CHARMAT / TANK / CUVE CLOSE METHOD

This was started by M. Charmat in France. In this method, the still wine is taken into a Vat and a measured quantity of sugar & yeast is added to start the secondary fermentation. This fermentation is carried out for 10 days and then is transferred through filters under pressure and bottled. This method is quicker and cheaper than Methode Champenoise.

 

TRANSFER / TRANSVERSAGE METHOD

This is very similar to Methode Champenoise but in this process, the expensive Remuage & Degorgement steps are not carried out. Instead , the wine is passed through a fine filter and Dosage is added to the filtered wine and then it is bottled. This is not a preferable method as the bouquet and body of the wine is lost.

MANUFACTURING OF CHAMPAGNE

There are 4 methods of making Champagne:

Ø Methodé Champénoise

Ø Charmat or Tank or Cuve close method

Ø Transfer or Transversage Method

Ø Carbonation or Impregnation Method

CHAMPAGNE

The discovery of Champagne is frequently credited to “Dom Perignon”who was the Cellar Master at Abbey in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. It is often said that he was the first to put the bubbles into the wine but  the fact is that the nature puts them there. What Dom Perignon did do was apply to wine the process that puts fizz into beer. The bubbles are the same, CO2 which is a byproduct of fermentation.

It is quite easy to make a fizzy or an effervescent wine. If the wine is bottled before the fermentation is complete and the bottle is tightly stoppered, the co2 will not escape until the bottle is opened. Dom Perignon actually discovered a process of tightly stoppering the bottle with a cork and he also learned how to improve a mediocre quality wine to a champagne by blending. 

WHITE WINES

•CHABLIS (BURGUNDY)

•POUILLY FUISSE (BURGUNDY)

•MEURSAULT (BURGUNDY)

•PULIGNY MONTRACHET (BURGUNDY)

•SANCERE (LOIRE)

•MUSCADET (LOIRE)

•VOUVRAY (LOIRE)

•ENTRE-DEUX-MERS (BORDERAUX)

•SAUTERNES (BORDEAUX)

•HOCK (GERMANY)

•STEINWEIN (GERMANY)

•FRASCATI (ITALY)

•SOAVE (ITALY)