Brut
The sweetening of sparkling wines is an important part in the production process. Sparkling wines range from bone dry (pas dosé) to very sweet. Brut Nature means no dosage / without dosage. See also Pas dosé, Zero Dosage, Dosage Zéro.
Dosage translates as the added sugar in a final sparkling wine. Before the sekt bottle is finally sealed with a sekt cork after disgorgement, the liquid loss caused by the disgorgement process must be compensated by filling it with the dosage. The dosage not only imparts a distinctive note to the sekt but also determines its taste profile, ranging – as said – from Brut Nature to sweet (e.g., Semi-Dry). The dosage liqueur added to the sekt is the secret of every Sekthaus. The approximate amount of dosage and therefore the level of sweetness can be determined from the taste description on the label. The designations differ significantly from those used for still wines. For example, a dry wine can have up to 9 g/L of sugar, while a dry champagne has 17 to 33 g/L of sugar.
The sekt in our house has a maximum sweetness of 8 g/L, making them Brut Nature, Extra Brut, or Brut.
Brut Nature is also alternatively described as “Zero Dosage.” In this case, we deny sweetening the final sparkling wine and instead top it up with the exact same sparkling wine from another bottle.
The term Brut comes from French and translates, among other things, to “raw.” According to this understanding, a “raw” sparkling wine is one that requires little or no dosage. The residual sugar content in Brut sparkling wine can be up to 12 grams per liter. Our Raumland sparkling wines typically range between 4 and 7 g/l dosage when we communicate them as Brut.
Brut Nature / Zero Dosage: 0 to 3 g/l
Extra Brut: 0 to 6 g/l
Brut: 0 to 12 g/l
Extra Dry: 12 to 17 g/l
Dry: 17 to 33 g/l
Semi-dry / Demi-Sec: 33 to 50 g/l
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