A modification of this process consists in freezing the neck of the bottle which contains the mud which is then withdrawn as a frozen cork with but little loss. The wine at this point has naturally lost all of its gas, since the cork is opened, and it is practically good still wine. It is necessary therefore to produce a third fermentation in order that the gas may be present in the wine at the time it is consumed. To this end there is introduced into the bottle a solution of pure sugar and brandy. The quantity added is sufficient to make up the loss produced by blowing out the mud, being always a comparatively small quantity for each bottle. The object of dissolving the sugar in the brandy is to add to the wine a slightly greater content of alcohol than would be produced by the natural fermentation of the grape. As a rule, grapes which are used in making sparkling wine are not very high in sugar content, usually not exceeding 20 or 22 percent. The object of the additional sugar dissolved in the brandy is to furnish the material on which the third fermentation may act, thus converting the sugar with the evolution of the carbon dioxid into alcohol. When the brandy and sugar have been added the cork which is finally to be sold with the bottle is inserted and tied down, usually with wire. The bottle is then again placed on a fermenting rack, mouth down, and allowed to remain until the final fermentation is completed, which usually takes from 6 months to a year.

Total Time Employed

It is thus seen that the total time employed for making properly a bottle of sparkling wine is about three years. Very often a longer time is required, and sometimes a shorter.

Breakage

In spite of the great care with which the bottles that hold sparkling wine are made there is always a large percent of breakage during fermentation, which has been estimated as high as 10 percent. It is not unusual to hear the sharp reports of breaking bottles in the cellars where sparkling wine is maturing.