Bubbles and the art of excellence under pressure

Travelling, particularly the international kind, is quite stressful. As I’m sitting here on the plane writing this blog, I’m waiting for a refill of my cup of red wine (my jeans eagerly slurped up my first attempt to imbibe), my middle ear has yet to pop, and the endless wailing of the three infants in the seats right in front of me is as charming as, well, three wailing infants in the row right in front of you.

Some yeast are just built differently

Do you know what is also stressful? Rehydration after a long and deep sleep, and then being inoculated into a pretty harsh medium that will become your new home, and eventually your tomb. Nope, not talking about an Egyptian ruler here. I’m talking about a sparkling wine yeast that must complete the daunting secondary fermentation in a bottle. High alcohol and acid concentrations, crushing pressure, as well as low temperatures, are all factors that a good sparkling wine yeast must overcome during secondary fermentation.

While good base wine (and the primary fermentation) paves the way for a quality sparkling wine, the secondary fermentation just sounds so much more thrilling, doesn’t it? The yeasts responsible for this are well-known for their high alcohol tolerance and ability to pull things through – why do you think they are also used to finish stuck fermentations? Well, look no further than ZYMAFLORE® SPARK. Why? Its alcohol tolerance of 17 % vol, lower temperature tolerance of 10°C, low nitrogen requirement, and suitability for lees ageing, should all make you want to pop a cork. Use this dynamo with a nutrient such as NUTRISTART® to ensure awesomeness. For the (more pedestrian) primary fermentation, original gangsters such as ZYMAFLORE® X5 and ZYMAFLORE® X16 are popular candidates if you’re looking for a more aromatic base wine.

Cleaning up your (riddling) act

But what use is a successfully completed secondary fermentation if the lees in the bottle ultimately sticks to the surface of the bottle, or just hangs around in suspension, during riddling? Not much. Which is why CLEANSPARK® LIQUIDE, our bentonite and alginate-based tirage adjuvant, should be your go-to clarification agent for riddling. This liquid riddling adjuvant quickly and completely removes particles and sediments in bottle.

Bubbles is all about finesse, quantity, and persistence

Moving along to the actual bubble itself, for Laffort ‘bubble physics’ is all about finesse, quantity, and persistence. MANNOSPARK®, which consists of specific yeast cell wall mannoproteins, ticks all of the aforementioned boxes when it comes to prise de mousse. In addition, it also contributes to tartaric and colloidal stabilisation, and it can be added before or after secondary fermentation. How’s that for versatility and ease of use?

This blog only touched on a few aspects of sparkling wine production, so to get the big picture, click here to see our full range of products that will guide you through BIOProtection, juice clarification, fining of must, MLF, primary fermentation, secondary fermentation, and tartaric stabilisation.

The lovely phrase ‘aesthetics of effervescence’ is a phrase that just pops. Just like your sparkling wine should when opened. So, contact the Laffort team if you need more information about making bubbles. In the meanwhile, it seems that I will need headphones – the infants have taken it up another notch!