One of the interesting areas of traditional method sparkling wine is dosage. This is an additional tool in the winemaker’s toolbox and one aspect that helps create the style of the winery.

Dosage is the addition of a small amount of dissolved sugar at disgorging (which is when the sediment from the second fermentation is expelled from the bottle). You may say ‘what’s the big deal’?

When we planted the vineyard in 2012 and shortly afterwards in 2014 launched the winery we realised that there are hundreds of small actions and decisions in the vineyard and the winery that make a top wine. And dosage is one of those.

On the bottle, you will find the dosage expressed in words such as ‘brut’, ‘extra brut’, ‘demi sec’ and ‘brut nature’ and so on. They tell you how much sugar has been added – in simpler terms how sweet is the wine. Union des Maisons de Champagne has a comprehensive list:

Extra-Brut: 0-6 grams of sugar per litre

Brut Nature: less than 3 grams of sugar per litre

Brut: less than 12 grams of sugar per litre

Extra-Dry: 12-17 grams of sugar per litre

Sec: 17-32 grams of sugar per litre

Demi-Sec: 32-50 grams of sugar per litre

Doux: more than 50 grams of sugar per litre

The sugar is dissolved, and this liquid is called liqueur d’expédition. It may use the same wine or it may be reserve wines which can further assist the wine. If you don’t add any sugar and just use the same wine to top up the bottle you have a Zero Dosage wine or 100% Brut.

I find it so fascinating that when we are trialling out different levels if sugar (called a dosage trial) the human taste organs can differentiate between one gram of sugar. At Oxney we will start with a zero dosage wine and then in different glasses add one additional gram of sugar. Tasting through these options is super interesting and you can quite easily find the dosage that suits the wine by making it more balanced and less austere. But twice we have opted for a zero dosage wine (our current batch of Non Vintage Rosé and also the 2019 Vintage Rosé).

The story starts earlier than that however, and in fact in the vineyard.  Having a vineyard of 35 acres (just under 14 Hectares) surrounding the winery we can pick at the optimum time when the grapes are as ripe as we can get them. We watch the weather forecast and often opt for the latest possible days to pick to achieve phenolic ripeness (less bitter, more soft and fruity flavours). Which is probably why our wines are very low dosage. For instance, our Vintage 2019 classic cuvee has a dosage of 1.5 gr/L while the highest of our current wines is the 2019 Blanc de Blancs which is just 3.2 gr/L.

Have a look at the bottle next time you pick up a sparkling wine (hopefully a Oxney!) and if it isn’t clear on the bottle you can look at the technical details on the producer’s web site.

Dosage is all of course about taste so there is no correct answer. Over the last few decades the drier, lower dosage, wines have for sure become more popular.  But if a demi-sec is your thing that is also OK!

Cheers!