Disgorgement is a wine word that pertains to Champagne and sparkling wines. Have you ever seen a notice on the back label of some bottles of Champagne saying "disgorged on X date"? Do you know what this means? And why do some bottles carry the notice while other do not?
Disgorgement, or dgorgement in French, is a step in making Champagne and other bottle fermented sparkling wines. After the second fermentation the wine rests on the dead yeast cells (called "lees") for a period of time, usually a minimum of 15 months for NV Champagne and a minimum of 3 years for vintage dated Champagnes (though most producers age for much longer then the minimum). This is called aging "sur lie", or on the lees. Disgorgement is the process of taking these dead lees or sediment out of the bottle, so that when we buy the Champagne or sparkling wine it is crystal clear.
Before the disgorgement step takes place the individual bottles are riddled at an angle, so that the lees (sediment) accumulate and collect in the neck of the bottle. This makes for easier and more uniform removal.
Traditionally this was a manual process, but today it is automated. The neck of the bottle is placed in a solution of freezing brine, which freezes the lees into a sort of hard pellet. Once the bottle is opened, the pressure from the bubbles in the bottle push out the pellet of frozen sediment, after which the dosage is added and the wine is re-corked and packaged for sale.
The disgorgement date thus marks the date that the Champagne or sparkling wine received completed its production cycle. It is not an indication of vintage or a sell by date!
The whole idea of putting disgorgement dates on Champagne (and other sparkling wines) is that a particular 'batch' (or cuve) of Champagne will not all be disgorged at the same time. The bottles disgorged first will taste slightly different than those disgorged later. If you have two bottles of seemingly the same Champagne without disgorgement dates, you really have no idea whether or not they are from the same disgorgement batch. Having the date of disgorgement stamped on the bottle helps the consumers know whether in fact they are comparing apples with apples. Or not!
Within the trade there are mixed views as to the usefulness of putting disgorgement dates on Champagne and sparkling wines. Those in favor feel that it helps consumers by giving them useful information. Those against feel that it is more likely to confuse the consumer, who might think it has something to do with the vintage, as many wine consumers won't know what disgorging actually means anyway, or that it might be indicating a 'sell-by' date, which it certainly is not indicating.
So watch out for it on the next bottle of Champagne you buy.
Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW (Master of Wine), is a New York based wine educator, freelance writer and consultant.
Previous Wine Words
Wine Words: Clarity
Wine Words: Color
Wine Words: Complexity
Wine Words: Texture
Wine Words: Aromas
Wine Words: Alcohol
Wine Words: Body
Wine Words: Tannin
Wine Words: Acidity
Wine Words: Minerality
Wine Words: Length and Finish
Wine Words: Sweetness
Wine Words: Style
Wine Words: Oak
Wine Words: Clarity
Wine Words: Extraction
Wine Words: Sediment
Wine Words: Variety vs. Varietal
Wine Words: Reserva, Riserva, Reserve
Wine Words: Quality
Wine Words: Vintage
Wine Words: Non-Vintage
Wine Words: Bordeaux Blend
Wine Words: Traditional Method
Wine Words: Tank Method (Charmat Method)
Wine Words: Champagne
Wine Words: Dosage
(Image: Underlying image by Sadovnikova Olga/Shutterstock)
Bruno Paillard 'deserves credit' for disgorgement dates Daily ... Champagne Bruno Paillard says it deserves more credit for pioneering the publication of disgorgement dates on bottles. Paillard decided to speak out after reading ... Sparkling wine production - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There are four main methods of sparkling wine production. The first is simple injection of carbon dioxide (CO 2), the process used in soft drinks, but this produces ... Wine-Searcher Technical Wine Terms C to D A list of technical wine terms and their description as they appear on different content pages on Wine-Searcher. GrapeRadio Wine Talk Show Wine Terms ABBOCCATO Italian for lightly sweet. This refers to wines which contain low amounts of residual sugar. ABOCADO The Spanish term for semisweet. disgorgement - definition and meaning - Wordnik One is that the small investor who made some money during the bull market, may get some back through what we call disgorgement (ph) and that some of the executives ... FRENCH WINE TERMS FRENCH WINE TERMS (Taken from The Wine Bible, by Karen MacNeil) APPELLATION DORIGINE CONTROLLE (AOC): THE LEGAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF Disgorgement of Sparkling Wine Calwineries Disgorgement is the process of removing the dead yeast cells and other sediment from the neck of the bottle after the second fermentation of a sparkling wine. What does disgorgement mean? - Yahoo! Answers Best Answer: Investment Dictionary: Disgorgement A repayment of ill-gotten gains that is imposed on wrong-doers by the courts. Funds that were received ... On Champagne - On Wine - WSJ I spent the better part of a week in Champagne recently tasting and touring and talking with some of its most influential winemakers- from Richard ... How to Disgorge Champagne eHow.com If making wine is hard, then making sparkling wine is beyond difficult. There are so many factors involved, especially if you're following the so-called methode ...
No comments:
Post a Comment