Carbon dioxide is one of the many byproducts, along with alcohol, created when yeasts consume sugars—what we call fermentation. Thus, all wines made from 8,000 years ago to the present day started out a little fizzy. But that dissolved CO2 dissipates quickly, like an open can of club soda left on the counter overnight.
It wasn’t until 1531 that some monks in Limoux, in the Languedoc region of southern France, worked out how to keep the bubbles in wine. It was a period in history that coincided with the beginning of the mass-produced bottle industry. You see, without glass bottles, or some other sort of sealable, impermeable vessel (like an aluminum can), it’s impossible to keep the CO2 dissolved in the liquid.
In the ensuing centuries, and with more technological developments like the stainless-steel tank for fermenting and storing, the techniques for making sparkling wines improved dramatically and consistency perfected.
Today, there are four main methods used to keep the bubbles in, each devised with a specific style and price in mind. Here’s a quick primer:
- Gas injection
Technically, this is not a way to keep the bubbles in but rather put them back. It’s a simple and cheap process, and quality usually matches price. It involves simply injecting carbon dioxide into wine in a sealed tank and bottling it under pressure. You, too, can make sparkling wine at home—just use your SodaStream on any still wine. (Caution: it foams up a lot.)
- The traditional/Champagne Method/Méthode Traditionelle/Method Cap Classique
The traditional method, also known as the méthode champenoise, is the most expensive and time-consuming way to make sparkling wine. It also produces the best quality; all the world’s priciest and tastiest bubbles are made this way, including champagne.
It’s a multi-step process that first involves making a dry, still (non-sparkling) wine, which is then bottled with a slurry of yeast and sugar called the liqueur de tirage. The bottle is then sealed, usually with a crown cap or, more rarely, a cork. Fermentation restarts as the added yeasts go to work on the sugars, but now, as the wine is contained in a sealed impermeable vessel, the carbon dioxide remains trapped and dissolved in the now-sparkling wine.
And then the real magic happens. The bottles are left as they are for several months, up to many years, with the dead yeast cells still inside, a period known as en tirage, sur lattes, or sur lie. During this aging period, a process called yeast autolysis causes the spent yeast cells (called “lees”) to break down, releasing all those marvellously toasty, biscuity, brioche-like flavours for which traditional-method sparkling wines are appreciated. The longer the wine spends on the lees, the more complex, toasty flavours it develops, and the finer the bubbles, or mousse, become.
Vintage Champagne, for example, spends a minimum of three years aging on the lees by law—though many wines are kept much longer, sometimes a decade or more. Nine months is considered the minimum period needed to start to develop those autolysis flavours; 24 to 36 months is standard in most places. It’s thus a time- and space-consuming process. You’ll want a large, underground cellar.
The methode champenoise is the most expensive and time-consuming way to make sparkling wine. It also produces the best quality.
John Szabo
And then you’ll want to remove the dead yeast cells before the wine is sold, lest your bubbly be cloudy. This is another labour-intensive and time-consuming process called remuage or riddling, which adds considerable cost. Bottles need to move from the horizontal position to vertical with the neck down, and also shaken along this journey to get the yeasts to move down to the neck. This was once, and still may be, done by hand: a little shake, a little twist and a little tilt upwards over several weeks. Machines are often now used to achieve the same end.
Once vertical, the bottles’ necks are dipped in an icy brine to freeze the lees and the cap is removed. The pressure inside the bottle pushes the plug of frozen yeast cells out, a process called disgorging (dégorgement). And finally, and immediately after disgorging, bottles must be topped up and sealed again quickly to keep the bubbles in. The topping-up liquid, called the liqueur d’expedition, is composed of wine from the same vintage (to make vintage-dated wine) or reserve wines (older vintage wines to make non- or multi-vintage wines, though in many cases the reserve wines are blended into the base wine before the second fermentation). Red wine is added to make rosé (wines are only rarely pink from the start). And sugar, called the dosage, is also often mixed into the top-up wine to balance the finished product.
On the label, the words Brut Nature, Brut Zero or Zero Dosage all mean that no sugar was added. Extra Brut indicates a small amount of sugar, up to six grams per litre, while Brut can have up to 12 grams. Dry and Extra Dry are, confusingly, quite sweet, a nomenclature hangover from the days when all champagne was very, very sweet; 19th-century Cristal by Louis Roederer reportedly had up to 300 grams/litre of sugar. The cuvées with a little less sugar, say only 50 or 100 grams, while still sweet to modern palates, were actually considered quite dry, or even extra dry, back then.
