Remuage is when sparkling wine bottles, such as Champagne, are slowly moved from a horizontal position to an inverted vertical position in order to dislodge and remove yeast sediment in the wine.
What does remuage mean?
Remuage is a French word that means riddling.
Riddling is a process in making Champagne and other sparkling wines, where bottles are rotated clockwise and anti-clockwise and gradually moved from a horizontal to a vertical position with the neck of the bottle facing down.
The purpose of riddling is to gradually move the yeast sediment in the wine through gravity to collect in a plastic cup insert in the neck of the bottle, where it is later removed.
Riddling process
A remeur or riddler is the title of the person who performs this task in Champagne making.
Traditionally, riddling was done by hand on a wooden A-frame called a pupitre.
Riddling by hand is a labour-intensive job that can take up to 8 weeks to move the bottles from a horizontal to a vertical position.
Nowadays, it is usually done by a machine called a gyropalette that simulates hand riddling and can complete the task in just a few days.
Gyropalettes can hold 500 bottles and are rotated and inclined by a hydraulic arm.
Remuage other information
| Remuage Language | Remuage Translation | Remuage Pronunciation |
| French | Riddling | RE-MOO-AH-GE |
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