Tirage

Step 7 · liqueur de tirage

At tirage the blended wine is bottled with liqueur de tirage, a mix of wine, sugar and yeast that starts the second fermentation.1,2 Champagne forbids tirage before 1 January after the harvest, and EU law caps the alcohol the liqueur may add at 1.5% vol.3,4

The liqueur

EU law defines tirage liqueur as the product added to the cuvée to provoke the secondary fermentation.4 It is a mixture of still wine, sugar and yeast; riddling aids such as bentonite, alginates or tannins are added to help the lees settle later.1,2,8 The Union des Maisons de Champagne gives these figures:

  • The liqueur holds 500-625 g of sugar per litre and adds 24 g of sugar per litre of wine.2
  • It is added at 3 L per hectolitre, giving 1.2 to 2.4 million live yeast cells per litre.2

Closure

The bottles are sealed with a crown cap holding a hollow plastic insert, the bidule, which later collects the yeast deposit.2

Dates and limits

RuleValue
ChampagneFrom 1 January of the year after the harvest3,5,1
Crémant de Loire, Crémant de BourgogneFrom 1 December after the harvest6,7
EUTotal alcohol of the cuvée raised by 1.5% vol at most4

The French texts are INAO drafts under national opposition. Tirage is the start of the clock for most minimum ageing rules. Next comes the prise de mousse. The ancestral method has no tirage liqueur at all.

See also

Assemblage and reserve winesMethodsPrise de mousseMethodsMinimum ageing by appellationMethodsTraditional methodMethodsChampagneRegions

Sources

  1. Comité Champagne (champagne.fr). Bottling and second fermentation
  2. Union des Maisons de Champagne. Tirage or bottling the blended wine
  3. Cahier des charges de l'AOP « Champagne » - modifications approved by the INAO national committee on 11 September 2024 (national opposition procedure text) (2024-09-11)
  4. legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Annex II (sparkling wine oenological practices), as reproduced on legislation.gov.uk (2019-03-12)
  5. Cahier des charges AOP Champagne, proposed modifications approved by INAO national committee 18 June 2026 (2026-06-18)
  6. Cahier des charges AOC Crémant de Loire, proposed modification approved by INAO national committee 27 November 2025 (2025-11-27)
  7. INAO. Cahier des charges AOC Crémant de Bourgogne, modification project after national committee of 11 February 2021 (2021-02-11)
  8. Comité Champagne / champagne.education. L'élaboration du Champagne (fiche) (2024)

Facts checked on 2026-10-19