🍷 Liqueur de tirage

Liqueur de tirage is a mixture of wine, sugar and yeast added to a sparkling wine before bottling. It starts the second fermentation inside the bottle. This is the key step of the traditional method used for Champagne and many other sparkling wines.

How does it work? First a still base wine is prepared. The tirage liqueur is added to it. There is very little sugar in it: about 24 grams per litre. The wine is bottled in strong bottles, closed with a temporary stopper or cap and left in the cellar.

The yeast eats the sugar, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. The gas has nowhere to go, so it dissolves in the wine and makes bubbles. Pressure in the bottle rises, which is why the glass is made thick. The yeast dies and settles, forming a sediment that is removed later. The wine lies on the sediment for a long time, which gives a note of bread and brioche.

Liqueur de tirage is not to be confused with the dosage liqueur, which is added at the end to set the sweetness. It is tied to the traditional method as its beginning.