More and more champagne houses decrease the dosage. This is the small dose of sugar that is added to the champagne just after the sediment has been removed (the disgorgement). Not adding any sugar at all has become a trend that we certainly have not seen the end of yet.
In Drinks Business we now read that Moët & Chandon’s cellar master Benoît Gouez says that the dosage is not just meant to sweeten the champagne and soften the high acidity. No, it also helps the wine to recover from the disgorgement and protects the champagne from the oxygen that slips into the bottle during this operation.
We assume that his views are not shared by all those who make excellent bone dry champagnes with zero added sugar. The maximum you are allowed to add to a Brut Champagne is 12 grams of sugar per litre.
One Response
This view is not entirely new, and has as far as I know been held by Tom Stevenson for many years, in particular with respect to avoiding too much oxidation. His view has been that zero-dosage Champagnes do not keep very well.