How Wine Disgorgement Works: Disgorgement Dates Explained

Disgorgement, or dégorgement in French, is a technique used in the méthode traditionnelle (traditional method) of sparkling wine production that involves removing a frozen pellet of dead yeast cells (lees) from the neck of the wine bottle after secondary fermentation. Disgorging allows the winemaker to remove the lees without sacrificing the pristine sparkling wine left behind. Wine producers typically disgorge by freezing the bottle’s neck and quickly extracting the solids. (Some old vintages are disgorged by hand by opening the bottle and quickly releasing the sentiment.) Two sparkling wine-making methods skip disgorgement: the transfer method (sediment is removed through filtration) and the ancestral method (sediment is left in the bottle).

Disgorgement occurs toward the end of the secondary fermentation. Here’s how it works:

• Yeast cells and sugar set the groundwork. After the first fermentation, wine producers add sugar and yeast cells (liqueur de tirage) to the still wine, then rack the bottles horizontally to begin the secondary fermentation where disgorgement occurs.
• Yeast leaves behind sediment. The yeast metabolizes the sugar and produces carbon dioxide. When the yeast runs out of sugar to eat, it dies, leaving behind sediment known as lees. The amount of time the wine spends bottled with the sediment is called “aging on the lees.”
• Wine bottles are inverted to settle yeast in the neck. Next, producers turn the bottles upside down to encourage the lees to settle in the neck of the bottle.
• Producers mechanically or manually disgorge the lees. Once the lees settle, producers can remove them mechanically or manually. In mechanical disgorgement, the bottle’s neck is dipped in a freezing solution, then the bottle is turned upright, then the cork is removed, and internal pressure ejects the frozen sediment. Disgorgement by hand (à la volée) is typically used for older vintages. It involves tipping the bottle upside down, opening it, and then quickly flipping it over to remove just enough wine to get rid of the sediment.

While some producers choose not to reveal disgorgement dates, the practice is becoming more popular as consumers demand increased transparency. Here are a few helpful tips to give you a better understanding of disgorgement dates:

1. 1. The date marks the end of the production cycle. You can typically find the date of disgorgement stamped on the back label of a wine bottle. This date refers to when the wine completed its production cycle.
2. 2. The date provides insight into the wine’s maturity. Disgorgement dates are not a measure of the quality of a wine, but they can provide insight into its maturity. A small amount of oxygen enters the wine during disgorgement and begins to slowly age the wine, helping consumers estimate a bottle’s lifespan. Knowing the disgorgement date for wines like Champagne can be useful because they’re made from multiple vintages, making it difficult to determine the bottle’s age.
3. 3. RD stands for recent disgorgement. Some wines have early disgorgement dates and need to rest longer to recover from disgorgement. Wines with a late disgorgement date are sometimes sold as “R.D.” (recent disgorgement) and will have more of the lees’ flavor, which isn’t necessarily better than a wine with an older disgorgement date.

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