French term for the addition of certain substances in the production of sparkling wine, whereby there are two different types with regard to the purpose, namely filling dos age and shipping dos age. The terms "liqueur" for dosage, however, have nothing to do with a liqueur, but are derived from "liquor" for "liquid". This is why the terms "tirage liqueur" and "shipping liqueur", which are sometimes used, are actually wrong or at least misleading.
Liqueur de tirage (tirage liqueur)
A second fermentation is triggered by adding sugar to the base wine. In the case of bottle-fermented sparkling wines, the wine is bottled immediately afterwards. However, the second fermentation can also take place in the tank (but not in a champagne). The resulting carbonic acid cannot escape and combines with the wine. The longer the subsequent yeast storage, the finer the bubbles (mousseux) develop.
The pharmacist Jean-Baptiste François (1792-1838) from Châlons-en-Champagne developed a formula for determining the sugar content. This made an exact dosage of the tirage possible. The tirage liqueur may only consist of sucrose, grape must, partially fermented grape must, concentrated gra pe must, RCGM (rectified concentrated grape must) or wine. The addition shall not be considered as enrichment or sweetening. Around 4 g/l of residual sugar is needed for every 1 bar of overpressure, i.e. 24 g/l for 6 bar. In addition, special yeasts and, in some cases, a riddling aid(bentonite or tannin) are added to facilitate the subsequent disgorgement. In order to optimally combine the dosage with the wine, a manual or mechanical shaking of the bottles, known as poignettage, is carried out if necessary.
Shipping dosage (Liqueur d'expédition)
After the disgorgement (removal of lees), the expedition dosage is added. This allows the colour, taste and sweetness (sugar content) of a sparkling wine to be determined. In addition, the amount missing in the bottle due to the removal of the yeast is replaced. If necessary, some sparkling wine is siphoned off to make room for the dosage. The shipping dosage may consist of the same agents as the filling dosage, as well as wine distillate in addition. In the case of champagne, the existing alcohol content may be increased by a maximum of 0.5% vol. Sweet wines such as Trockenbeerenauslese and ice wine are also used as sweeteners. If no dosage is made, wine from other bottles is used for topping up. As a rule, full-bodied, mild sparkling wines with several years of yeast storage require very little dosage (as a guideline, max. 6 g/l residual sugar = extra Brut). And the shorter the yeast storage and the higher the acidity, the higher the dosage should be.
Without shipping dosage (dosage zéro)
For high-quality vintage champagne (French Millésime) or very long yeast storage (five years and longer), some producers do without this dosage. In this case, pas dosé, dosage zéro or Brut nature (meaning "without dosage") appears on the label. After the special sparkling wine cork has been driven into the neck of the bottle, it is covered with a metal cap (capsule), which is fixed in place by a wire basket (muselet) known as an agraffe. In order to optimally combine the dosage with the wine, the bottles are shaken manually or mechanically, if necessary, as in the case of tirage dosage. In the video clip (click to view) you can see the mechanical addition of the shipping dosage and the corking.
Further information
For information on the production of alcoholic beverages, see Champagne (sparkling wines), Distillation (distillates), Spirits (types), Winemaking (wines and wine types) and Wine Law (wine law issues).
Dosage and corking and video clip: H. Billiot
Glass: by Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay
