What is tirage in sparkling wine?

Where does tirage fit in the process?

In the traditional method, tirage comes after the base wine has been prepared and, where relevant, blended. The broad sequence is:

1. Base wine: Still wines are made and may be blended.
2. Tirage: The wine receives its liqueur de tirage and is bottled.
3. Second fermentation: Yeast ferments the added sugar inside the sealed bottle.
4. Lees ageing: The wine remains in contact with the spent yeast cells, called lees.
5. Riddling: The lees are gradually collected in the neck of the bottle.
6. Disgorgement: The lees are removed.
7. Dosage: The bottle is topped up before its final closure.

The liqueur de tirage is not a fixed recipe for every producer. Wine, sugar and yeast are the usual core components, while some production descriptions also refer to a processing aid. The important point is what the mixture does: it gives the yeast fermentable sugar and places that fermentation inside a sealed bottle.

How does tirage create bubbles?

The second fermentation produces both alcohol and carbon dioxide. In an open vessel, much of that gas would escape. In a sealed bottle, it is retained and dissolves into the wine. That dissolved carbon dioxide is released as bubbles when the wine is opened and poured.

After fermentation, the yeast sediment remains in contact with the wine during lees ageing. This period can influence the wine’s texture and contribute possible savoury or pastry-like characters, although the result depends on the wine and how it is made.

Tirage versus dosage

These two terms are easy to confuse because both involve an addition to the bottle.

Tirage happens early. It adds the materials needed to initiate the second fermentation.

Dosage happens later, after disgorgement. Also called liqueur d’expédition or liqueur de dosage, it is used to top up the bottle and may contain sugar. This addition helps shape the finished wine’s sweetness and style.

So, tirage helps create the wine’s sparkle; dosage helps determine how the finished wine is presented. Tirage is not a sweetness category, and it does not by itself prove that a wine is better quality.

Does every sparkling wine use tirage?

No. Tirage is especially associated with traditional-method or bottle-fermented sparkling wine. Transfer-method production can also use a liqueur de tirage, but the wine is later transferred to a tank for processing. In the tank method, the second fermentation takes place in a tank rather than in the bottle. Other methods, such as carbonation or some ancestral-method approaches, follow different processes.

Australian readers may encounter traditional method or méthode traditionnelle when learning about bottle-fermented sparkling wines made in Australia. The underlying production concept is the same, but terminology and detailed practices can vary between producers and wine regions.

Frequently asked questions

Is tirage the same as secondary fermentation?

Not exactly. Tirage is the preparation and bottling step that initiates the secondary fermentation. The secondary fermentation is the yeast-driven fermentation that follows.

Is dosage added before or after tirage?

Dosage is added much later, after lees ageing and disgorgement. It is not what creates the bubbles.

What does “en tirage” mean?

It generally refers to wine resting in bottle with its yeast lees after the tirage stage, while it matures before later processing.