The Buzz About Bubbles: A Delve into Sparkling Wine Methods
Sparkling wine is created by trapping CO2 in the bottle during fermentation.
While Champagne has always been a treat, we’ve become accustomed to drinking more bubbles since Prosecco became more easily accessible. But sometimes while enjoying that bubbly, have you thought about how it’s made? To pare sparkling or semi-sparkling wines down to the bare minimum, they are created by trapping the natural carbon dioxide created during fermentation and maintaining it with a high enough level of pressure to cause the molecules to meld with the wine. These CO2 molecules are what is released in the form of bubbles when the bottle is opened. While some methods of this are more famous than others, it may be surprising to learn that there are seven different methods of creating sparkling wines! What differs in these methods? To understand, let’s have a look of sparkling wine and its ancestry.
So What Defines a “Sparkling Wine”?
By definition “sparkling wine” can be anything that has residual CO2 in the bottles, causing bubbles to form when opened. Making bubbles can be done by many methods using wine made with any grape. Yet, we are exposed to a very small cross section of the types of sparkling wines, mainly Champagne made in the Traditional method with pinot noir and chardonnay grapes and Prosecco made in Charmat method with Glera (aka Prosecco) grape. Yet, there is a whole world sparkling wines out there, made by even other methods and with a huge variety of grapes. With the holidays just around the corner, now’s the time to find out more.
Sparkling Wine in History
Historically, sparkling wine can be traced back as early as the 1500s in a French monastery of Saint Hillaire in south-western France (in the total opposite direction of the now world famous Champagne region!). In fact, the famous Champagne Dom Perignon takes its namesake from a French monk in the 1600s who noticed bottles in monastery cellars exploding which drove him to study sparkling wine. When the English moved to shipping Northern French wine in glass bottles instead of wood casks, they also noticed the tendency for wine to become sparkling.
Ancestral Method or Pet Nat
In cold winters, wine could not fully finish its fermentation, and when put into these new English glass bottles the wine would pop corks and froth in the glass of patrons in England! This ancient natural method of sparkling wine making is called, the Ancestral Method, also known as “Pet Nat” or pétillant-naturel sparkling wines, and it became the way to make wine in Italy too in the olden days.
The Ancestral method basically means that wine is bottled before fermentation is completely finished. This means, some sugars and yeasts are still being actively produced when the bottle is sealed. This creates the perfect conditions to fuse the wine and CO2, and, it does leave a little residue, known as ‘fondo’ in Italian. This produces a unique wine, low in alcohol but very aromatic and flavorful. It requires relatively little equipment, however, it requires a very skilled winemaker to correctly balance the yeasts, sugars, and acids. Sometimes the wines are not disgorged, so left unfiltered, known as ‘col fondo’ in Italian Pet Nats.
Got you curious? We have several Pet Nats available. They can be made with Glera (the Prosecco grape) like the Col del Balt Codolà and the Zanon Col Fondo. Go red and sparkling like a Lambrusco pet nat: the Frignano Scurone. Also always fun to try are unique or rare grapes made into pet nat wines, such as the Frignano Sgarbato made with Uva Tosca and the Zanon Boschera.
Traditional or Champenoise Method
All Champagne is sparkling wine… but not all sparkling wine is Champagne! This is partly due to the region in which it is produced: a sparkling wine may be produced with the champenoise method, but unless it is made within the delineated boundaries of the Champagne region, it cannot become ‘Champagne’ the wine. However, there are many sparkling wines outside the Champagne region that are made with the same expensive, rigorous, and intensive process that Champagne undergoes. They are sparkling wines described with different names like Traditional Method, Classic Method, translated in italian as Metodo Classico.
To begin, the wines are fermented normally as other wines, however, they then undergo a second fermentation in individual bottles. To accomplish this, winemakers add a dose of yeast and sugar to the bottles once filled, before corking. As the second fermentation occurs, residue from the yeast begins to form, so the bottles are place neck down at an angle, and are then rotated every so slightly.
Once the winemaker decides to remove the lees, the necks of the bottles (still pointed downward) are frozen to solidify the yeast gunk. When the cork is removed, the pressure inside the bottle forces the frozen mass out. Then the wine is topped off with fermented wine and a traditional cork and wire cage are fitted, and the wine is ready for resale.
Different traditional method wines have different aging period ‘on the lees’ or with this yeast; for example Champagne must stay a minimum of 15 months in this position, and some stay more than 3 years. However, all agree, the more time spent like this, the more the wine becomes well-rounded. We have two traditional method sparkling wines which were on the lees for twice as long as the Champagne minimum! They are the Sandro de Bruno Durello and the Ivaldi Andrea Alta Langa.
