regularly adding fine lees in suspension in the wine. The dead yeast is used for the fine lees which digests itself (autolysis) giving the wine volume and body to support the fruitiness. This operation is called Bâtonnage or stirring and is traditionally done with a stick to agitate the lees at the bottom of the barrel. This technique needs to be well controlled, however, otherwise the wine may take on a Goût de réduit (Reduced taste) due to the activity of reductase sulphite from the yeast. This operation can be done in vats, as in Muscadet, barrels as in Burgundy and many chardonnays, or bottles as in champagne. Maturing can also be done in barrels. The wine is put in barrels after fermentation but fermentation itself may also occur in the barrel. The barrel has a dual role: it flavours the wine giving it a scent of toast, butter, and vanilla but it also helps to mature it by providing a very small regular quantity of oxygen through the wooden walls. This oxygen helps to polymerize the components of the wine making it less aggressive and more balanced. Blending The blending consists of mixing different wines in order to obtain the desired final blend. This assembly can be of varietals (in the case of Bordeaux wines or wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon), or blending of a vintage with varieties (in the case of champagne). This blending may be purely quantitative: various vintages can be blended to achieve the desired volume. It can also be qualitative; the taster or a team of tasters (cellar master, winemaker, owner of the estate, etc.) determine the amount of each wine to mix together in the final blend to obtain optimum quality. In winemaking blending is always empirical, it cannot be predicted that the combination of two or more vintages will give the expected product. The only secure values are analytical values (alcoholic strength, acidity, pH, etc.). Clarification Clarification consists of removing insoluble particles in suspension in the water-alcohol solution that is the wine and stabilization is to maintain the solubility of the elements dissolved in the wine throughout the retention period in the bottle and consumption at the table. To clarify wine, it is necessary to wait for particle deposition at the bottom of the wine container but this can be accelerated by the use of oenological adhesives. These additives bind to the insoluble particles