Bottle-fermented sparkling wine: the traditional and transfer methods

Traditional method (méthode traditionnelle)

This is the Champagne method, the way most premium sparkling wines are produced. The base wine is put into the bottle, sugar and yeast are added, and it is sealed. The secondary fermentation in the bottle and the long maturing on the yeast sediment (the lees) give the fine bubbles and the bread-crust, brioche-like aroma. In Champagne a non-vintage batch must mature for at least 15 months, and a vintage one for at least three years.

After maturing, three steps follow:

1. Remuage (riddling): the bottles are gradually tilted neck-down and gently turned so that the yeast sediment collects in the neck of the bottle.
2. Disgorgement: the neck is frozen, and the pressure shoots the small plug of ice out together with the yeast sediment.
3. Dosage: sugar dissolved in wine (the expedition liqueur) is added to the bottle. This decides whether the sparkling wine will be very dry (brut nature) or sweeter.

Transfer method

Here too the secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle, as in the traditional method, but instead of remuage and disgorgement, the contents of the bottle are emptied into a tank, filtered, given the dosage, and bottled again. It is faster than the traditional method because there is no remuage, but it keeps the character of bottle fermentation. It is often used for bottles of unusual sizes.

Further reading

• Wikipedia: Sparkling wine production