What is dosage?

Dosage represents the final opportunity for a winemaker to influence the flavours and style of a traditional method wine, before corking. Typically this dosage addition (or liqueur d’expedition in French) includes a small quantity of sugar, used to highlight and enhance the fruit flavours and to round out the acidity often found in cooler climate wines. Subtle differences in the quantity of sugar used (the ‘rate of dosage’ ) can have a major impact on the perception of fruit character and nuance of those flavour notes.

To learn more about dosage, we invite you to step into the shoes of a winemaker and discover first-hand how the addition of sugar affects the style and structure of our sparkling wines during our Dosage Tasting experience. Only available during the autumn harvest season.

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Wine Tasting at Rathfinny Wine Estate Native Visit

What's Included

Starting with a short walk into the Vineyard, your guide will introduce you to our stunning estate, giving you an insight into the history of Rathfinny and the important role our landscape and climate plays in the production of Sussex Sparkling. You will then be given the opportunity to conduct your own dosage trial, adding different levels of sugar to a base wine to see how this affects its final style. The experience will conclude with a guided tasting of four of our highly regarded Sussex Wines.

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Rathfinny Tour Group Walking into the Vineyard

Details

  • Dates: 26th September – 8th November 2025
  • Times: 11:30 a.m. Friday & Saturday
  • Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Price: £35 per person
  • Location: Cellar Door, Rathfinny Wine Estate, BN26 5TU
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Book a Dosage Tasting

Mark holding a plain Rathfinny Reserved bottle up to the light

Learn More about Dosage

In this article we explain the terminology of dosage in relation to the different styles of sparkling wines, from Brut to Demi-Sec.

Learn More

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