It’s a process I think most people would truly appreciate. From the vine to the bottle, years of patience and care, to the day the winemaker gets to cork their sparkling wine.

Jean-Michel Jussiaume is no stranger to this process, although some new and borrowed equipment is helping move things along.

“When riddling was over, then we set them on the end of the bottle, because we don’t want to re-blend the lees,” Jean-Michel says.

Once frozen, the bottle is popped open and put on a machine called a leveler.

Jean-Michel isn’t adding dosage, which is a small amount of wine usually mixed with sugar, added back into the bottle once that yeast plug is disgorged, he says there’s enough residual sugar in his Maison Jussiaume 2019 Blanc de Blanc.

“I got myself a little neck freezer, I used to use a traditional freezer and do everything more or less, it requires a little bit more technicity, so this makes it a little more easy,” Jean-Michel says.

At minus 22 degrees Celsius, the remaining sediment inside the bottle freezes, allowing for a clean disgorging.

A machine adds a small amount of sparkling wine, just to cap off the bottles from whatever was lost during disgorging. A bit of sulfur, a cork, and the cage.

Then the bottles are cleaned and set aside for labels.

It’s another step in the sparkling wine journey for Jean-Michel, who has set out to create the best, the liveliest, the tastiest bottle of bubbles he can.

In true fashion, Jean Michel is always striving for more.

“It was a good vintage, the 2019, but in pursuit of making the best sparkling wine, Jean-Michel says, “I want to make [the next vintage] even better.”