Dosage

The wine and sugar solution added to the champagne before the final corking is called dosage. In addition, a dash of top quality pale brandy is sometimes added. The brandy prevents the supplemented sugar from fermenting later. The formula of this dosage or shipping solution (liqueur d'expédition) is not subject to any standard and is determined differently by the cellar masters of the various houses (often secret mixtures!).

After disgorging, there is also a little too little liquid in the bottle. With this dosage, i.e. the mixture of wine and - depending on the desired taste - more or less sugar, the disgorgement loss is compensated. If no dosage with sugar is to be made (e.g. with Ultra Brut Champagne), wine from other bottles with the same content is used for topping up. Depending on the strength of the sugar solution in the dosage, the following terms are noted on the bottle:

* Brut integral, Ultra brut:
Without addition of any dosage with sugar.

* Extra Brut:
Dosage with 0 to 6 g/l residual sugar in the wine

* Brood:
Dosage with max. 15 g/l residual sugar in the wine.

* Extra-Dry:
Dosage with max. 20 g/l residual sugar in the wine.

* Sec:
Dosage with max. 35 g/l residual sugar in the wine.

* Demi-sec:
Dosage with max. 50 g/l residual sugar in the wine.

* Doux:
Dosage with more than 50 g/l residual sugar in the wine (rare among champagnes).

The bottles are shaken after (final) corking to ensure the good mixing of this solution with the champagne.

Historically, the qualified addition of a dosage gained great importance especially in the 19th century. At that time, the export market was flourishing. Exporting houses in Champagne learned to adapt to the 'sweetness' popular in certain countries. Historian Francois Bonal notes that sugar levels were carefully tuned at the time: Russian customers loved their Champagne very sweet (275-300g/bottle). Americans, on the other hand, preferred 110-165g/bottle. In England, on the other hand, 21-66g/bottle was just right. In the domestic market of France, however, the added sugar was kept between 165 and 200g/bottle (that is, 15 to 20 times more sugar than we are used to today in a typical Brut).

The reason for different dosages was that champagne was enjoyed differently in different countries at the time. In 1835, for instance, Thomas Walker noted in his book 'The Original' that champagne should be offered right at the beginning of a meal and placed on the table in such a way that each guest could help himself as desired. As is the case today, the sweetness of Champagne in England at the time was tuned to make it an ideal companion throughout the meal. In France, however, champagne was rather popular as a dessert wine and its sweetness was adjusted accordingly. It was not until after the First World War that the Brut finally prevailed in its current, more natural form ('Dry-Style') on an international level.

Annotation:
The general term dosage can sometimes also refer to the filling dosage (liqueur de tirage) of wine, yeast and sugar, which is added to the wine blend (cuvée) to ensure, among other things, the achievement of the correct carbon dioxide content of the final product. This dosage represents the 'starting signal' for the second fermentation (in the bottle).