Video: how sparkling wine is made – the final stage, disgorging by hand
The last stage in making sparkling wine is called disgorgement. The second fermentation has taken place in the bottle and it leaves a sediment of dead yeast cells and tartrate crystals.
So the first stage is to settle these at the end of the bottle neck by a process called riddling. Then the bottle neck is plunged into a freezing glycol solution in order to freeze it, ready for the next stage when the crown cap is released and the pressure expels this plug, leaving clear wine.
A small sugar addition, called dosage, follows (this is dissolved in wine) and then the bottle is topped up with the same sparkling wine. A cork is inserted and then the metal cap and wire twist (the plaque and muselet) are added to hold it in place. Job done.
This is the process done by hand at Colonjes winery in The Netherlands. It’s also possible to automate the job for larger production runs.
