The Winery

Update from the Winery

We have just successfully completed the bottling of our sparkling wines from the 2017 harvest (Blanc de blanc, Classic Cuvée, Cotswold Classic and Sparkling Rosé). This is when the sparkling base wines, once stabilised and filtered, are put into bottles for their second fermentation.

The wine is bottled with the ‘tirage’ (French term for the yeast and sugar addition). The tirage is a blend of the sparkling base wine, with yeast (active and multiplying), with a specific amount of sugar (the yeast’s food). 

The quantity of sugar will determine the amount of CO2 produced and therefore the pressure in the bottle (amount of fizz/effervescence). 

Once bottled the fermentation will then take approximately 6 weeks, at which point the yeast die off with no sugar left to consume and the wines are left to rest for between 2-4 yrs for aging. Now that all the tanks are empty of wines its a fairly quiet time in the winery, until the beginning of next month, when we shall be getting the equipment required for riddling and disgorging. Learn more about this process in our next newsletter. 

Jeremy (WVV Winemaker)