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Remuage

French term (German: Rütteln) for a process commonly used in the production of sparkling wine(champagne, sparkling wine) as preparation for the subsequent disgorgement (removal of the lees). The process was invented around 1813 by Antoine de Muller (1788-1859), an immigrant from Germany (Swabia) and the legendary cellar master of the famous Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin champagne house in Reims (Champagne).

Shaking aids

Many producers are increasingly adding so-called "riddling aids" to the dosage (addition of the "liqueur de tirage") for triggering the second fermentation in the bottle, which makes it easier to precipitate the yeast deposit. This is usually a mixture of bentonite and tannin, which prevents the resulting granular deposit from sticking to the bottle glass and ensures that it slides evenly along the inside wall of the bottle. The bottles are placed with their necks in the initially very steeply positioned, roof-shaped riddling desks (riddling tables, French: pupitres) (boards with round holes have been used since ancient times for draining rinsed wine bottles). At the beginning, the shaking desks have an almost horizontal position and then become increasingly steeper (see picture). As a rule, a pupitre holds around 60 bottles of sparkling wine.

Remuage - Rüttelpult und nanuelle Remuage bei Schlumberger
Cellar point

As a positioning aid for the remuageur (riddling master), a white chalk line (riddling line) or another coloured marking is marked on the bottom of the bottle as the starting position. This is also known as the cellar point (marque). To loosen the yeast from the wall, the bottles are shaken manually by the riddling master every day for up to three months, rotated by an eighth circle (45°) or quarter circle (90°) and the riddling desk is turned slightly flatter until the bottles are upside down (sur pointe). This is usually done 24 to 32 times. During the process, the yeast slowly spirals into the neck of the bottle until it sits behind the cork at the end. This complex process is necessary to prevent the yeast from settling in the shoulder of the bottle. Unwanted deposits that do not slide down during riddling are known as a mask. Experienced riddling masters can treat 30,000 to 50,000 bottles per day.

New forms of remuage

The time-consuming and labour-intensive manual remuage is now increasingly being carried out by computer-controlled gyropalettes at large companies, which can reduce this process to one week. The latest processes make remuage superfluous. Adsorptive alginates are used to prevent the yeast from sticking to the bottle wall. The next processing step is disgorgement (removal of the yeast sediment).

Further information

For the production of alcoholic beverages, see Champagne (sparkling wines), Distillation (distillates), Speciality wines, Spirits (types), Winemaking (wines and wine types) and Wine law (wine law issues).

Picture left: By Manikom - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Image on the right: Schlumberger

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Dominik Trick

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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg

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