The Tirage & Riddling

Tirage

From this point on, all steps taken at Sekthaus Solter follow the classic elements fermentation in the bottle, also known as “méthode champenoise”. The already fermented wines which were selected for the final blend, are filled into bottles along with an extra bit of sugar and specially chosen yeast. Through the interaction of the yeast and sugar, a scond fermentation occurs in the bottle – and that’s of course where our sparkling wine attains its blubbly sparkle! The unique aspect of the méthode champenoise is the secondary fermentation in the bottle itself, along with the long process of aging the new sparkling wine – providing more complexity and depth of flavour.

Riddling

Riddling is the term for a process of turning the individual sekt bottles by hand while gently angling the bottom of the bottle upwards. This process takes from one to four weeks, and aims to collect all of the spent yeast in the bottles’ necks. This prepares the Sekt for the next step of disgorging. Only our very best sparkling wines are further aged “sur pointes”, or “on their heads”, whereby the wine in the bottle is allowed longer contact with the lees in the neck.