Principles

The secondary fermentation (“prise de mousse”) is a slow, continuous process. After addition of sugar and yeast, the wine is circulated through a series of fermentation tanks. These tanks contain rings with a proprietary composition, or more simply they are filled with oak chips. The yeast cells adsorb to these rings or chips and ferment the sugar as the wine circulates around them. At the outlet of this series of fermentors, the wine contains only a few dead yeast cells. It is effervescent and sparkling.

A chilling and CO2 stabilisation phase follows the “prise de mousse”.

This process operates 24 hours a day. Prior to bottling, the new sparkling wine is stored in a buffer tank.

Bottling is done with a counter-pressure filler. Corking and wiring are performed at the filler outlet.

• Phase 1 : Making the base wine
  Classic white, rosé or red winemaking techniques.
  
  
• Phase 2 : Making the sparkling wine
  See the figure below.