Bubbly jargon...defined

We make seriously fun wines at MAWBY. That means while like to keep things light and loose on our website, and in our tasting room, when it comes to winemaking, we implement the highest of standards to deliver the best bubbly experience we can to our guests.  

And sometimes, our terminology can get a little....technical. The language of sparkling wine is varied, so for the curious connoisseur we've compiled a Sparkling Encyclopedia. Pour yourself a glass and read on to learn more. 

Sparkling wine: Wine with bubbles produced by a second fermentation in a closed container (either a bottle or a tank). At MAWBY all of our bubbles occur naturally, nothing is carbonated!

Appellation: Geographic area in which grapes used in that wine are grown

Brut: Nearly the driest style of sparkling wine. Extra Brut is the driest. Extra Sec, Demi sec, and Doux are all progressively 

Cepage: Grape varieties used in the wine blend.

Champagne: A region in France and the sparkling wine that is produced in that region.

Cuve Close: A method of making sparkling wine by fermenting a second time in a closed tank, then filtering to remove the yeast, adding dosage and bottling. Faster and less costly than Method Champenoise. 

Cuvee: The first fraction of juice when pressing grapes. The finest and the best, saved for our Method Champenoise wines. 

Degorgement: Disgorging in English the process of removing yeast sediments form the sparkling wine bottle. This is done months or even years of aging the wine in the bottle. 

Dosage: Sweetening added to sparkling wine after removal of the yeast. More dosage makes the wine sweeter. 

Rebeche: The last fraction of juice from pressing grapes. This is dark in color, has the most tannin and almost tea- like to flavor. 

Riddling: Or remuage in French, the process of turning and inclining a wine bottle to slowly slide the yeast sediment to the neck of the bottle. This is necessary to make degorgement happen. Traditionally done by hand by skilled worked, now done by machines like our Gyropalette.

Tailles: The second fraction from the grape press. 

Tirage: The aging period sparkling wine undergoes in the bottles with the yeast lees  prior to riddling and disgorging. The longer the period is, the greater the contribution of flavor and bouquet the yeast will impart on the wine. 

Whole Cluster pressing: Pressing grapes to extract the juice without crushing or destemming. Results in high quality juice that is clean with less flavor and color from the skins of the grapes. 

Yeast Lees:  Dead yeast cells and other naturally occurring sediment.