breaks down releasing chemical compounds over 4-10 years
- adds bread, biscuit, toasty notes
traditional - riddling - def? what? how - trad vs mod? how long?
- moving bottles from horizontal to vertical
- collect yeast sediment in plastic cup insert in crown cap?
- traditionally through pupitre by hand, taking up to 8 weeks
- today gyropalettes are used, holding 500 bottles, matter of days
traditional - disgorgement & corking - explain? dosage?
- freeze wine in the neck (upside down)
- turn bottle around
- remove cap seal (pushed by CO2)
- top wine with with liqueur d’expedition (wine&sugar)
- dosage: amount of sugar added through liqueur d’expedition
- no sugar: zero dosage or brut nature
- important blending…
traditional - bottle ageing - why? precise age?
- further few months
- allows liqueur d’expedition to integrate with wine
- knowing precise age of wine is difficult because most are not vintage-dated - possible to include disgorgement date
transfer method - difference? why? what? how to distinguish trad vs transfer?
- like traditional but without riddling and disgorgement
- less costly
- disgorged into tank under pressure
- yeast removed from tank by filtering, liqueur d’expedition added to tank, then new bottles filled
- often on labels: traditional method vs bottle-fermented
tank method - difference to trad/transfer? what grapes? advantages? quality? 2 fermentations?
- no bread, toast flavours - because no extended time on lees (yeast autolysis)
- well for aromatic varieties, e.g. Muscat, Riesling or fruity Proseccos
- cheaper, faster
- still high-quality sparkling wines can be made this way
- 1st: stainless steel to retain aromas, then no MLF/oak
- 2nd fermentation: in tank under pressure, then bottled under pressure
Asti method - characteristics of wine? difference? how? maturation?
- sweet, fruity sparkling
- no second fermentation
- fermentation in pressure resistant tanks, stopped at 7% alcohol through cooling
- years remove through filters under pressure
- no maturation but immediate sales
