Sparkling wine production#Riddling

Remuage is a native of the Champagne French term for the operation of shaking of sparkling wine in the production of sparkling wine. Jogging is the mechanical clearing of sparkling wine in the bottle fermentation. By gently shaking and swirling the bottle falls dead yeast as a sediment in the bottle neck, where they then, in a further step, disgorgement ( blow, double dégorgement ), can be removed as custodian. Depending on the procedure, the vibration process can cover a time period of one day up to six weeks or longer. The procedure has mainly visual or aesthetic reasons, the taste quality of the sparkling wine is not affected.

Historical development

The shaking and the associated invention of Rüttelgestells were key innovations and steps in the development of the champagne into a marketable product sparkling wine. This could first be produced in larger quantities optically clear, freed from tarnish champagne yeast particles, which could be marketed better than hefetrübe champagne. The procedure was introduced in 1813 by winemaker Anton von Müller in the champagne company of Barbe- Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, Reims. By the end of the 20th century, the shaking hand in Rüttelgestellen or riddling (French pupitres ) was made ​​in the method of classical bottle fermentation. It was a costly and time- intensive process. A worker who was dedicated to the shaking was called shaker (French remueur ). In the 1970s, a program-controlled, automatic jogging system was developed in Spain for the industrial production of cava, which is referred to as Gyropalette or Girasol. This method is used worldwide in the sparkling wine industry since the 1980s.

Manual shaking

On the first day closed with a crown cap bottles are almost horizontal, slightly inclined towards the bottle caps. After the charging by shaking the bottles rest usually 8 to 10 days, so that the lees of wine to settle. Before the actual shaking, it is checked whether the lees has well separated. Methods make use of a weak light source. By the Tyndall effect can be the finest sediment particles, which are still in suspense account. In the first two weeks following the shaking, the bottles are kept at the same angle and rotated about a tenth of a revolution per day. After ten times, turning the Trub is disengaged from the bottle wall. The more shaking is then every 2-3 days depending on the manufacturer with a 1/8-, 1/6- or 1/4-turn. Once the bottle has reached a full round, it is set in Rüttelgestell one floor up, stage by stage until she is on the top, the steepest racks days and thus is upside down. Here, the yeast was added to the bottle-fermented by the tirage liqueur lowers gradually into the neck and forms a Hefepfropfen. This is first frozen in the next working step in disgorgement by a cold bath. Subsequently, the upside-down bottle is opened by the crown cap is removed. Here, the small Hefepfropfen escapes completely and occupies the entire yeast from the bottle with. The remaining in the bottle of sparkling wine is optically clear.

An experienced jogger creates about 40,000 to 50,000 bottles a day. But the manual shaking is time -consuming and costly. The process can take a bottle over six weeks.

The vibration times mentioned in this article are related to the usual in the past yeasts. Modern champagne yeasts are so-called agglutinating ( clumping together ) yeasts that form a more granular deposit ( in contrast to other yeasts rather slimy ), not so much adhere to the inner wall of the glass bottle and can thus be shaken down faster. With repeated shaking per day, the shaking time can be reduced to one week to 10 days.

Rüttelzusätze

By adding special yeasts and Rüttelzusätzen shaking can be reduced in time. It applied two alternative methods:

• Hefekapseln: The yeast is surrounded by small calcium alginate capsules, which are added to the base wine in the bottle. From the capsule, the yeast can not escape at the same time any sugar and nutrients to the inside, carbon dioxide ( carbonic acid), alcohol and other products of metabolism of the yeast to the outside. Here, a second fermentation takes place. Shaking can be shortened to a few seconds, since the small capsules fall directly into the neck of the inverted bottle. They can easily be removed during disgorgement.
• Hefepatrone: In the bottle is located in the base wine, a small cartridge that is filled with yeast and sealed a membrane. Sugar and nutrients of the base wine pass through the membrane into the cartridge for yeast. There is a second fermentation. The carbon dioxide escapes from the cartridge, the yeast remains therein. When disgorgement of the caps is only removed while shooting the cartridge by the excess pressure from the bottle.

Automated Shake

The shaking process is performed with a computer-controlled Gyropalette: 504 bottles are placed in metal boxes. The machine then shaking the bottle at regular intervals, wherein the shaking may also take place during the night. The bottles are also pivoted from the horizontal to the vertical until they are upside down and can then be disgorged. The shaking process can be reduced to three days, with Rüttelzusätzen it goes even faster.