Bubbles, the difference between Metodo Classico and Charmat explained in simple terms
Sparkling wine is a very fascinating technique, but requires experience and appropriate equipment: another demonstration that wine is the fruit of human ingenuity
2' min read
2' min read
We have already explained how wine is made (not just crushing grapes), so now let's tackle the 'bubbly' chapter, i.e. sparkling wines, Italian, French, but not only those.
There are two systems, the Charmat (Martinotti) Method and the Classical Method, which is the same as the one used for the famous French Champagne and which they may call Champenois, but we do not.
Sparkling wine is a very fascinating technique, but it requires experience and equipment.
Let's start with the Metodo Classico. You start with a base wine from high acidity grapes such as chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot blanc - but not only - and add yeast and sugar to it, then bottle it in thick glass and seal it hermetically with crown corks. The taking of foam begins with the bottles stacked horizontally.
At this point the added yeasts begin to eat the sugar, transforming it into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide, a process that lasts about a couple of months and at the end of which the dead yeasts tear down the side of the lying bottle. The bottles are left with that graveyard of yeast for a long time in the dark, always lying down, and in the meantime the carbon dioxide, unable to escape from the hermetically corked bottle, finely dissolves to produce a thin, elegant and persistent perlage. After at least a year and a half, the 'remuage' is carried out, which is a real shaking and can be done by hand or with large machines. Basically, the bottles are swirled so that the yeasts come off the walls.
Atthis point, the bottle is placed upside down so that the yeasts settle in the neck and to remove them, they proceed by immersing that neck in brine at minus 20 degrees Celsius, so that the small amount of sparkling wine containing the dead yeasts freezes. After that, the bottles are turned again, set upright, and uncorked. The pressure of the carbon dioxide literally blows off the frozen piece of wine containing the yeasts and the wine remains beautifully clear. This process is called 'disgorgement', (dégorgement in France). To finish, it is necessary to replace that drop of sparkling wine skipped with disgorgement and this is done by refilling with more sparkling wine or with small doses of cane sugar and distillate solutions, if you prefer to obtain a slightly softer wine. Next: mushroom stopper, aluminium cage and the sparkling wine is ready!