Charmat or Tank Method
Developed in Italy in the 1890s, the Charmat method is what makes your traditional Prosecco. This wine is not ‘bottle fermented’ as the Ancestral or Traditional methods are. Instead, after the first fermentation, the wine is further fermented with sugar and yeast in large tanks, pressurized to trap in the carbon dioxide. Once the process is completed, the yeast is filtered and removed, and the wine is bottled normally. Because of the less intensive process, the Charmat method is considerably easier for a winery to undertake and less costly as well. It is used frequently in Italy to produce Prosecco and Spumante wines. We have some delicious Charmat Method Sparkling wines made from out-of-the-ordinary grapes, such as Col del Balt Prosecco Superiore Brut and the Col del Balt Prosecco Superiore Extra Dry, which was actually listed as one of Vinepair’s Best Proseccos!
Semi-Sparkling or Frizzante Wines
In Italian, frizza is used to describe something that is tingly on the tongue; imagine the classic Pop Rocks feeling, called frizzy pazzi in Italy. So, it takes no large leap of imagination to guess what frizzante means when describing wines: a light bubble sparkling on the tongue. It is not a still wine, but yet does not contain the mouth-full of bubbles expected with a traditional method wine. In Northern Italy, where cured meats, pork and cream play are part of the traditional cuisine, frizzante wines are traditionally paired with food since the slight effervescence contrasts nicely with the fat in their dishes.
Delightful and exciting, these wines can be either dry or sweet, and are always surprising in their uniqueness and diversity. Created in a methodology similar to the Charmat method (fermented in pressurized barrels then bottled after filtering), frizzante wines take on a less bubbly texture as winemakers choose to add less sugar and yeasts to the secondary fermentation phase. Frizzante wines won’t create a big frothy ‘head’ of bubbles when poured into a glass, but instead offer a slight… well in English we have yet to define a word so perfectly… it offers a slight frizza sensation of bubbly, but not too much.
Bright, bubbly, ruby red Brachetto d’Acqui in the glass.
The Asti Method
To create sweet sparkling wines, winemakers can used halted fermentation, like we talked about in our article about sugar in wine, or a technique specifically called “the Asti Method” as it was invented by a winemaker in the Monferrato region of Italy. The juice starts off it’s journey in a way very similar to the charmat method, in that the sugars are left to ferment into alcohol in a sealed pressurized tank, causing the CO2 to dissolve. However, when only part of the sugars have been converted, usually when the wine reaches around 5% or so alcohol, the wine is cooled to stop fermentation and halt the yeast action. At this point, the wine is filtered to remove any remaining yeasts (to prevent refermentation in the bottle alà Pet Nat) and bottled. This leaves a wine with a bubbly texture and a sweet flavor thanks to the residual sugars. This is a method traditionally used in the Asti area, and most often used for aromatic grapes like Brachetto and Moscato. Wines made in this method are Ivaldi’s Brachetto d’Acqui and Moscato d’Asti. Coincidentally, the Ivaldi Brachetto d’Acqui makes an amazing base for a wine cocktail.
Ready to Put Your Sparkling Wine Knowledge to the Test?
We exist to allow all Americans, across the US, from businesses to consumers, to experience the pleasures of these farm to glass wines. You can find our full selection in the VeroShop Sparkling Wine Category. Of course, you cannot forget a patented wine stopper, beloved by wine professionals the world over. It will keep your bubbles fresh for up to 3 days! How can you get your hands on the hidden gems we forage for?
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We also have an award winning wine club for true wine explorers that are seeking to continually discover unique, sustainable and authentic small production wines they never had. These are wines selected by our sommeliers and curated for each box.
We do corporate gifts and sommelier guided wine tastings. Email us and we’ll tailor unique and sustainable corporate gift ideas.
Before this 'modern era' of Proseccos made with the Charmat method, Prosecco was made with the ancestral method, like this wine, Codolà, where fermentation takes place in the bottle, and it is not disgorged. This means that the wine is unfiltered since it is on its lees. In Italy it is also called a Col Fondo sparkling wine and in the US, we use the French term ‘Pet Nat’ to describe this wine. This results in a white sparkling wine whose aromas and flavors continue to evolve while they are in the bottle. This Col del Balt white sparkling wine made by the Sanzovo brothers has a straw yellow color with lots of fine bubbles and green herb and pear aromas with a hint of lemon zest. It has 0 residual sugar and it tastes dry and clean, with a slightly bitter, lemon rind tasting, finish.
Made from the rare Uva Tosca grape, which grows in higher altitudes in Emilia and is believed to be a descendant of Schiava Grossa, the Alto Adige red grape. Technically a rose wine, it is more like a light red, which looks and tastes like drinking cranberry juice as a sparkling wine. Refreshing and quaffable, with strawberries on the nose and a saline finish, it is great on its own or with light fare. While this grape does not impart much color, 2021 was a dry year, producing more concentrated fruit and color. It is naturally fermented and sparkling 'col fondo' ancestral, or pet nat, style wine.
