Liqueur de dosage
Dosage is the final touch added to the wine before sealing it with a sparkling wine cork. It is also known as liqueur d’expédition. Before the sparkling wine bottle is finally sealed with a champagne cork, the loss of liquid caused by riddling and disgorgement is compensated by filling it with the liqueur d’expedition / liqueur de dosage. The dosage not only imparts a characteristic note to the sparkling wine but also determines part of its flavor profile, ranging from Brut Nature to sweet (e.g. Demi-Sec). The dosage liqueur added to the sparkling wine is the secret of every champagne house. The approximate level of dosage and therefore the sweetness level can be read from the taste indication on the label. The designations significantly differ from those used for still wines. For example, a dry wine may contain up to 9 g/l of sugar, while a dry sparkling wine has 17 to 33 g/l of sugar.
The sparkling wines in our Sekthaus have a maximum sweetness level of 8 g/l, making them Brut Nature, Extra Brut, or Brut. The quantity of liqueur used will depend on the type of Sekt we are making.
Brut Nature is also alternatively described as Zero Dosage. In this case, we do not add any dosage and top up the sparkling wine bottle with the same sparkling wine from another bottle.
Brut Nature / Zero Dosage / Pas dosé: 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 / Sec: 17 to 33 g/l
Half-Dry / Demi-Sec: 33 to 50 g/l
Doux / sweet: more than 50 g/l
There are multiple ways to produce the final dosage:
- Grape must
- Saccharose (Cane sugar dissolved in wine)
- Fructose
- Partly fermented grape must
- Concentrated grape must
- Rectified concentrated grape must (RTK)
- Wine / sweet wine
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