🍷 Disgorgement

Disgorgement (disgorging) is the removal of the deposit gathered on the closure of a bottle of sparkling wine. The OIV International Code of Oenological Practices defines it as the elimination of the deposit gathered on the closure, and gives as its objective the clarity of the sparkling wine.

It is one of the operations of second fermentation in the bottle. In the order given by the Code they are: preparing the base wine or cuvée, preparing the tirage liqueur, yeast inoculation, adding clarifying agents, tirage, placing in stacks, placing on riddling racks, riddling, inverting the bottles, disgorging and adding the dosage. Riddling gathers the deposit on the closure, and the bottles are inverted, neck down, so that the deposit stays there until disgorging.

The Code notes that the operation is facilitated by freezing the deposit gathered on the closure, and that it can be done manually or mechanically.

In the EU a sparkling wine may be described as made by the traditional method only if it was separated from the lees by disgorging (Regulation (EU) 2019/33, Article 53). In the Champagne appellation the deposit from fermentation in the bottle is removed by disgorging, which may not take place until twelve months after tirage, during which the wine must stay in the bottle without interruption. The wines are placed on the market after at least fifteen months from tirage, or thirty-six months for vintage wines. After disgorging, an expedition liqueur may be added.