Riddling and Dosage

Just as I predicted in the last post, I couldn’t wait 18 months (the minimum period required in the Champagne region) to lay down my 3 bottles of sparkling wine, and decided I wanted to open them for Christmas.  So for the last few weeks I have been gradually ‘riddling’ the bottles of now sparkling wine, which is the process during which the bottles are slowly turned upside down, giving them a little twist by hand every day or so to move the yeast sediment into the cap.  I used an old a wine rack to support the bottles :

Tonight I decided to open one of the bottles to work out the ‘dosage’ – the amount of sugar to be added.  This is how commercial sparkling wine is categorised:

Doux: 50 or more grams of sugar added per litre. This will taste outrageously sweet to most Champagne and sparkling wine palates—it’s about 2 teaspoons’ worth—but back in the day, Champagne tended to come a lot sweeter.

Demi-Sec: Dosed with 32 to 50 grams of sugar per litre. Again, higher on the sweet sparkling spectrum than most of us are willing to go.

Sec: “Sec,” in French, means dry.  But dry here actually indicates a medium-sweet sparkling. 17 to 32 grams of sugar, on average a teaspoon per litre.

Extra Sec: Literally “Extra Dry,” which would seem to indicate a lip-smackingly acidic wine but here means a bit less sweet than Sec, thanks to just 12 to 17 grams of sugar.

Brut: Up to 12 grams of sugar added, really for balance.  Slightly rounder than “Extra Brut” because of the increased added sugar, and the type of sparkling or Champagne we tend to drink most.

Extra Brut: With fewer than 6 grams of sugar added, this is going to come off higher-acid and accentuate the carbonation.

Brut Nature: No sugar added (or fewer than 3 grams), not common but a way for the winemaker to showcase the essential nature (hence the name) of the sparkling wine or Champagne.  Higher notes of minerality and acid, basically a party in your mouth, and everyone’s invited.  Except sugar.

I opened one bottle by turning the bottle upright while opening the cap at the same time to expel the yeast (degorging). Click here to see an expert doing this.

I was very pleased that the cap came of with a very satisfying pop, and on sampling decided it tasted great as it was, no need to sweeten at all.  In the interests of science I created samples containing 5, 10 and 15g/l of sugar and had a taste.  Definitely best ‘Brut Nature’ !

So now I have a bottle of bubbly to drink, what a shame!  This leaves 2 bottles from the 2017 harvest which will be enjoyed over Christmas.

This makes me even more excited about the 30 bottles or so that will come out of the 2018 harvest….eventually.