Here is an attempt to explain how I make la Pamelita without getting too technical :

La Pamelita is a quality sparkling wine (VINO ESPUMOSO DE CALIDAD to use the spanish term ) made using the traditional method or as it used to be called the champagne method where the process of making the wine fizzy (SECONDARY FERMENTATION) takes place in the very same bottle that you buy in the shop. It is quite a laborius process but I hope that one taste of La Pamelita will convince you that it is time and effort well spent.

PRIMARY FERMENTATION

Red Monastrell grapes are picked at optimum ripenes
(early to mid october) when the balance of sugar, acid and tannins is correct and delivered to the winery where they are destemmed, crushed and sent to a small stainless steel tank as pictured.
The lliquid grape juice is kept in contact with the grape skins by regularly pumping this liquid over the solids to extract colour, flavour and tannins and the process of fermentation is initiated by the addition of a yeast culture. Fermentation is the conversion of sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxiide by yeast and heat is produced as a by product. As I like the fermentation to remain cool , the tank is chilled to keep the temperature of its contents around 22ºC. Carbon dioxide escapes to the atmosphere as the top lid of the tank is left open to avoid building up pressure at this stage.
Fermentation and grape masceration last around 7-10 days during which time the grape juice has become wine.
The wine is drawn off to another small tank and the mass of skins is gently pressed to release some more wine which is blended with the first portion. This second small tank is filled full so that no air is present and is left to undergo malolactic fermentation where lactic acid bacteria convert the hard malic acid to the softer lactic acid. When this has finished and all the yeast and bacterial debris has settled to the bottom of the tank , the wine is racked cleanly from the deposit to another clean stainless steel tank where it sits maturing and stabilising for around 6 months. The wine is partially cold stabilised by dropping its temperature to 5ºC for 10 days and now this base wine is ready to be made into sparkling wine.

TIRAGE TANK

To make sparkling wine sparkle, we employ a second fermentation in a closed vessel to trap the carbon dioxide produced which then dissolves into the wine.
The technical term for starting this process is TIRAGING where a specific volume of a hardy yeast culture and a measured dose of sugar is dissolved in the base wine and this tirage blend is bottled immediately to a heavy weight bottle capable of withstanding pressure up to 6.5 bars ( the pressure in tyres on a double decker bus) and closed with a crown seal ( beer bottle type closure). The aim is to produce about 1% more alcohol and sufficient carbon dioxide to give the wine 5-6 bars of pressure.

BLOCK STACKED

Again it is desirable to ferment at coolish temperatures and this is done by storing the bottles in cool cellars where the temperature year round is around 15ºC. The bottles lie horizontally during this stage and the traditional way to store great numbers of bottles is to stack them in alcoves or along walls . The La Pamelita wall in the photo is 3 bottles deep and is my pride and joy. 7500 bottles are stored in this corner of the winery - it took me 3 days to build it and the exercise is better than any step class as you build the bottle stack 2 bottles at a time climbing on a chair firstly and then a ladder.
All going well the fermentation stage will last 8-10 weeks and now we have sparkling wine in bottle. But the wine must be left to mature , for the flavours to develop and for the gas to integrate into the wine.
La Pamelita is made under the regulatory body of Spanish sparkling wine and as such by law each bottle must spend a minimum of 9 months from the time of bottling to the time of cleaning up the wine ( REMUAGE AND DISGORGING) but because La Pamelita is a very individual quality wine I leave the wine sleeping for a minimum of 24 months - the 98 La Pamelita has now had 52 months in bottle ( or ON YEAST LEES) and the carbon dioxide keep the wine young and fresh.

REMUAGE

As the wine has undergone the second fermentation in bottle , there is a lot of yeast debris in the bottle and this has to be removed by shaking the bottles to get the dead yeast cells in suspension again and settling this material on the crown seals (REMUAGE). The remuage process is traditionally done on shaking tables (PUPITRES) or in small shaking cradles. I use the second method - 216 bottles are shaken and stacked into specially designed cradles and left 3 days at an angle of 90º for the yeast cells to enter the neck of the bottle. Then the cradle is rocked through 8 movements ( there are 4 big feet , 4 small feet and a centarl pivot ) and ends up upright on the 4 big feet with the removal of the pivot - the bottles are all pointing straight down and the sedimentation process is complete.

DISGORGING

The term DISGORGING is used for the process of getting the compacted yeast cells out of the wine wthout losing too much of the gas inside the bottle and the easiest way to do this is to freeze the necks of the bottles in a specially designed chilling machine - the large circular vessel on my left hand side in the photo. The machine chills liquid down to minus 24ºC and the necks of the bottles are left in this liquid for around 20 minutes - the bottles are then turned upright and the crown seal taken off ; the pressure in the wine forces the frozen pellet out - hence the yeast is disgorged and the wine is left clear and bright ; as the pellet flies out , the neck of the bottle is covered with a rubber gloved hand to keep the gas in and then the bottle is put onto the dosing machine.

BOTTLE TO DOSING MACHINE

As the name suggests the dosing machine is where the wine receives its dose of liqueur ( EXPEDITION). The wine in the bottle is now free from yeast debris and has to be finished off by sweetening to the required level to balance the tannins and flavours of the wine and by adding a little preservative in the form of sulphur dioxide to ensure the wine stays fresh until it reaches its final destination of consumption. Sparkling reds need more sugar than sparkling whites due to their tannins. The aim is to smooth the aggression of the combination of gas, tannins and chilling by adding just enough sugar to enhance it rather than leave it cloyingly sweet ; I dont want to lose or compromise the flavours and structure of the wine - drinkability is always my goal.
On the dosing machine , a measured amount of liqueur is added to the wine and then the bottle is topped with more wine to refill the bottle to 750ml.

CORKING

As you can see , all the work that goes into La Pamelita is done manually and it is my 2 hands that do everything ; as the dosing machine works through its cycle, bottles are taken off and the cork inserted using the pneumatic machine pictured here. For quality sparkling wines, it is still normal to use a natural cork but despite buying a very good quality cork there is still a very small risk that the cork can taint the wine leaving a musty dank smell - should you think that any bottle of La Pamelita has been tainted by the cork , you should keep the wine and return it to the shop where you ought it - they will check the wine and should it have a definite cork taint they will replace the bottle and advise me of the problem.

ALL DONE

The same machine that inserts the cork also applies the patterned placa (plaque) and wire (muselet) which holds the cork tightly in place. When the wine is being opened after chilling to 6-8ºC you should never take off the wire and leave the cok in place - the pressure in the wine will force the cork out and this can result in a nasty accident ; treat the wine with respect; when you take the wire off, remove the cork at the same time by rotating the bottle and pointing the cork away from your body.The placas are memorabilia here and many Catalans collect, swap and buy placas. La Pamelita placas are highly prized as they are limited editions. I change the colours when the wine changes year. The first placas from 1996 had a white background with the La Pamelita logo in red, the 1997 placas have a white background with the logo in black (1997 La Pamelita is only available in Spain and Japan) and the current vintage,1998, has placas with the background in grey and thr logo in red. The logo is an original design by the Catalan artist Jordi Benito.

FINISHED STOCK

When the wine has been corked and wired, each bottle is shaken vigorously before being stacked onto pallets. The liqueur is very dense and can just settle at the bottom if the bottle is not well mixed. There are machines that can shake the wine but I use the traditional method, manual; making sparkling red really is a good way of keeping fit.