Traditional - Winemaking Steps
”- Pressing
- Primary Fermentation (to dryness)
- Handling of Base Wine
- Assemblage (Blending)
- Second Fermentation (started by addition of Liqueur de Tirage)
- Lees Ageing
- Riddling and Disgorgement
- Liqueur de Tirage “
Liqueur de Tirage
“This is a mixture of wine and/or must, sugar, cultured yeasts, yeast nutrients and a clarifying
agent such as bentonite and/or alginate (seaweed extract to facilitate riddling). The amount of
sugar used depends on the degree of effervescence required.”
Transfer - Winemaking Steps
”- Same as traditional up to riddling (that does not occur) so, after lees ageing:
- Chilled and discharged into pressurized receiving tanks
- Sweetened, SO2, sterile filtration
- Bottling (““Fermented in Bottle””)”
Ancestral - Winemaking Steps (Pétillant Naturel)
”- Partly fermented must is put into bottles
- Remaining sugar is converted into alcohol and CO2 creating effervescence
- Fermentation creates deposit of dead yeast cells (choice to disgorge or leave in bottle)
- Typically no dosage
- *because it’s low intervention, outcomes vary”
Ancestral - Style
Low aclohol, slightly cloudy, dry to off-dry, unconventional flavors (often compared to cider), bottled w/o additional SO2, intended for early drinking
Tank Method - Alt Names
Cuve Close, Charmat and Martinotti.
Tank Method - Wine Making Steps
”- Pressing
- 1st fermentation (16 - 18 deg) to maintain primary aromas
- Sugar + Yeast added
- 2nd fermentation in pressurized (reinforced) tanks
- Fermentation is arrested by cooling when desired pressure and residual sugar reached
- *occasionally aged on lees but often not
- Wine is cold stabilised to precipitate tartrates
- Yeast removed via centrifugation or filtration
- Adjustmented to sugar and SO2
- Sterile filtration
- Bottling with a counter-pressure filler (like soda)”
Tank Method - Grapes
Semi-aromatic (Glera) and aromatic (Muscat)
Tank Method - Pros
”- Pros: Inexpensive, quick, reduced labor cost = can be released for sale quickly; preserves primary aromas
- Cons: seen as lower quality, often lower quality grapes”
Asti Method - Summary
Variation of the tank method that produces a sparkling wine in a single fermentation
Asti Method - Wine Making Steps
”- Sugar in the original must gets converted into alcohol + CO2 during fermentation that takes place in reinforced (pressurized) tanks
- COz is allowed to leave the tank though a valve during the first stages but the valve is shut to retain desired level of CO2
- Wine continues to ferment causing sugar levels to drop and pressure to increase
- Once desired level is achieved, fermentation is stopped via rapid chilling
- Filtration under pressure to remove the yeast “
Carbonation - Winemaking Steps
”- Base wine is injected with CO2 under pressure
**maintains primary aromas”
Winemaking Step - 1 Pressing
”- Whole bunch pressing (gentle to minimise maceration and extraction)
- Pneumatic and basket press = common, gentle
- Press fractions are often separated an dconfrolled
- Juice is clairified via fining if needed”
Winemaking Step - 2 Primary Fermentation
”- 57 -68 deg to retain fruit flavors but ensure temps aren’t too cold for the yeast (low pH is already stressful for yeast)
- Stainless Steel
- Cultured yeast reliable ferment to dryness (challenging w/ high acid and low pH); some yeasts promote certain flavors (e.g. thiols or esters) which are good for tank (primary aroms) or neutral flavors which are good for autolytic”
Yeast Considerations
”- Moderate Temp 61
- Floculate (congeil) readily
- Withstand pressure
- Low pH environment
- Flavors
- Commencing fermentation in 9.5 - 11% environment”
Winemaking Step - 3 MLF or sterile filtration
”- Can be used to reduce acidity and/or enhance texture
- No buttery aromas because diacetyl is metabolised during 2nd fermentation”
Winemaking Step - 4 Handling the Base Wine
”- Options: mature wine in oak, leave wine on lees, seasoned barrels or not, oak or not
- Stablised and Clairified”
Winemaking Step - 5 Assemblage (blending)
The blending of wines, from different vineyard
sites, grape varieties, vintages and wines
that have undergone different winemaking
techniques is one of the hallmarks of sparkling
wine production.
Assemblage (blending) reasons
”- Balance
- Consistency
- Style
- Rosé Wines
- Complexity
- Minimalisation of Faults
- Volume
- Price”
Winemaking Step - 6 Liqueuer de Tirage
”- Mixture of wine (or must), sugar, cultured yeast, yeast nutrients, clairifying agent (bentonite and/or alginate, a seaweed extract facilitates riddling)
- Added in before the bottle is sealed
- Amount of sugar used depends on amount of effervescence required (the more sugar, the more CO2)
- Most sparkling wines take 24 g/L of sucrose (also increases ABV 1.5% and creates 6 atmospheres - ““bars””)”
Winemaking Step - 7 Bottling
”- Put still wine + liqueur de tirage + crown cap
- Yeast and sugars are added to the cuvée (base wine) to start the second fermentation and wines are bottled (and topped with crown caps).
- Liquer de tirage is added at the bottling stage with the base wine (cuvee)”
Winemaking Step - 8 Secondary Fermentation
”- Same yeast is often used
- Yeast must be able to start fermenting in alcoholic conditions with low pH and continue fermenting through low temperatures, high pressure, and low nutrients
- "”Prise de Mousse”” is the name of this stage = setting of the mousse”
Winemaking Step - 9 Storage during Secondary Fermentation
”- Stored horizontally at temperature of 10 - 12 C
- Lenth of fermentation depends on the temperature (cooler = slower = more complex)
- Ferm last 4 - 6 weeks
- Stable temp is importatnt to maintain yeast viability in challenging conditions”
Winemaking Step - 10 Lees Ageing
”- Temps around 10 C
- Minimum 9 mos in some cases, typical 15 - 18 mos at which the effects of autolysis become detectable
- Length of time depends on: style (fresher v autolytic), price that can be attained for the wine, financial ability to invest (resources to store it for a longer period of time)
- Lees ageing is the ““enzymatic breakdown of dead yeast cells””
- Autolysis adds character for up to 4 - 5 years up to 10 years
- Yeast has antioxidative qualities that protect the wine so a winemaker may choose to leave a wine on its lees for ageing potential after autolysis is complete; however, RD”
