Sparkling Wine Flashcards
Traditional Method
- Making the base wine
- dry base wine, natural flavour and high acidity
- large temperature controlled stainless steel vats
- or oak vats or barrels for some or all of the wine
MLF or oak maturation
Vineyard
Grape must be:
- lower sugar level
- high acidity to provide freshness
- flavour must be sufficiently ripe and avoid green herbaceous characters
Traditional Method
- blend
- keep the house style year to year
- improve the balance (chardonnay provide citrus flavour, finesse and longevity while pinot noir provide red fruit flavour, aromas and more body)
- achieve complexity (old reserves provide dried fruit flavour, wines matured in oak provide broader texture and spicy flavours.)
It is easy to achieve thes aims if the blenders have as many wines as possible at their disposal. So grapes are often fermented in many different small parcels giving multiple blending options.
Traditional Method
- second alcoholic fermentation
a small proportion of Liqueur de tirage is added to the blend. The bottle is closed with a crown cap that includes a plastic cup insert. The bottles are then stacked horizontally at a cool, constant temperature.
A slow fermentation takes a place and raise the alcohol by 1.2-1.3% abv, and the CO2 generated by the yeast dissolves into the wine creating the sparkle. This creates pressure in the bottle
Liqueur de tirage
a mixture of wine, sugar, yeast, yeast nutrients and a clarifying agent.
Traditional Method
- Yeast autolysis
The yeast die and form a sediment of lees in the bottle. Over a period of months the dead yeast cells starts to break down releasing chemical compounds into the wine
The compounds contribute to the flavour, adding toasty, bread or biscuit notes. Yeast Autolysis lasts for 4-5 year, or even 10 year. Wines spend longer on their lees develop a more pronounced yeast character. Once the autolysis is complete, keeping the lees in contact with the wine can maintain the wine’s freshness for years.
Traditional Method
Riddling - after maturation, the lees sediment is removed using riddling and disgorgement. Riddling involves moving the bottle very slowly from a horizontal to an inverted vertical position. The yeast sediment is gradually slides down the side of the bottle collecting in the plastic cup insert in the crown cap. Traditionally this was done by hand. The bottles were placed in a rack called a PUPITRE and then each day they were given a gentle shake and a twist and raised slightly closer to vertical. It is very labor intensive and can take up to 8 weeks.
Now the machine in use is a Gyropalette, a cage holding 500 bottles on a hydraulic arm, which is regularly rotated and inclined. This stimulates hand riddling but completes the job in a matter of days.
Traditional Method
Disgorgement - once riddling is complete, the neck of the upturned bottle is submerged into a very cold brine solution, which freezes the wine in the neck. The bottles then inverted into a normal upright position and the frozen wine holds the sediment in place, keeping the wine clear. The crown cap seal is removed and the pressure ejects the frozen wine taking the sediment and plastic insert with it.
The wine is topped up with Liqueur d’expedition (mix of wine and sugar) and then sealed with cork that is held secured by a wire cage. The whole process the mechanized to avoids loss of pressure and risks of oxidation
Liqueur d’expedition
mixture of wine and sugar. It will determine the final level of sweetness in the wine (dosage). It is used to balance the acidity and helps with flavour development. This is a second blending - the wine with in the Liqueur d’expedition may be young and fresh, or toasty from mature in oak, or display dried fruit flavours from years in bottle. Cork (mushroom shape) has to be compressed considerably before it can be inserted into the bottle and a wire cage is added for complete security.
Traditional method
Bottle aging - once it has been corked the wine may then be aged for a further few months to allow the liqueur d’expedition to integrate with the wine. Most sparkling wines are considered ready to drink when release, but some premium ones can be further aged.
Disgorgement date may be labelled to provide indication for the age of the wine.
Transfer method
Making the base wine - blending - second alcoholic fermentation - yeast autolysis - riddling. Then the entire bottles are simply disgorged into a sealed tank under pressure. The wine in the tank is filtered to remove the yeast lees, liqueur d’expedition is added and the wine is rebottled into a fresh bottle. This can give good quality sparkling wines at a cheaper price than the traditional method, and an easy way to ensure consistent quality and style. “bottle-fermented” on the label usually means transfer method.
Tank method - characteristics
Tank method produce sparkling wine that retains the flavours of the base wine. Tank method is ideal for making sparkling wines out of grape varieties with strong flavours such as Muscat and Riesling, as well as fruity styles such as Prosecco.
It is cheaper, faster, and less labour intensive. With high quality grapes and care during production, high-quality sparkling wines can be made in this way.
Tank method
The first fermentation takes place in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks to retain the pure fruit and floral flavours of the grapes. The resulting base wine do not usually undergo MLF or oak aging. Sugar Yeast, yeast nutrient, and clarifying agents are added to the wine and second fermentation takes places in a sealed tank able to withstand the pressure as CO2 dissolves in the wine. The wine is filtered to remove the yeast lees before it is bottled under pressure. Usually show no notes of yeast autolysis because they do not spend extended time on lees. Autolysis character can be created by using paddle to stir up the lees during the second fermentation. However, most of the wine makers using the tank method will want to retain primary fruit flavors.
Asti Method
production of sweet sparkling wines in the Asti region of Piemonte, Italy. sweet fruity sparkling wines. Only one alcoholic fermentation.
The juice is chilled and stored until needed. When it is required, the juice is warmed and the fermentation takes place in pressured tanks, initially the CO2 is allowed to escape. Part way through the fermentation the tank is sealed so that CO2 is retained. The fermentation continues until the alcohol level has reached approximately 7% abv and the pressure 5 to 6 atmospheres. The fermentation is stopped early by chilling the wine. which is then filtered under pressure to remove the yeast. The wine is bottled for immediate sale.
Champagne AC
- cool continental climate
winter freeze, spring frosts, and rainy cloudy weather.
Even in the warmest year grape sugar levels retain very low and acid levels very high, ideal for sparkling wine production.
Montagne de Reims Vallee de la Marne Cote des Blancs Cote de Sezanne Cote des Bar Frost - most vineyards are located on slopes. The soils are dominated by chalk, which provides good drainage after rain but retains a sufficient quantity of water in dry periods. Reduce man-made fertilizers and pesticides
