SPARKLING WINE PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES



 Prise de mousse in bottle – traditional method

The “traditional method” was born at the end of the 17th century in Champagne.  Note that the méthode Champenoise is a traditional method, but this designation is strictly reserved for the appellation of Champagne.

Legend attributes the invention of this method to Dom Pérignon, a monk and cellar master at Hautvillers, near Epernay.  It is important to know that due to the climate of the time, the grapes were often picked late in the season and the fermentation in the cellars was considerably slowed down by the winter cold.  It then picked up again when better weather returned, giving a slightly sparkling wine, certainly pleasant to drink, but which overflowed the barrels or made the bottles explode.

This phenomenon inspired production methods known as “rural” or “ancestral”, in which the still-fermenting wine is transferred from the vat to the bottle when just the right quantity of natural grape sugar remained to avoid the secondary fermentation in bottle developing excessive pressure.  These methods do not allow the addition of sugar to the wine.

The “traditional method” as such is based on a slightly different control of this fermentation in bottle, namely that the second fermentation is not spontaneous, but rather is provoked by the addition of a calculated quantity of sugar after the first production phase which is the complete fermentation of a dry still wine.

All these methods of fermentation in bottle demonstrate a singular aspect, in that each bottle is never exactly similar to the next one and represents a unique batch, which it is impossible to check individually before dispatching.


 Prise de mousse in a closed vat

The method of production in a closed vat, also known as the Charmat method after the name of its inventor at the beginning of the 20th century, is based on the same principles as the traditional method, the difference being that the prise de mousse takes place in a vat under pressure and not in bottle, thus allowing final clarification of the wine in bulk.

In effect, when this method appeared, the tedious operations of riddling and disgorging of the traditional method were neither mechanized nor automated, and so it offered the advantage of better regularity and lower manpower cost.