It’s true that Champagne is THE gold standard of sparkling wines, but it’s not necessary to fill your flute with gold, and pay that price, to enjoy a spectacular sparkling wine. Many other places around the world, including our BC backyard, craft high quality sparkling wines. We do share the 49th parallel with the Champagne region, after all. The painstaking traditional method of production is mandated by law not only for Champagne, but for numerous other bubbles, including Spanish Cava, French Crémant and Italian Franciacorta. Naturally, the grapes, soils and climate affect the final wine dramatically, no matter the procedure. Other, less labour intensive methods of production yield different results in the glass, and at lower prices.

There are three main methods of sparkling wine production:

Carbonation: simple injection of CO2, like soft drinks.

Tank: a.k.a. Charmat or Cuve Close. Used for Prosecco and Asti, the wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in bulk steel, temperature controlled tanks, and is bottled under pressure.

Traditional Method: Most complex and lengthy, where secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle, wine is aged on the lees, and then clarified slowly by remuage/riddling, moving the spent yeast into the neck of the bottle. The yeast is then disgorged, the wine topped up with dosage and recorked before resting for several months (or years) before sale.

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Sparkling Wine