Outside of Champagne, you’ll find excellent traditional method bubblies from across Canada, Germany, northern Italy (Franciacorta, Alta Langa, Trento DOC), Spain (higher-end cava), and just about everywhere fine chardonnay and pinot noir are grown.
- The Charmat/Cuve Close/Tank/Martinotti Method
The Charmat method, or any of its synonyms above, like the traditional method, calls for a second fermentation of a base wine through the additional of sugar and yeast. But in this case, it happens in a large stainless-steel tank rather than a small bottle, with the lid closed to retain the bubbles. Frenchman Eugène Charmat takes credit for devising the technique in 1907, though his method was simply an improvement on Italian Federico Martinotti’s innovation in sparkling wine production in 1895.
This method is used most often for fresh wines from aromatic varieties like moscato or glera (aka Prosecco), as the large volume of wine relative to the small amount of lees left over adds virtually no toasty/yeasty/autolytic flavour and allows the character of the grape variety to shine. The wine is filtered under pressure before bottling to remove the yeasts. It’s thus much faster and cheaper than the traditional method, and the wines, too, are invariably less expensive.
- Méthode Ancestrale/Rurale/Gaillacoise/Artisanale/Pétillant Naturel/Pét-nat
The ancestral method, more popularly “pét-nat” these days, is the most ancient way of making (purposely) sparkling wines, traced back to those monks in Limoux who recorded success with the technique long before bubbles were common in Champagne.
The method involves simply bottling wine while it’s still fermenting. The wine continues to ferment in the closed bottle, reaching dryness (or close to it) while trapping the CO2 produced. The wine is then sold as is, unfiltered, with the lees floating about, with no added sulfites (there are minor variations). So, expect a frothy, cloudy, usually dry wine with lower pressure (less bubbles) than traditional method sparkling, and flavours on the more oxidative side of the spectrum, sometimes downright funky. These generally won’t have the complexity of a traditional-method sparkling, nor the bright fruit of a Charmat method, but you could say they have a charm of their own. Pét-nats are very popular in natural-wine drinking circles.
And with that, on to some recommendations from each method (except the gas injection) to help you celebrate the holidays in style, now armed with good cocktail party/dinner table facts to impress your friends.
NB: Prices are Ontario retail.
Traditional Method
Mas Codina Reserva Guarda Superior Brut Nature, DO Penedes, Spain
$25, Nicholas Pearce Wines Inc.
Well-made and flavourful cava in the brut nature style (no added sugar), from a generational family polycultural farm, recently devoted to just organically farmed vines (and olive trees) in the Alt Penedès. I like the toasty, creamy citrus fruit; lees aging flavours are in stark relief, mixing with a good degree and range of other flavours. An impressive example in the category.
Huff Cuvée Peter F. Sparkling 2022, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario
$39
Pure chardonnay from Huff’s P.E.C. estate, this tastes very much like Chablis with bubbles, really packed with substance from low-yielding vines. A fine and representative bubbly that would fit the aperitif hour comfortably.
Ca’ Del Bosco Cuvée Prestige Extra Brut Franciacorta, DOCG Lombardy, 47th Edition, Italy
$46.95, Philippe Dandurand Wines Ltd.
The 47th vintage for Ca’ del Bosco’s classic Prestige Cuvée Franciacorta, this latest lot, disgorged in “winter 24/25,” pours a pale golden colour and delivers a complex and toasty/yeasty/autolytic amalgam of honeyed and caramelized citrus fruit, roasted peach and apricot and wheat toast in the classic traditional-method expression. Fine bubbles overall and more than fairly priced in context.
Henry of Pelham Cuvée Catharine Carte Blanche Estate Blanc de Blancs 2018, Short Hills Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario
$49.95
Cool and composed, complex and engaging, Henry of Pelham’s top Blanc de Blancs cuvée delivers serious goods in the 2018 vintage. There’s just so much to like here, starting with the complexity and ending with the price—a bargain in the premium Blanc de Blancs universe.
