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Monday, October 1, 2012

Wine Words: Disgorgement

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)

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Bouvet-Ladubay Brut Ros NV Wine of the Week

Wine of the Week: Bouvet-Ladubay Brut Ros NV
Region & Country: Loire Valley, France
Price: $13

This week's find is a delicious, great value sparkling ros from Saumur in the Loire Valley.

I recently had the occasion to taste through a number of Bouvet-Ladubay sparkling wines. While all excellent, I was particularly impressed by this NV Bouvet Brut Ros. Lively, and packed with succulent flavor, it is a perfect sipper for life's everyday little celebrations. Though summer may be over, there are plenty of good reasons to reach for such an easy drinking pink sparkler.

Pale salmon pink color with small persistent pearly bubbles. On the palate it is very refreshing with a smooth creamy mousse and plenty of juicy red currant, raspberry, cherry and biscuity flavors with nuances of anise and tarragon. Though light-bodied and easy drinking, the mouthfeel is round and generous. Succulent finish that is moderately long.

At the table
This easy drinking pink bubbly is perfect to sip on its own, enjoy with nibbles such as salami, olives, marinated anchovies, cocktail sausages or pigs-in-a-blanket. It is also flavorful enough to work well with grilled or pan-fried white fish such as flounder or sole.

About Saumur, Bouvet-Ladubay and this Brut Ros
This Bouvet-Ladubay's Brut Ros, NV is made using the traditional method for sparkling wine (i.e bottle fermented). It is made from 90% Cabernet Franc and 10% Grolleau and it spent about nine months on the lees before disgorging and dosage.

Saumur is one of six sparkling wine appellations (AOCs) in France's Loire Valley wine region. Saumur is noted for its famous 'tuffeau' (type of limestone) caves, carved into the chalky hillsides dating back 1000 years.

Bouvet-Ladubay is the Loire Valley's largest and second oldest sparkling wine producer. Founded in 1851, it was bought by the Monmousseau family in 1933, and, though no longer owned by the family, is still operated and managed by the fourth generation of Monmousseau family.

Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW (Master of Wine), is a New York based wine educator, freelance writer and consultant.

Related: Ros: A Wine for All Seasons

(Image: Wine Searcher)

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Wine Words: Champagne

Champagne is a very special wine word. Unfortunately it has often been abused and misused. It is not a synonym for any old sparkling wine. Champagne is a region in northeast France. Only sparkling wines produced in the designated Champagne wine region can be called Champagne did you know this?

Champagne is a traditional method sparkling wine. It has always been regarded as the finest, the benchmark and the model by which other traditional method sparkling wines are made. It is synonymous with luxury, and with the marking of special moments.

Champagne was not always a sparkling wine. Originally it was a lightish-pink still wine. It was only toward the end of the 17th century and well into the 18th that Champagne became a sparkling wine.

The Uniqueness of Champagne
It is not one thing alone that sets the Champagne region apart in the production of sparkling wines. Rather it is a combination of its cool continental climate, its calcareous-clay soils, the sheer number and diversity of its vineyards as well as its long history (100 years +) and experience in making sparkling wine.

The Many Styles of Champagne
Champagne is not just one wine. While the largest category of Champagne is the Brut Non-Vintage blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, it can be ros, Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay), Blanc de Noirs (100% Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier), Vintage dated or a special Prestige Cuve, the name given to a Champagne house's highest quality wine.
Champagne also comes in different sweetness levels from the most popular dry 'Brut' style to the sweet style 'Doux'. (But more detail on that with next week's wine word 'Dosage'.)

Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW (Master of Wine), is a New York based wine educator, freelance writer and consultant.

Previous Wine Words

(Image: Underlying image by Sadovnikova Olga/Shutterstock)

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Monday, September 10, 2012

Wine Words: Tank Method (Charmat Method)

Last week I explained the wine word 'Traditional Method'. Tank Method is another wine word, specific to sparkling wine. Tank Method is also know as 'Cuve Close' or Charmat Method.

Tank Method is a name for a sparkling wine making process. Unlike the 'Traditional Fermentation', whereby the second fermentation happens in bottle, in Tank Method it takes place in a large closed pressure tank.

Second Fermentation in Sealed Pressure Tank
Tank Method sparking wines also go through two fermentations. After the first fermentation (usually in tank), the base wines are placed in another sealed pressure tank and a mixture of yeast and sugar is added to induce the second fermentation.

As the tank is sealed, the CO2 produced during the second fermentation cannot escape and is trapped in the wine (i.e. the bubbles). In contrast to traditional method sparkling wines, tank method sparkling wines undergo much less lees contact (autolysis) - though this does not have to be the case, as paddles / agitators can be placed inside the tank to ensure better contact with the lees.

After the second fermentation is complete, the wine is fined and filtered to remove the lees and any other sediment. After this step the dosage (mix of sugar and wine that defines whether a wine is Brut, Demi-Sec or Sec etc.) is added to the tank and the wine is bottled under pressure to preserve the bubbles in the bottle.

Advantages of the Tank Method
The Tank Method is a much less expensive and less time-consuming method of sparkling wine production. And while it is mostly associated wit the production of higher volume sparkling wines, this does not mean that it is for producing inferior or lower quality wines. In fact it is a much better process for making sparkling wines from aromatic grape varieties, such as Prosecco or Asti, where you want to preserve the freshness and intensity of the grapes' aromas, rather than cover them up with autolytic complexity.

Other advantages of the Tank or Cuve Close method include the fact that it allows for economies of scale as well as greater control over the quality consistency of the end-product (as everything occurs in the same tank, rather then individual bottles).

In terms of global sparkling wine production, the tank method is the most used method worldwide.

Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW (Master of Wine), is a New York based wine educator, freelance writer and consultant.

Previous Wine Words

(Image: Underlying image by Sadovnikova Olga/Shutterstock)

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