Decoding Champagne

by Westgarth Wines February 18, 2019

You know that vintage is important when it comes to wine, but do you know that the disgorgement date of Champagne is another key clue to the wine’s character, particularly when the Champagne is a blend of vintages? Disgorgement is the process of removing the lees from bottle after the wine’s second fermentation. Lees, the dead yeast cells that gave your bottle its bubbles, keep a wine fresh, and once they are removed your wine will age more rapidly, eventually losing flavor. Houses like Krug and Veuve Cliquot are now adding QR codes to labels you can scan to get disgorgement dates—when it comes to Champagne knowledge is power!

Related Link: THE SECRET TO BUYING BEAUTIFULLY BUBBLY CHAMPAGNE, EVERY TIME