Tawse Spark David’s Block Blanc De Blancs 2011, VQA, Twenty Mile Bench 2011, Ontario
$54.95
How remarkably youthful for a wine that spent 13 years on the lees! It was clearly built to age and has now reached a fine stage evolution and drinks beautifully now. Serve in white wine glasses rather than flutes for maximum enjoyment.
Drappier Zero Dosage Brut Nature Pinot Noir Champagne, France
$74.95
I like the precision and the forthrightness of Drappier’s latest pure pinot noir from the Côtes des Bars, a properly lean and chalky but not shrill Brut Nature. I love the salinity and the attractive and wide range of non-fruity flavours, gypsum, wet limestone, chalk, put into relief by a squeeze of ripe lemon and lime. Dosage is not missed. Compact, energetic, tidy stuff in the end. Another excellent bottling from this storied producer, and nicely priced as well.
47087 Domaine Evremond Classic Cuvée, Chilham, Kent, Traditional Method, England
$99.95, Family Wine Merchants
An Anglo-French collaboration between Pierre-Emmauel Taittinger (of Champagne) and Master of Wine Patrick McGrath, this was a real head-turner, the first, ambitious edition of the Classic Cuvée from Evremond, aged 36 months on lees. “The intention was to create a cuvée that expresses the … Kentish terroir, with its chalky soils and oceanic influence,” note the winemakers. It’s a remarkably detailed and refined, elegant and sapid sparkling, with more than a lick of non-fruity, wet-stone-like character and, especially, saltiness. If this is the first edition, I look forward to many more to come. Already it sits up there with serious Champagne, and I wonder what P-E Taittinger thinks of Evremond’s — and Maison Taittinger’s — future. I put this a notch above Taittinger’s (also excellent) current NV release.
45281 Champagne Stanislas Bonafe Cuvée 07 Champagne 2012, France
$159.95, Family Wine Merchants
A former French national team equestrian, Stanislas Bonafé traded horses for grapes, apprenticing in top Champagne houses before opening his own maison in 2010. Cuvée 07 is an assemblage of seven grand cru villages, a classy, top-quality Champagne, up there with prestige cuvées at twice the price. A magnificent celebratory wine, in perfect drinking shape now.
Charmat Method
25382 Carpenè Malvolti 1868 Brut Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, Veneto, Italy
$19.95, Sylvestre Wines & Spirits
Carpenè Malvolti, founded in 1868, is Italy’s oldest family-owned sparkling wine company and the first to produce Prosecco as a sparkling wine. This is classic stuff, well-made and ready to enjoy nicely chilled—one of the best options for the money out there.
126614 Malivoire Che Bello Sparkling, VQA Ontario
$19.95
If the style (and price) of Prosecco is what you’re after, but you want to support local, this is your best bet. I like the energy and crunchy acids delivered here. Fruit swirls in the straight citrus-green herb category, while flavour length and depth are totally correct. Chill, crack, go.
45847 Masottina Contradagranda Valdobbiadene Superiore Extra Dry Prosecco, Italy
$20.95, Nicholas Pearce Wines Inc.
There’s surely an extra degree of depth and complexity in this Prosecco from Masottina, not as sweet as most Extra Dry versions, with fine breadth and depth. I like the range of white-fleshed orchard fruit flavours, the lemon and orange zest, the green pear. Ready to chill and go.
Pét-Nat/Ancestrale
Stratus Trials Field Blend Ancestral Rosé 2024, Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario, Canada
$45
Stratus’s “Field Blend” series of ancestral method sparkling wines is composed of a blend of all 16 varieties planted at the estate. I find this rosé version particularly compelling and complex, offering orchard and berry fruit—just a friendly and joyful mouthful overall. Complexity remains modest relative to similarly priced, and indeed less expensive, traditional method sparklings from Ontario, but then again, you’re buying this for the novelty and curiosity, and to support the ongoing and laudable experimentation at Stratus to test the limits of what’s possible in Niagara.
That’s all for this piece, see you ’round the next bottle!
John Szabo is Canada’s first Master Sommelier and one of the best-known Canadian voices in wine. He’s a principal critic for WineAlign.com, where you’ll find all his latest articles, reviews and wine recommendations, and Curator-in-Chief for the WineAlign Exchange, which offers members a curated case of fine wine quarterly. Follow his adventures on Instagram @johnszaboms and Facebook.
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