1- Base wine
2- Fermentation in bottle
3- Fermentation in rima
4- Clarification in pupitre
5- Disgorging and reserve wine
6- Market
b) Second fermentation in bottle and "rima"
The second fermentation begins with the addition of so-called licor de tiraje, a mixture of a wine older than the base wine, with sugar and selected yeasts dissolved in it, and a small quantity of Bentonite that acts as a clarifier. The licor de tiraje and the base wine are mixed in a tank and later the wine is bottled in a process called tiraje or llenado de botellas (bottle filling). The design of the bottles plays an important role in this second fermentation, as the shape is designed to withstand the enormous pressure produced inside it. Once full and well sealed with a cork-lined metal crown cap, the bottles are moved to underground cavas (cellars) where fermentation takes place.
The cavas are cellars, generally located underground, where low temperatures and the proper humidity level is maintained all year round. There, the bottles are racked on their sides in rows called bloques de rimas.
The yeasts do their work in this horizontal position for a minimum of nine months. If the fermentation is too slow, the bottles will be changed from one rack to another to shake the Cava and stir up the sediments, thereby restarting the retarded activity of the yeasts. This must be done before the five-month point, which is the estimated lifetime of the yeasts. During this entire process, the state of the gas in the bottle is closely monitored to ensure that it is forming correctly, guaranteeing the slow, prolonged rise of fine bubbles later in the glass.
c) Clarification in "pupitre"
The process following the second fermentation is clarification, during which sediments are collected in the neck of the bottle. To do so, the bottles are transferred to the pupitres, which are slightly inclined A-frame wooden racks. They are racked leaving the golletes, the ends of the neck of the bottle, sloping downwards so the sediments collect close to the mouth of the bottle.
Clarification includes an operation called riddling or removido. Every day for 21 days, an expert gives each bottle a brusque turn so the sediments slide towards the mouth of bottle, while the liquid remains stable, transparent and clear. The movement is a turn of the wrist and, if done correctly, each turn corresponds to one-eighth of the circumference of the bottle. Traditionally, this procedure has been done manually, although special machines are now often used.
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