How dry is dry?

摘要

Herve Deschamps, cellarmaster of Perrier-Jouet, calls it "the salt and pepper that bring out the flavors of the i agreedients." The "it" he refers to is dosage (doe-SOJ), the final flourish of the Champagne blenders task. Dosage is the addition of a small amount of sugar and still Champagne wine. This is done just before the cork isput in the bottle, and just after the dead yeast cells that make the bubbly fermentation in the wine have been disgorged.But an increasing number of Champagne houses have launched offerings without any dosage, using only what comes from the vine. These wines, called brut nature or brut zero, are challenging the traditional concept of blended Champagne, where dosage was considered essential.