If you are looking for information about the tirage, read the following artice and you will satisfy your curiosity. You need a few minutes!

What is the "tirage" of a classic method sparkling wine?

The term tirage is used in the production process of sparkling wines obtained with the classic method or Champenois method, from Champagne, the region where this practice has been developed. The distinctive feature of sparkling wines produced with this method (Trento D.O.C. and Franciacorta D.O.C.G. are the most known in Italy) is the second fermentation that takes place in bottle. This method differs from the Charmat method, in which the refermentation takes place in an autoclave.

The tirage is one of the key phases of the classic method, one of those that, more than any other, distinguishes its production from that of sparkling wines obtained with the Charmat method. The tirage is the preliminary bottling operation of the base wine with the addition of the liqueur de tirage, that allows to start the second fermentation, with the formation of the classic foam and the classic perlage of sparkling wines.

We must clarify that the liqueur de tirage is a mixture composed of wine, sugar, mineral substances and yeast that is added to the wine bottle, triggering the refermentation.

At what stage of the production process of classic method sparkling wines takes place the "tirage"?

The tirage is one of the first operations in the production of classic method sparkling wine. The tirage takes place after the preparation of the base wine. The tirage is followed by a period of aging on fermentation yeasts and then by a series of iconic phases and operations, starting with the remuage, with the collection of solid deposits in the neck of the bottles, placed obliquely in special wooden boards (called pupitres) to facilitate this operation; passing through the dégorgement, the elimination of solid residues; up to the dosage, the phase in which a syrupy mixture is added to the wine to fill the bottles that, with the dégorgement, have lost a small amount of wine, refining its organoleptic qualities.

In short, the tirage is one of the initial stages of this long path that leads to the production of the classic method sparkling wines!

How to make the "tirage"?

The tirage is usually done thanks to special bottling machines, which add the liqueur de tirage to the wine and then temporarily bottle the mixture. It should be noted that wine bottles are initially closed with specific crown caps that have bidule, another term of the French language. Bidule means a small cylindrical plastic container that extends into the inner part of the crown cap, the one facing the wine, in order to favor the collection of sediments and residues during the second fermentation.

This special closure also facilitates the subsequent operations of remuage and, above all, of dégorgement because the sediments are already "gathered" and collected in the bidule of the cork.

Did you know the operation of "tirage"? In our article you found the answers to your questions and curiosity?