This is an ancestral method Lambrusco made primarily with the Lambrusco Grasparossa grape, and with some Malbo Gentile grape, which is local to the area of Frignano in Modena. It is a lighter red ruby color, light effervescence, a nose that has red fruit with hint of orange peel. It is fresh and fruity, with plum taste, and grippy tannins and noticeable texture.
A 100% glera grape white sparkling wine made with native yeast fermentation, this natural wine vintage “prosecco” is from vineyards in the old part of Valdobbiadene, made also in the historic tradition of the ancestral style, or Pet Nat, as it is bottle fermented on the lees. A light color, giving an early hint to its bright acidity, the bouquet of citrus and lemon flowers bursts forth in the glass once it opens. When tasting this ancestral method natural wine, apricots and persistent bubbles create a sparkling wine that is enjoyable with brunch, aperitivos , get-togethers, you name it.
The circle and dot logo represents both the human existence and evolution, as well as winemaker Eros Zanon’s personal view of his vineyards, a dot of small-production boutique quality in the larger circle of large-production Proseccos.
This is an unfiltered sparkling wine made similar to the champagne style from a rare grape called Boschera, native to Veneto, Italy where there is less than 20 acres in the world! We were the first to import this grape into the US!
Compared to the Prosecco grape (Glera), Boschera is more complex, and in fact this wine has been aged for over 3 years in the bottle on the lees.
With 2 days of skin contact giving it a deep yellow color, this native yeast fermented natural wine is then refermented with its native lees and then undisgorged, so it is unfiltered and continues to age on the lees too, allowing it to become more complex over time.
You can say it is a vintage & aged ancestral method, or Pet Nat style, also called Col Fondo in Italian since it is on its lees. It has herbal, nutty and yeasty aromas and savory taste with a long saline finish. Pairs with many foods & throughout the meal, from appetizers to main course.
Traditional Method (Champagne Method) Sparkling Wines
This Alta Langa Spumante, or an Italian sparkling wine, is an Extra Brut, with flavors of bread crust, caramel and candied fruit, with great acidity and salinity, a hint of sage and a long mineral finish.
Made following the traditional Champagne method, it ages on the lees for 30 months in the bottle. Alta Langa is a newer DOCG that is steeped in history and is an up-an-comer amongst Italian traditional method sparkling wines.
This vintage wine is from vineyards at 200 meters that are harvested slightly late to give the wine more structure. A Blanc de Blancs made from 100% chardonnay grapes, fine and persistent bubbles are present with an inviting straw yellow perlage.
Tastes Like: Bread crust, caramel, and candied fruit.
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Winery | Biodynamic | Bottle fermented | Champagne Style
Fun Facts: - This wine is named for the current winemaker, Andrea Ivaldi, the 4th generation of his family to make wine, and the first to make a sparkling wine.
- A certified sustainable winery, Ivaldi practices regenerative farming.
With a persistent perlage, a bright gold color lights up the glass as complex exotic fruits and citrus aromas burst forth. Tasting, it is a dry wine with a delicate balance of acidity and sapidity keep you sipping and enjoying until the last drop.
The volcanic soil of the Sandro de Bruno vineyards lend well to this ancient, yet up and coming grape known as Durella. With a thick skin rich in polyphenols, they expertly craft this grape in a sparkling wine using a classic Champagne method. A zero dosage, for 36 months the wine rests on the lees before dégorgement and it then rests again.
It is markedly less intense than its 60 month aged and 100 month aged counterparts, creating a great entry point to the durello grape. You can try all three of these wines for yourself in the Durello Flight Set!
Tastes Like: Limes and Green Apples
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Sustainable Winery | Volcanic Soil | Bottle Fermented | Champagne Style
Fun Facts: - “Linear and polished” is how Kerin O’Keefe in this Wine Enthusiast review describes this 95 point wine.
Charmat (Tank Method) Sparkling Wines
Made from Glera grapes in one of the best areas for Prosecco, Valdobbiadene, this is a crisp, clean delicious dry Prosecco DOCG with a light yellow color and lovely effervescence. It has notes of pear with a minerally flavor and a citrusy, slight bitter finish reminding you of the rich terroir where this wine comes from. This Col del Balt Brut Prosecco made by the Sanzovo brothers has approximately 5g of residual sugar. As well, it is a special Millesimato Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, meaning not only does it come from the select Valdobbiadene “heart” of Prosecco, but it is also from a singular vintage, not a blend of multiple vintages like many Proseccos.
Ast Method Sparkling Wines
“Can we make Brachetto popular, please?” is how VinePair headlines why this artisanal, aromatic red sweet sparkling wine, just recently imported by us first time to the USA, made it to VinePair’s list of 13 Best Sweet Wines.
