THE PROCESS
Our Principles
Nature plays the leading role in our winemaking. We strive to understand its course in the vineyard and the cellar in order to make the best possible wine, one that embodies the local terroir and the full character of the varieties it is made from.
Carefully selected grapes are crushed immediately and mixed with an already prepared pied de cuve (yeast starter), which enables the rapid start of fermentation under a controlled temperature of 16 °C.
When the base varietal wines mature, blends are prepared for individual sparkling wines. The exact share of the individual variety in the blend depends on the desired characteristics of the sparkling wine, and those expressed by the wines of the current vintage.
The prepared blends are bottled and a new yeast starter added for the purposes of secondary fermentation, which creates the sparkling wine from the still wine. When this process is complete, it will also produce a sediment (dead yeast) on which the sparkling wine then matures. The precise time of the sparkling wine's maturation on the lees is a crucial component of its production, since this is when the autolysis process of yeast runs its course and releases amino acids into the wine, giving it a distinctive character on the nose and palate. The more years the sparkling wine spends on the lees, the greater amounts of different amino acids are released, enriching the variety of wine’s flavour and aroma.
The sparkling wine ages in bottles until disgorgement, when a special procedure is used to remove the sediment, produced during secondary fermentation, from the bottle, and the final sweetness level is set by adding an appropriate amount of liqueur d'expédition (also called dosage – in our case a sweet wine from late harvest). We don’t add any liqueur d'expédition to the Brut Zero sparkling wine.
Nature plays the leading role in our winemaking. We strive to understand its course in the vineyard and the cellar in order to make the best possible wine, one that embodies the local terroir and the full character of the varieties it is made from.
Varieties
The lands of the Goriška Brda winegrowing district rest on sweeping Alpine foothills with a strong touch of the Mediterranean. Three grape varieties are used to make Bjana sparkling wines. Two of these varieties are typical of the wine region Champagne (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) and one is the local Ribolla Gialla. Chardonnay gives wine its body, rich aroma and fullness, Pinot Noir adds structure and fruitiness, while Ribolla contributes its elegance and freshness.The Winemaking Process
All Bjana sparkling wines are made using the traditional method. The vinification of the still base wine is performed separately according to variety, in stainless steel vats or in 225-litre oak barriques for Cuvée Prestige.Carefully selected grapes are crushed immediately and mixed with an already prepared pied de cuve (yeast starter), which enables the rapid start of fermentation under a controlled temperature of 16 °C.
When the base varietal wines mature, blends are prepared for individual sparkling wines. The exact share of the individual variety in the blend depends on the desired characteristics of the sparkling wine, and those expressed by the wines of the current vintage.
The prepared blends are bottled and a new yeast starter added for the purposes of secondary fermentation, which creates the sparkling wine from the still wine. When this process is complete, it will also produce a sediment (dead yeast) on which the sparkling wine then matures. The precise time of the sparkling wine's maturation on the lees is a crucial component of its production, since this is when the autolysis process of yeast runs its course and releases amino acids into the wine, giving it a distinctive character on the nose and palate. The more years the sparkling wine spends on the lees, the greater amounts of different amino acids are released, enriching the variety of wine’s flavour and aroma.
The sparkling wine ages in bottles until disgorgement, when a special procedure is used to remove the sediment, produced during secondary fermentation, from the bottle, and the final sweetness level is set by adding an appropriate amount of liqueur d'expédition (also called dosage – in our case a sweet wine from late harvest). We don’t add any liqueur d'expédition to the Brut Zero sparkling wine.
