There’s not enough said about the vastness of the sparkling wine category. Understanding its nuances can lead one down a bubbly rabbit hole: The grape varieties used, production method choices, aging requirements and seemingly endless additional factors that can tremendously impact the final drinking experience.
Chris Gaither, master sommelier and wine director at Ungrafted and GluGlu in San Francisco, explains that regardless of the type of sparkling wine, all purposefully have a high amount of carbon dioxide trapped inside their bottles.
“There are two popular styles derived from the method of fermentation and aging: traditional method and Charmat method,” he says. The traditional method is synonymous with Champagne, though it is used all over the world today to make high-quality sparkling wine. “The traditional method requires that a [fermented base wine] undergoes a second fermentation in the same bottle it will be sold in,” Gaither explains. That secondary fermentation is what causes carbon dioxide—in other words, bubbles—to be trapped within the bottle.
On the other hand, the Charmat method also involves a secondary fermentation, though it takes place in a large, pressurized tank rather than individual bottles. “This helps to preserve the fresh fruit aromatics of the sparkling wine, and doesn’t require long periods of aging,” Gaither explains. This is also the go-to method for producing the majority of Proseccos. “This style of sparkling wine is also quite popular, as it is less expensive and much easier to produce compared to traditional method bubbly.”
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This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
