Champagne was not always so crystal: In the early 1800s, trapped sediment often rendered it cloudy and unappealing. The traditional process of making champagne from sparkling wine entailed "riddling" consolidated sediment by hand, to be later removed. In modern times, riddling is done almost entirely by machine, except for those devoted amateurs who insist on the human touch.
Instructions
1. Place bottles at a 45-degree angle, neck-down.
2. Grab the bottom of each bottle and shake it gently, while also giving it an abrupt back and forth twist. This shake and twist helps dislodge particles that have clung to the glass and prevents sediment from accumulating in one spot.
3. Slightly increase the tilt of the bottle and drop it back in the rack. This helps to encourage the particles to move further downward.
4. Repeat this process every one to three days, over a period of several weeks.
5. When riddling is complete, freeze the collected sediment to form a "plug." The plug is later removed, after which point the wine can be corked, caged, labeled, and shipped to market.
Tags: later removed