Pointage

French · shaking down sediment

Pointage is shaking bottles to free sediment from the sides so it slides into the neck.1

It belongs to remuage, the work of gathering the deposit onto the closure.2 The deposit is easier to move thanks to the riddling aids (adjuvants de remuage) added at tirage.3

The bottle ends sur pointe, neck down, and is then stacked neck down for disgorgement (dépointage).1 Manual riddling on wooden pupitres takes 4-6 weeks, with about 25 turns on average.4 Machines cut this to about a week.4,1 See riddling.

See also

RemuageGlossarySur pointeGlossaryDépointageGlossaryRiddlingMethods

Sources

  1. Union des Maisons de Champagne. Pointage, remuage (riddling) and dépointage
  2. OIV International Code of Oenological Practices, II.4.2 Second fermentation in bottle (II.4.2.1-II.4.2.6)
  3. Union des Maisons de Champagne. Tirage or bottling the blended wine
  4. Comité Champagne (champagne.fr). Riddling

Facts checked on 2026-10-19