THE ELABORATION
OF CORPINNAT

Manual harvesting allows us to decide which grapes deserve to reach the winery and which do not; an indispensable requirement for obtaining quality wines. This capacity for selection, based on the judgment and sensitivity of the human team and still unattainable for any machine, guarantees that we can work only with fruit in optimal sanitary condition and ripeness. The result is direct and incontestable: raw material of the highest quality.

Pressing is a decisive operation in winemaking: it allows the extraction of must from the grapes and, by working in fractions, preserves the identity of the fruit and selects the finest and most balanced musts. Pressing with utmost respect favors the aromatic expression and evolution potential of the wine.

Not all parts of the grape have the same concentration of sugars, acids, and polyphenols. Therefore, the pressing yield is key: as pressure increases, the extraction of polyphenols, oxidative enzymes, potassium, and other compounds that can alter acidity, balance, and the wine's aging capacity also increases.

Deciding how far to press—what we know as the press cut—is, therefore, one of the major decisions of each winery. In Corpinnat, different approaches to this extraction coexist, from whole-cluster pressing to skin contact maceration, always with the aim of expressing the fruit and its origin.

In the 2026 harvest, the yield is 64.4 liters of wine per 100 kg of grapes. A figure that, beyond the yield itself, speaks to an essential matter in winemaking: knowing how far to extract in order to preserve what we truly seek in the wine—purity, balance, expression, and aging capacity.

Must settling, with all its variables, helps us remove suspended solid particles such as lees, skins, and other impurities present in the must after pressing. Working with clean and stable musts allows us to preserve varietal virtues and obtain wines that are clean and true in their aromatic profile.

Once settled, the must is ready to begin the first fermentation under temperature control. During alcoholic fermentation, yeasts transform the sugars in the must into alcohol. As a result of this fermentation, we obtain the base wine. A Corpinnat base wine is a wine in process, without bubbles yet, made with the structure, acidity, and aromatic profile necessary to withstand a long aging. In short, a wine that already possesses the characteristics, essential nuances, and vocation to become a great Corpinnat sparkling wine.

The blend, the combination of different base wines to construct a final profile, defines the style of each winegrower-producer and their Corpinnat sparkling wines.

The richness of the territory's winemaking landscapes, the heritage of historic varieties, the idiosyncrasy of the climatic conditions of each vintage, and the interaction of all these physical, historical, and human factors offer each winegrower-producer base wines with very distinct profiles: from blends that seek balance and complexity, to single-varietals that precisely interpret the character of a variety and a place.

It is through blending that the winegrower-producer can organize this diversity and build their own style, a personal expression that, at the same time, maintains a deep bond with the landscape, varieties, and vintages of the Corpinnat territory.

Whether a blend or a single-varietal, the Corpinnat base wine is bottled to initiate the second fermentation or prise de mousse inside the bottle, the moment when the wine naturally acquires its characteristic bubbles.

Tirage consists of adding the so-called liqueur de tirage into the bottle along with the base wine; a mixture of wine, sugar, and yeasts that ensures the second fermentation.

Once the tirage is done, the bottles are laid horizontally to rest, the so-called rima, to start the second fermentation and, subsequently, the long aging process.

The prise de mousse consists of a second alcoholic fermentation that takes place inside the bottle. The carbon dioxide naturally generated during the second fermentation becomes integrated into the wine due to the internal pressure, which can exceed 5–6 bars. It is this pressure that will allow the natural carbon dioxide gas to be released in the form of bubbles when opening the bottle.

Long bottle aging refines the character of Corpinnat sparkling wines. After the second fermentation, which usually lasts no more than a few weeks, the wine rests on its lees for an extended period of time. In the case of Corpinnat, and unlike other sparkling wine designations of origin around the world, the wine's aging in the bottle is for a minimum of 18 months.

During this time, the wine evolves in a slow and progressive manner. Thanks to the autolysis process, the yeasts break down, interact with the wine, and modify its structure and aromatic profile. Moreover, in long agings with natural cork stoppers, the minimal ingress of oxygen and the gradual release of a small amount of carbon dioxide promote a very slow oxidation, another phenomenon that helps shape the wine's style.

Giving time to the wine allows us to gain volume on the palate, a creamy sensation, fine and well-integrated bubbles, and greater aromatic complexity, which makes it possible to sensorially penetrate the heart of the wine.

Once the winegrower-producer considers the aging complete, the riddling process must begin, which consists of progressively moving the sediments from the second fermentation toward the neck of the bottle. Whether done manually or mechanically, the bottle undergoes small successive rotations of one-eighth of a turn each day combined with a slight tilt. In this way, the sediments slowly travel until they accumulate in the neck of the bottle, preparing the wine for disgorgement.

With disgorgement, the bottle is opened so that internal pressure expels the sediments, striving to maintain the clarity of the wine and lose as little liquid as possible, which is replenished in the next step, the dosage.

Dosage is the final step before sealing the bottle with the definitive cork stopper. It consists of adding a small amount of liqueur d'expédition, a mixture usually made up of wine and, if applicable, a specific dose of sugar. The wine in the liqueur d'expédition may come from the same sparkling wine, from reserve wines of the winery, and, in some cases, from aged or oxidized wines that contribute other nuances. The liqueur d'expédition is added to the bottle to refill it after the losses from disgorgement and to adjust the final style of the winegrower-producer without altering the identity of the wine.

When no sugar is added to the liqueur d'expédition, or the dose is less than 3 g/L, the sparkling wine is classified as Brut Nature, the category that expresses with greatest purity the character of the wine, the vintage, and the terroir. Other dosage levels result in other categories depending on the final residual sugar content (see table).

Labeling and finishing the bottle crown the crafting process of all Corpinnats. Once the cork stopper is driven under pressure into the bottle's neck and secured with the metal wirehood, the bottle is labeled and dressed with all the identifying elements of each winery and the collective brand. The exacting standards and rigor with which our sparkling wines are made call for a presentation befitting one of the most demanding regulations in the winemaking world. That is why a quality sparkling wine is only Corpinnat if the label says Corpinnat.