In Champagne production, remuage describes rotating and tilting bottles to move sediment into the neck.
This operation follows the bottle’s second fermentation and ageing on its lees. Traditionally, workers performed it by hand in wooden A-frame racks called pupitres, turning each bottle gradually while increasing its angle. The sediment eventually collects against the temporary crown cap.
Modern producers commonly use automated gyropalettes, which can riddle many bottles at once while reproducing the same gradual movement. Remuage does not remove the sediment; that happens during dégorgement, when the neck is chilled and the sediment plug is expelled.
A common mix-up is confusing remuage with tirage. Tirage is the bottling and addition of the yeast-and-sugar mixture that starts the second fermentation, whereas remuage is a later clarification step.