Riddling
The process of riddling a sekt bottle or sparkling wine bottle is called “remuage.”
For the second alcoholic fermentation in the bottle, yeast is added to the base wine. This yeast needs to be removed before the sekt is sold. If this yeast (which is no longer active) is not removed, the champagne, sekt or sparkling wine would be cloudy. To remove the yeast deposit, the bottles are initially placed in a wooden riddling rack (manual riddling) or a riddling machine (mechanical riddling, gyropalette).
The bottles are now rotated (riddled) by a few degrees each day for a period of 3 to 4 weeks, gradually transitioning from a horizontal to an almost vertical position. Through this riddling process, the yeast deposit slowly sinks into the bottle neck. Once the yeast is completely positioned inside the bottle neck, the riddling process is completed and the yeast can be removed through disgorgement.
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