Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

This morning, we watched an episode of Wine Masters on sparkling wines hosted by Sarah Heller and Fredrik Lindfors. They went through all of the methods of putting bubbles into wine and elaborated on the styles. It went a bit quickly, so I thought I would investigate a bit more and write a blog.

Method	Description
Traditional Method	Hand-pick whole clusters (mechanization causes split skins allowing for early oxidation, undesired color extraction) Gentle pressing (ie. Many Champagne houses have presses right in the vineyard) 1st fermentation to create still, dry base wine (around 10-11% alcohol) Blending (varietal base wines, vineyard sites, reserve wines, etc) Liqueur de tirage (yeast, nutrients, clarifying agent, sugar) 2nd fermentation in bottle (alcohol increases by 1.2-1.3%) Note: the bottle where second fermentation occurs is the same bottle that the customer purchases. Yeast autolysis (contact with dead yeast cells creates additional flavors, richer texture) Riddling (process of slowly turning and tilting bottles downward in a series of moves so yeast sediment glides to neck of bottle where it can be frozen and expelled) Disgorgement (term for the removal of the frozen yeast cap) Liqueur d’expedition (topping up with wine and any desired sugar level – called dosage – for the final style) Bottle aging (some regions have minimum aging requirements)
Transfer Method	Often hand-picking of grape clusters Gnetle pressing 1st fermentation to create still, dry base wine (around 10-11% alcohol) Blending (varietal base wines, vineyard sites, reserve wines, etc) Liqueur de tirage (yeast, nutrients, clarifying agent, sugar) 2nd fermentation in bottle (alcohol increases by 1.2-1.3%) Yeast autolysis (contact with dead yeast cells creates additional flavors, richer texture) Wine emptied into tanks Filtering to remove dead yeast sediment Liqueur d’expedition (topping up with wine and any desired sugar level – called dosage- for the final style) Re-bottled in a new bottle Bottle aging
Tank/Charmat Method	1st fermentation in stainless steel tanks to create base wine 2nd fermentation in sealed tanks (dry base wine is placed in tank together with sugar, yeast nutrients, and a clarifying agent) Wine is filtered Wine is bottled under pressure
Asti Method	Must is chilled so it does not start fermenting, and is stored until needed. (It is fermented to order to create a fresh, new batch.) When needed, must is warmed and fermentation (the one and only fermentation with this method) starts. Initially, CO2 is allowed to escape. Partway through, the tank is sealed to retain CO2 Fermentation is stopped early (by chilling the wine) at 7-7.5% abv, so the wine is left sweet (with unfermented sugar) and a minimum of 4 atmospheres of pressure. Wine is filtered and bottled
Carbonation Method	CO2 is injected into a wine and then the wine is bottled under pressure
Ancestral or Pétillant naturel Method	Pétillant naturel is the oldest method of making sparkling wine, also known as the méthode ancestrale or ancestral method The wine is moved from vat into individual bottles while it is still fermenting, and then sealed under a crown cap Bubbles are created when carbon dioxide gas, a byproduct of alcoholic fermentation, gets trapped in the wine The wine is not filtered and no dosage (sugar) is added, which is why pét-nat is considered more “natural” than other sparkling wine styles

The last sparkler that Heller and Lindfors showcased was a still wine into which they infused CO₂ using the Soda Stream for carbonation. The experiment went a little awry. We have a Soda Stream and my husband is thinking of trying their experiment.
References:
1. Napa Valley Wine Academy, The 5 Ways to Make Sparkling Wine.
2. Master Class, What Is Pétillant Naturel?, September 28, 2021.