Definition: Lie (bottling on lees)

The aim of this type of vinification is to produce a wine that retains a slight effervescence (carbon dioxide from fermentation), smoothness and a certain freshness. These lees accumulate aromatic substances, which the wine benefits from until bottling. This refined technique requires healthy harvests and great care during vinification. Muscadet and Gros Plant are the only wines in France that can use the term "sur lie" (on lees), which refers to this specific method of ageing wine, after undergoing specific checks. In Switzerland, in the canton of Neuchâtel, a recent decree sets similar conditions for the production of unfiltered white wine. This unfiltered wine must have completed its malolactic fermentation and cannot be marketed before the third Wednesday in January for the previous year's harvest. For the vinification of unfiltered wine, natural decanting is used to clarify the must and then, after fermentation, racking is used to refine the wine. Finally, after the second malolactic fermentation, the vats are cooled rapidly to achieve natural stabilisation, with a slight deposit that can only be removed by filtration. Unfiltered wine, a true speciality of the canton of Neuchâtel, is the only wine that you can, and indeed must, swirl before serving to bring the lees (dead yeast) back into suspension, giving the wine its fullness and roundness. Unfiltered wine is a wine that should be consumed quickly. On the other hand, filtration, which also deprives the wine of interesting elements, is necessary to ensure the stability of wines in bottles that will be kept for more than a year.

Champagnisation is a wine-making process that uses lees. Reputable producers allow their non-vintage champagne to age on lees for at least two years. In practice, this period is often extended to six years or more for the great vintage cuvées. It is regrettable that the mandatory ageing on lees is only twelve months for non-vintage champagne and only three years for vintage champagne. Research in this field confirms that contact with yeasts only has a noticeable effect on wine after eighteen months of ageing on lees, with a more pronounced effect after five years. It is therefore clear that low-end champagnes that adhere to the minimum standards do not have time to develop their aromas.