Sparkling wine methods explained. Four ways to put bubbles in wine.

The traditional method beyond Champagne

In the traditional method, a still base wine is bottled with sugar and yeast, sealed with a crown cap, and fermented again in the bottle. The carbon dioxide cannot escape, so it dissolves into the wine and returns as fine bubbles when you open it. Grapes for sparkling wine are usually picked earlier and at higher yields than for still wine.

Champagne is the classic example, but far from the only one. French Crémant uses the same method. Spanish Cava, mostly from Catalonia around Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, is based on Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada and tends to be fruitier and softer than Champagne. Italy's Franciacorta, near Brescia, is made from Chardonnay and Pinot Nero with Pinot Bianco and now some Erbamat, a high-acid native grape revived to cope with climate change. South Africa makes Cap Classique and Germany makes Riesling-based Winzersekt. Different grapes, soils and climates give each its own character, even with the same method.

The transfer method

The transfer method is a variation: after the second fermentation in bottle, the wine is moved to a pressurized tank, filtered and rebottled. It was popular in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s and is used in Champagne for very small bottles, such as 187 ml splits, and very large ones above three liters.

The tank method: Prosecco and Italy's sweet reds

In the Charmat or tank method, the second fermentation happens in a sealed pressure tank, then the wine is filtered and bottled. The result is fruity and fresh, without the toasty, yeasty notes of bottle-aged sparklers. Prosecco, made mainly from Glera, is the classic example. Its top DOCG areas are Conegliano-Valdobbiadene and Asolo, and Cartizze is the most prized hill. Sarah Heller MW and Fredrik Lindfors, Best Sommelier of the Nordics, compare a frizzante and a spumante to show how the level of fizz changes the wine.

The same method makes Moscato d'Asti, gently sweet at around 5 to 6% alcohol, and the red sparklers Brachetto d'Acqui and Lambrusco. The hosts taste the Nivole Moscato d'Asti from Michele Chiarlo and a Brachetto d'Acqui from Banfi alongside a fruit and mascarpone tart. Find out which one makes the better match, and why matching sweetness levels is so important.

The ancestral method and pét-nat

The ancestral method may be the oldest of all. Around Limoux in southern France, monks of Saint-Hilaire found that wine in corked flasks began fermenting again in spring. Blanquette Méthode Ancestrale is made from Mauzac, bottled while still fermenting, and ends up lightly sparkling, low in alcohol and slightly sweet. Its modern cousin is pétillant-naturel, or pét-nat, popular since the 1990s in the Loire: bottled during fermentation, unfiltered, often cloudy and closed with a crown cap.

Sarah argues that we should drink sparkling wine more often, not only on special occasions. Bubbles come in white, pink, red and even orange, and in every level of sweetness, so it is possible to match a whole meal with sparkling wines alone. Australia, for example, has made sparkling red from Shiraz since the late 1890s.

The experiment: can you just add gas?

The cheapest way to make a sparkling wine is carbonation. Fredrik tries an air compressor, fizzy tablets and a home soda machine. See which approach works, and what the bubbles feel like compared with a traditional-method wine.

Two blind tastings challenge the hosts to identify the method behind each wine, followed by a pizza bianca with zucchini, potato and ricotta. The episode helps you prepare for WSET Level 3 by explaining production methods, grapes and regions.