Style
Brut
Dosage category for sparkling wine: up to 12 g/l residual sugar. The de-facto standard for non-vintage Champagne, around 95 percent of production.
What it is
Brut is a dosage category under EU regulation for sparkling wine: up to 12 grams of residual sugar per litre after the liqueur d’expédition (the wine-and-sugar mix added after dégorgement) is in. In Champagne it is the most common designation on the label: about 95 percent of production falls under Brut.
How it works
After the second fermentation, each bottle receives a liqueur d’expédition before the final cork goes in. The sugar in that liqueur balances Champagne’s unusually high acidity. A well-judged Brut at 8 to 10 grams doesn’t taste sweet; the drinker just perceives more fruit and roundness than in a Brut Nature.
In the glass
Brut sits between dry and nearly dry. The acidity leads, the sugar works in the background as a balancing element. Not the most revealing style for pure terroir (Brut Nature shows the base wine more nakedly) but the style that serves the broadest audience and pairs with the most food.
Where it sits on the scale
From dry to sweet:
- Brut Nature: 0 to 3 g/l
- Extra Brut: 0 to 6 g/l
- Brut: up to 12 g/l
- Extra Sec: 12 to 17 g/l
- Sec: 17 to 32 g/l
- Demi-Sec: 32 to 50 g/l
- Doux: over 50 g/l
Climate effect
Over thirty years, the average acidity of Champagne has dropped 1.3 g/l (CIVC data). Many houses have lowered their standard dosage in parallel: what was at twelve grams in 1990 now often sits around seven or eight grams. Brut is still Brut on the label, but the wine inside that category has become drier.