An aromatic grape, brachetto, creates a pleasantly slightly sparkling sweet red wine, with delicate rose flower and strawberry notes and strawberry and hibiscus taste. ‘Susbel’, in the local Piemontese dialect of Ivaldi in the Monferrato, refers to the location of the vineyard of this Brachetto d’Acqui, where the sun is bright and well exposed.
Left four days in contact with the skins and fermented with native yeast, this natural wine has a bright and clear light red color, dotted with fine effervescent bubbles. Sipping, the immediate impact is indeed sweet, yet with enough acidity and a hint of tannins to create a harmonious and balanced wine that keeps you coming back for more.
Wonderful to serve slightly chilled to sip with friends in the backyard on a hot summer day, or to serve with fruity desserts. Try pairing it with cheese, like with Humboldt Fog goat cheese - it goes incredibly well. It can also pair with charcuterie. Made with native yeast fermentation and has a residual sugar of 120 g/l.
A certified sustainable winery, Ivaldi Dario practices regenerative farming.
Who doesn’t like chamomile and honey? That’s what this wine reminds you of! It’s a Moscato d’Asti that appeals both to sweet wine lovers and dry wine drinkers wanting a moment with a touch of sweetness.
The name of this wine, Ros du Su, means ‘Rays of Sunlight’ in Piemontese dialect where this Moscato d’Asti comes from. Looking at its bright, golden-yellow color, it is easy to understand the inspiration for this name.
In the glass, the aromatic qualities of moscato are the first noticeable aromas, but underneath subtle and persistent notes of honey and acacia and chamomile flowers come forth creating a complex bouquet. Tasting, the sweetness of the residual sugars are well balanced with freshness and sapidity. A pleasant wine that keeps you sipping, it pairs well with desserts, but is every bit as enjoyable alone in contemplation.
A certified sustainable winery, Ivaldipractices regenerative farming.
Sparkling Wine Accessories
This is THE best sparkling wine stopper on the market, patented and imported from Italy. Use this and the bubbles in your sparkling wine will last for up to 3 days. The patented seal is based on physics: as pressure builds inside the bottle, the seal gets even tighter. It is the top choice among European sparkling winemakers. It comes with a patented design and is made in Italy. This is sommelier tested with many other products on the market and this one wins without a doubt.
This easy to use stopper is the best way to preserve your sparkling wines once opened, from frizzante to prosecco, pet nat and classic method champagnes. Now you don’t have an excuse to buy a bottle of sparkling wine because you can’t finish it in a day. Great for home or restaurant use.
Sparkling Wine Sets (Shipping and Professional Stopper Included!)
This set of artisanal white sparkling wines have 2 wines made in the traditional Champenoise method, one from Northern Italy, in Piedmont, an Alta Langa, and the other from Verona Italy made with the unique durella grape. Both were refermented on the lees in the bottle for over 30 months, making them complex and delicious. A real treat for yourself or as a gift to that special someone in your life. Shipping in the Continental US is included for any order with this set, as well we will include for a limited time only a patented WAF Sparkling Wine Stopper (a $14.99 value) for free!
Included in this box are:
Once upon a time, sparkling wine was made with the Ancestral Method. Nowadays, some artisan wineries still carry on this tradition, sometimes also called ‘Pet-Nat’. In this set, taste three normally very traditional wines, with a pet-nat and ancestral twist; these wines are ‘col fondo’ or bottled on the lees, leaving us with rich and complex sparkling wines. Taste a white sparkling wine from Valdobbiadene like a prosecco, a red sparkling rosé in this set, and a Lambrusco red sparkling wine. Shipping is included in the Continental US for this set, and anything else in your order, so stock up! As well, for a limited time only, we will include for free a patented Professional Sparkling Wine Stopper (a $14.99 value) with your purchase of this set.
Included in this box are:
Experience natural Prosecco made like an unfiltered champagne, refermented in the bottle with 100% glera aka “the Prosecco grape”.
This 2 bottle set is made by small artisan farmer wineries both located in Valdobbiadene, the area of the Prosecco wine region known for some of the best Proseccos out there.
It’s a wine gift basket great for curious wine lovers and someone who loves unique dry bubbly. For a limited time only, we will include for free a patented Professional Sparkling Wine Stopper (a $14.99 value) with your purchase of this set.
Included in this box are:
Plus shipping in the Continental US is included and add-ons have free shipping, so stock up!
Explore Valdobbiadene, the Prosecco capital of Italy through these two sparkling wines from Col del Balt | Sanzovo. With these two wines you'll taste a delicious, crisp Prosecco Superiore and a Prosecco made in the original style known as the ancestral method, col fondo and pet nat.
Shipping is included in the Continental US for this set, and anything else in your order, so stock up! As well, for a limited time only, we will include for free a patented Professional Sparkling Wine Stopper (a $14.99 value) with your purchase of this set.
Included in this box are:
