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Topping up
After removal of the sediment, the bottle must be topped up immediately and sealed with a cork. Most types of spumante classico receive a dosage, or rabboccatura in Italian, of the so-called liqueur d'expedition, a solution of aged wine and cane sugar. But the driest type, sometimes known as nature or pas dosé, is topped up with the same wine. The dose of liqueur varies according to types, which are classified as follows, according to degrees of residual sugar:
Brut, nature or pas dosé (no more than 15 grams per liter of residual sugar)
Extra dry (from 12 to 20 grams per liter)
Secco (from 17 to 35 grams per liter)
Semisecco (from 33 to 50 grams per liter)
Dolce (more than 50 grams per liter)
Bottles are then sealed with corks, which acquire the familiar mushroom shape with time. Corks are anchored with wire baling, to insure that the pressure within the bottle won't force them out, and bottles are stored for a time so that the liqueur becomes amalgamated with the wine.
On average, a fine, bottle-fermented spumante requires about three years of processing before it is sold. |
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