How Sparkling Wine is made

It is the most technical of all wines and one of the most appreciated. Its complexity is due to the second fermentation, which does not occur in conventional wines and is responsible for the most singular characteristic of these wines, the creation of bubbles. There are six methods for making sparkling wine:

- Traditional Method
- Charmat Method
- Transfer Method
- Ancestral Method
- Continuous Method
- Carbonation

Traditional Method
This method, also called Classic or Champenoise because it is the method used in the Champagne region, is the slowest and most expensive process and the most appreciated for quality sparkling wines. It was perfected over centuries in the Champagne region and it has a very particular appearance. The glass bottle accompanies the wine from the time it starts the second fermentation until it reaches the final consumer. The most distinctive characteristic of the use of this method is the fact that the second fermentation is carried out in the bottle. But, see here the seven stages of this method.

1 - Base Wine: The harvested is made a little earlier so the grapes preserve the necessary acidity. High acidity is one of the desired characteristics in a sparkling wine base wine. With the various base wines made, the oenologist makes the final blend in what the French call cuvée.

2 - Tirage: A solution composed of yeast and the so-called tirage liqueur is added to the cuvée. The tirage liqueur is a sucrose syrup containing the necessary amount of sugar. Together with the active yeasts, 0which are added at the same time, will enable the second fermentation and release carbon dioxide. This stage is performed in tanks. After the tirage, the wine is bottled and capped with a cap.

3 - Second Fermentation: This second fermentation, which takes place inside the bottle, adds around 1.3% more alcohol and creates CO2 (carbonic gas) which is retained inside the bottle. The added yeast dies in a process called autolysis and remains inside the bottle. The contact with the yeast will result in less fruity sparkling wine but with more aromatic richness. Generally, they present more structure and a more delicate formation of bubbles.

4 - Ageing: wines are aged on their lees (particles of autolytic yeast) for a certain period to give the wine texture. For example, a Champagne requires a minimum of 15 months ageing and, if it is Vintage Champagne the minimum is 36 months.

5 - Rémuage: This operation, which is specific to this method, aims to direct yeast deposits towards the neck of the bottle, thus obtaining a limpid wine. This wine clarification process could be done manually or mechanically. In the manual process (which still happens today), the bottles, placed on special racks, called "pulpitres", will progressively go through a rotation and inclination movement until they get upside down. A professional "Remueur" can handle around 40 000 bottles a day. In the mechanical process, more used nowadays, the bottles are placed in "automatic revolvers" containing 500 bottles. That process reduces the time of this stage from 6 weeks to 1 week without altering the quality of the wine.

6 - Dégorgement: The neck of the bottles, placed upside down, are frozen. The crown cap is removed momentarily and the frozen piece of lees is expelled by the bottle's pressure.

7 - Dosage: The dosage liqueur or expedition liqueur as it is more commonly known, is composed of cane sugar dissolved in the wine at a rate of 500 to 750g/l. The quantity of liqueur used for dosage will determine the style of wine:
Sweet over 50 grams of sugar per litre
Medium Dry between 32 and 50 grams of sugar per litre
Dry between 17 and 32 grams of sugar per litre
Extra Dry between 12 and 17 grams of sugar per litre
Brut less than 12 grams of sugar per litre
Extra Brut between 3 and 6 grams of sugar per litre
Brut Natural if the amount of sugar is less than 3 grams

The addition of expedition liqueur may have little or much influence on the wine's profile. If the winemaker wants to preserve the personality of his wine, will use an expedition liqueur as neutral as possible, i.e., the cane sugar is dissolved in the same type of cuvée. If he wants to complete the wine's profile with other flavours, he will use an expedition liqueur with a wine from other cuvées that he has stored for years, for example. Of course, long before this process, the winemaker will perform several expedition liqueur tastings to select the one he wants for the final profile of his wine.

Charmat Method
This process was invented in 1895 by the Italian winemaker Federico Martinotti but patented in 1907 by the Frenchman Eugène Charmat. It is also called the Tank Method or Italian Method, and differs from the Traditional Method because the second fermentation occurs in pressurised tanks. The wines are then filtered, dosed with expedition liqueur and, bottled without ageing. These sparkling wines are fresher and, the secondary aromas (aromas coming from fermentation) are more marked. It is a much cheaper method because the time and labour spent are much less. The prices of these sparkling wines are usually much more attractive. It is the method used for Italian Prosecco and Lambrusco wine.

Transfer Method
The Transfer Method appeared in the first half of the 20th Century in Germany (Hornsey, 2007) to enjoy the advantages of secondary fermentation and bottle ageing characteristic of the Traditional Method but avoid the rémuage and dégorgement stages. In this method, the second fermentation occurs in the bottle, as in the Traditional Method, but the clarification (rémuage) and the removal of the lees (dégorgement) are done in a less expensive and less labour intensive way. After the second fermentation, the wines are removed from the bottles (which are rinsed to be reused) and go into a pressurised tank to be filtered (yeast removal). The wine is then bottled again, always under pressure, preserving its natural carbon dioxide.

Ancestral Method
It is named "Ancestral" because it was the first known method of sparkling wine vinification. It is also known as the Rural or Natural Method. It consists of bottling the must, which is not fully fermented. Freezing temperatures are used to stop fermentation, the wine is bottled, and fermentation ends in the bottle by creating carbon dioxide. There is no second fermentation, i.e., the so-called tirage liqueur (sugars and yeast) is not added, dégorgement (removal of sediment) is not done, and is not added the expedition liqueur. The Pétillant Naturel, or Pét-Nat use this vinification method so they are cloudy due to the sediment that is trapped in the bottle.

Continuous Method
This process is also known as the Russian Method (the Russians are major consumers and producers of sparkling wine) and is considered a variation of the Charmat Method. It is an industrial-scale process involving the production of sparkling wine by a system of sequentially interconnected pressurised tanks. In this method, yeasts are added continuously in pressurised tanks. Then the wines are moved to other tanks with yeast enrichment (sometimes wood chips) to which the dead yeasts from the previous process are attached and left floating. Finally, the wine is moved again to other pressurised tanks to be filtered and then bottled. Currently, apart from the Russians, there are only a couple of big companies using this method.

Carbonation
The carbonation method simply takes a still wine and carbonates in a pressurized tank. Thisv is an industrial method that produces bulk sparkling wines of lower quality.

Now that you are clear on the various methods used to make a sparkling wine make your choice. Synonymous with charm and elegance, the presence of a versatile sparkling wine is indispensable in any wine cellar.  Lighter and refreshing or more complex and gastronomic these effervescent and bubbly drink is always irresistible. Here are our suggestions: Sparkling Wines