What is riddling in Champagne production?

• A. The process of filtering suspensions in tanks
• B. The process of turning bottles to collect dead yeast toward the neck.
• C. The process of removing the cork leaks
• D. The process of aging in oak barrels

Answer: (B)

Riddling is the traditional step in the Champagne method where bottles are gradually rotated and tilted so that the sediment from the wine’s secondary fermentation—the lees—collect at the neck of the bottle. By maneuvering the bottles, the lees are moved down through the wine and end up frozen in the neck, ready to be disgorged. This clarifies the wine and makes the final product cleaner and with a more refined bubble. It’s often done on riddling racks by hand or with automated gyropalettes. It’s not about filtering in tanks, removing cork leaks, or aging in oak barrels, which are separate parts of production.