Vineyards at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide, South Australia
National Wine Centre, Adelaide
National Wine Centre, Adelaide
National Wine Centre, Adelaide

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Sparkling!

Ten years ago, we hadn't heard of sparkling wines. They were called Champagne. However, due to agreement with France that French appellation names will not be used on wines from other countries, the name Champagne can only be used on French Champagnes ... made in Champagne.

We'll look into this more on another page at another date, but suffice it to say for now that's why the word 'Sparkling' was introduced.

This is an interesting style of wine, in that there are several methods used to make those bubbles of carbon dioxide [CO2]that rise to the surface hopefully for the length of time it takes you to drink it.

Production of base wines for making this style are pretty much similar to table wines. The difference, and indeed the distinguishing factor for sparkling wines is the source of CO2.

What's the difference?

True Champagne ONLY comes from the Champagne region in France. Anywhere else in the world that makes bubbly wine can only call them Sparkling wines, and they can be either red or white.

Of all the methods of making sparkling wines, carbonised wines are not only the cheapest, they age fastest, and are generally made from common, multi-purpose grapes varietals.

Asti-spumante, the northern italian style sparkling, is aromatic with pungent, rich spicy aromas and is fresh on the palate. Asti-spumante magically retains a fine, delicate structure whilst exhibiting strong flavours. This is not the case with most new world sparklings.

German Sekt is made via a little-known about tank aging process on Sylvaner and Müller-Thurgau.

The most popular grape varietals used for making Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Why so? The combination works well together! Chardonnay exhibits strong flavour on the palate initially, but dies back, Pinot Meunier offers little initial flavour, but intensity increases on the midle palate as the Chardonnay dies back. Propping them up along the way and building intensity with time is Pinot Noir - offering length and flavour persistence on the palate.

Sparklings come in various styles, depending on level of sweetness:

  • Brut [very dry] - has up to 15 g/L sugar

  • Extra Dry - has 12 to 20 g/L sugar

  • Sec [bit sweet] - has 17 to 35 g/L sugar

  • Demi-Sec [sweet] - has 33 to 50 g/L sugar

  • Doux [very sweet] - has over 50g/L sugar

[Back to Top]

Viticulture Considerations

Once again we're back in the vineyard to commence our winemaking process. It is said that 50% of the quality of the resulting wine depends on the vineyard.

Grapes used for sparklings need to reach flavour ripeness whilst maintaining relatively high acidity and lower sugar levels (less than 11 degrees Baumé). Thus the cooler regions in each country are most suitable for the finest sparkling wines.

In Australia, for example, the finest sparklings undoubtedly come from Tasmania.

Warmer climates produce fuller-bodied sparklings with broad varietal characters, higher alcohol levels, age quickly, lack delicacy and freshness.

So what is it that makes French Champagne so stunning? Well, apart from the prowess of the winemakers, and low solar radiation, it's the 'Continentality Factory'.

Continentality refers to the difference between summer's heat and winter's chills. A high continentality factor in Champagne means that vine development takes place slowly during Spring, and ripening happens slowly over Autumn.

[Back to Top]

Grape Varietals used for Sparkling Wines

There's quite a repertoire of grapes going through the sparkling wine processes.

Some countries have restrictions on what grapes they can use, and once again Europe is at the forefront of dishing out regulations. France has a selection for each region that makes sparklings, however Champagne itself only uses:

  • Pinot Meunier

  • Pinot Noir

  • Chardonnay

  • Gamay

  • Pinot Blanc

  • Petit Meslier

  • Arbanne

America, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Spain have free choice.

[Back to Top]

Sparkling Winemaking Methods

There are nine methods for production of sparkling wines. We'll list them all add more notes on the main ones:

