Dégorgement begins with freezing the bottle neck in a brine solution at -25°C, creating an ice plug that traps the sediment. The bottle is then opened crown-cap down, and internal pressure — six atmospheres, enough to launch that cork fifteen feet — ejects the frozen plug in one swift motion. Within seconds, the chef de cave adds the liqueur d'expédition: a precise blend of reserve wine and sugar that will define the final style. The dosage ranges from zero grams per liter for Brut Nature to seventeen grams for Demi-Sec, measured to the decimal. The bottle is immediately corked, caged, and given final aging to marry the dosage with the wine.
These final steps separate Champagne from every other sparkling wine method. The liqueur d'expédition isn't just sweetening — it's the house signature, often containing reserve wines spanning decades. Krug's dosage includes wines from their perpetual reserve dating to the 1980s. Dom Pérignon adjusts their liqueur vintage by vintage, sometimes adding no sugar at all. The timing matters too: dégorgement à la volée, done by hand, loses less pressure than mechanical systems but requires master cellar workers who can disgorge forty bottles per hour without losing a drop. Some houses, like Bollinger's special cuvées, still disgorge entirely by hand.
Now you know what's in the glass. Find the bottle that belongs in yours.
Find your Champagne moment →The chef de cave decides when each cuvée reaches perfect clarity after riddling — too early and sediment remains, too late and autolysis flavors become excessive. They determine the exact liqueur d'expédition formula, often kept secret for generations. At Jacques Selosse, Anselme Selosse tastes each disgorged bottle before adding dosage, adjusting the blend bottle by bottle. Some houses add oak-aged reserve wines to their liqueur, others use only the base wine with cane sugar. The decision of when to disgorge also affects the wine: some bottles are released immediately after dégorgement for maximum freshness, others rest for months to integrate the dosage fully.
Fresh dégorgement creates a distinctive texture — tiny, persistent bubbles and a certain liveliness on the tongue that softens over months in bottle. You'll taste the dosage integration: well-married dosage feels seamless, while recent dégorgement sometimes shows a slight disconnect between the wine's natural acidity and the added sweetness. Bottles marked with dégorgement dates let you track this evolution. Zero-dosage Champagnes reveal the wine's true character — all minerality and precision from the terroir, with no sugar to soften the edges. The mousse quality changes too: recently disgorged bottles often show more aggressive carbonation that calms with bottle age.