How is sparkling wine made?

How is sparkling wine made?

There had been attempts to produce carbon dioxide in wine even before Dom PERIGNON who is known as the inventor of sparkling wine (champagne). Wine containing residual sugar was poured into goatskin bags, which were then submerged to initiate the second fermentation. Or wooden barrels with thick staves, lowered underground were used. BB now uses more refined and sophisticated methods to produce sparkling wine.

The first step towards the sparkling wine is the production of the base wine. It is very important to choose the right harvest time with extra care. We harvest the grapes for the base wine still before they are grown completely ripe, ensuring that they are in perfect condition and undergo quick and careful treatment. We try to make sure that each wine that comprises the cuvée necessary for the production of the sparkling wine comes up to the same quality standards. We add sugar (tirage) to the completed base wine. After mother yeast has been added, the yeast fungi produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. When fermentation and the ensuing maturation period are over, dead yeast cells are filtered out and the final sugar content, corresponding to the given variety, is adjusted. This is called liqueuring, followed by chilling, polishing filtration, bottling, corking, fixing of the corks with a steel clamp, labelling and packaging.

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