Sparkling Wine – Metodo Classico and Metodo Charmat
Italian wine manufacturers produce sparkling wine using two methods - Metodo classico / tradizionale / champenoise bottle fermentation and Metodo Charmat. Both methods involve making the wine effervescent utilizing significant levels of carbon dioxide.
Metodo Classico
This is a traditional, time-consuming, and expensive method of preparing sparkling wine. Grapes are to be plucked before they ripen completely to ensure that the acidity is high and sugar content is low. Grapes are harvested, crushed, pressed, and fermented to produce wine. The fermented wine is clarified and stored in a bottle. Pinot Nero and chardonnay grapes are generally used.
Wines of different varieties are blended together to produce a cuvee. A thick viscous solution referred to as liqueur de tirage is added to the cuvee. The bottle is capped with lid and shaken before being placed horizontally in a cellar for secondary fermentation. Alcohol is produced as yeasts act on the sugar releasing carbon dioxide. Bubbles are produced during this process. Italians refer to the process as presa di spuma and the bubbles as perlage. Temperature in the cellar should be low.
Depending on the desired wine quality and flavor the wine is allowed to mature for a certain time period. After aging is complete yeast and later sediment is removed. A final dose of aged wine and cane sugar called liquer de expedition is added and the bottle sealed with a cork. Wire bailing is used to ensure that the cork does not give out due to the pressure inside.
Metodo Charmat
Procedure is the same as described above but instead of a bottle secondary fermentation is done in a specially designed pressure tank. It is relatively less expensive and the wine after fining and filtration can be bottled within three months to one year after harvesting.
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