November 26, 2021

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Bâtonnage

The French term meaning “stirring the lees.” Lees (lies spelled in French) are expired yeast cells. By regularly stirring the lees from the bottom of a barrel (where they have settled after fermentation) back up into suspension in the wine, the wine takes on an even creamier mouthfeel than it would have had were the wine simply left sur lie (“sitting on the lees”).

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