Method Notes
Carbonation Used for mass production of cheap sparkling wines - usually from irrigated, mechanically harvested grapes. CO2 saturated still base wine under high pressure. Sugar syrup is often added, and bulk cool storage assists retention of freshness. Bubbles in resulting sparkling wine tend to be large and rise from different areas of the glass when poured.
Asti-Spumante Classic style of Piedmont, Northern Italy. Primary fermentation takes place in a pressure tank, allowing part of the CO2 to remain dissolved in the wine.
Vinho Verde This traditional method of Northern Portugal. Secondary fermentation - carried out by lactic acid bacteria - takes place in the bottle.
Rural Method This method has been practised in some areas of Europe, notably Northern Italy and Southern France. The process is similar to Asti-Spumante, but fermentation is stopped whilst there's still residual sugar left. Secondary fermentation then converts this sugar using yeast in bottle.
Modified Charmat Process The Modified Charmat process is used in Germany, Italy and most new world wine producing countries. These wines are generally low quality, attract low pricing and thus low quality grapes are used. Grapes are often grown in irrigated, warmer regions in most countries. Base wines are blended with sugar syrup in a pressure fermentation tank where it's innoculated with yeast and left to ferment. The wine is settled in the tank before transfer to a second pressurised vessel where sweetening liquer is added. Finally after clarification and sterilisation, the wine is bottled under pressure.
Continuous Production This process was pioneered in Russia and is based on the tank fermentation process above, only with wine continuously collected from the fermenter on one side of a bulk fermentation tank and continuously bottled on the other. If this sounds familiar, it's because this is how beer is made.
Tank Aging Similar to Modified Charmat, however involves actually aging the wines on yeast lees in a pressure tank for up to a year. Geman Sekt is made using this method, as are some Italian sparklings.
Transfer Method This is a widely used, large-scale method whereby secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle. Clarified still wine is blended and transferred to a pressure tank, where it is given a dose of sugar, liquer and more yeast [called tirage] to kick off secondary fermentation, then re-bottled. The bottles are sealed with a crown seal [metal cap] and left for the secondary fermentation process. The bottles are rested on their sides for 6-12 months. At this point the wine is transferred back to a pressure tank where it is blended, allowed time to settle, filtered under pressure to another tank, from which it is then rebottled under pressure.
Méthode Champenoise
 This is the traditional, bottled fermented method used by the champagne makers of France. It's so complex and detailed that we'll review it seperately below.

[Back to Top]

Méthode Champenoise - Doing it French Style

Juice extraction

Selection criteria for grape ripeness varies between viticultural location, grape varietal and style of wine to be produced. But in general, you'd be looking for high quality grapes which show some varietal flavours, without being over-ripe. Sugar levels need to be around 10-11 degrees Baumé, and balanced acidity with low pH will ensure freshness of the base wine from which the champagne is made.

Grapes are preferably hand-picked, and whole bunches pressed without crushing. This minimises colour bleed and tannin pick-up from the skins. As an added benefit, this decreases the need for sulphur dioxide use , so gives the winemaker the opportunity to use controlled oxidation techniques to introduce complexity in the wine.

The best quality cuvees in France are restricted to around 510 litres per tonne of free-run juice.

The most popular grape varietals used for making Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Why so? The combination works well together!

Chardonnay exhibits strong flavour on the palate initially, but dies back, Pinot Meunier offers little initial flavour, but intensity increases on the midle palate as the Chardonnay flavours diminish.

Propping them up along the way and building intensity with time is Pinot Noir - offering length and flavour persistence on the palate.

Débourbage

The juice is settled and clarified - solids are racked off. If necessary further filtration -perhaps centrifuging occurs.

Primary Fermentation

Juice is fermented with use of selected yeast at between 11-14oC for around 10 to 14 days. In France the addition of sugar is allowed to compensate for inadequate natural grape sugars. After fermentation, bentonite anddiammonium phosphate are added for clarification purposes.

Assemblage & Coupage

At this point the wines are racked off and blended. This sometimes involves different grape varietals, even from different regions, to make the desired base wine.

Reserve wines can make up to 25% of the blend, and are used to add dimension and structure to the base wine. Reserves wines are often aged in oak barrels of different sizes to enable a variety of blending options.

The base wine is then fined using isinglass or gelatin and undergoes cold stabilisation.

Tirage Liquer

Tirage Liquer is sugar syrup, which is added to the sugar at a level depending on the alcohol content required, prior to levurage [yeast addition], and tirage [bottling]. The bottles are crown sealed [metal cap] and stored.

Entreillage

The bottles are stacked laying horizontal for 6 months to several years depending on the quality of wine being produced, and maintained at a temperature of 12 to 15oC.

Yeast autolysis is not fully understood, however it is believed that it takes around 12 months for the yeast to impart sensory properties into the wine.

Rémuage

After the desired period of aging has passed, the bottles are stacked on shaking tables [riddling tables or pupitres], then inverted into racks.

For several weeks the bottles are individually twisted back and forth every day by hand.

The reason for all this agitation is to bring the yeast deposit to the neck of the bottle against the crown seal.

Dégorgement

The necks of the bottles are chilled to minus 24oC, before the bottle is held right way up and the crown seal removed. The pressure inside the bottle blows out a plug of yeast and sediment. This can be done by hand or machine - obviously depending on size of production!

The bottles are then topped up [remplissage] with a mixture of expedition liquer [sugar dissoved in base wine] and the original wine. How sweet this liquer is depends on the style of wine being made.

Sometimes there is no liquer addition at all. Usually this is where richly fruit-driven styles are being made.

Bourbage & Habillage

The bottles are then corked [bourbage]. If an agglomerate cork is used, one or two high quality cork discs come in contact with the wine. A muselet [wire frame] holds the cork down against the pressure inside the bottle. Finally the cap is dressed [habillage] with foil over the muselet, and the bottle labelled.

[Back to Top]

Last updated: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Further Reading:

Copyright © Debra-Jayne Kimlin 2006. All rights reserved. No text or imagery of this site may be used without prior consent. Disclaimer.