Four sparkling wines on the pass: Champagne at 90 euros, Franciacorta at 45, Prosecco at 14 and a cloudy pet-nat the chef loves. The owner wants to know why the Champagne costs six times the Prosecco when "they are all fizzy wine". The answer is entirely in where the bubbles were made and what the wine sat on afterwards.
The methods, compared
All sparkling wine starts as a still, high-acid, low-alcohol base wine. The difference is the second fermentation: where it happens, and what contact the wine then has with the dead yeast cells, or lees.
| Method | Second fermentation | Lees contact | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional (Champagne, Cava, Franciacorta, English, Cap Classique) | In the bottle it is sold in | Long, on the lees in bottle; autolysis | Fine persistent mousse, bready, biscuit, brioche; complexity; expensive |
| Transfer | In bottle, then emptied into a tank under pressure, filtered, rebottled | Some | Traditional-method character without riddling each bottle |
| Tank / Charmat (Prosecco, Asti) | In a pressurised tank | Little or none | Preserves fresh primary grape aroma: pear, floral, grapey; cheap and fast |
| Ancestral (pet-nat) | One single fermentation, finished in bottle | Undisgorged, often cloudy | Rustic, cloudy, lower pressure, variable |
| Carbonation | None: CO2 is injected | None | Large, short-lived bubbles; cheapest |
Autolysis is the key concept: as the dead yeast cells break down in contact with the wine over months and years, they release compounds that give the bready, toasty, savoury character and a creamier texture. Prosecco has none of it by design because the point of Glera is its fresh, floral fruit, and lees would bury it.
The traditional method, step by step
Base wine, then blending (of vintages and villages, which is why non-vintage Champagne is a house style, not a lesser wine), then the liqueur de tirage (sugar and yeast) added at bottling, then the second fermentation, then lees ageing, then riddling to move the sediment into the neck, then disgorgement to expel it, then the liqueur d expedition or dosage, which sets the final sweetness. Legal minimum lees ageing periods differ between appellations and between non-vintage and vintage wines, and the rules change, so check the current minimum rather than quoting one.
Sweetness, from driest: Brut Nature / Zero (no dosage), Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry (confusingly sweeter than Brut), Sec, Demi-Sec, Doux.
The world's sparklers
- Champagne — cool, marginal, chalk; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier; blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs, rose; grower Champagne versus the great houses.
- Cava — Spain, traditional method, Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada; excellent value.
- Franciacorta — Italy, traditional method, Chardonnay-led, serious.
- Prosecco — tank method, Glera; the hillside DOCG zones are a real step up.
- Sekt, Cremant, Cap Classique, Australian and English sparkling — the method, not the country, is what predicts the style.
Onboard Notes
Serve sparkling at 6 to 8 degrees, in a white-wine glass rather than a flute if you want the guest to smell anything, and open it by turning the bottle, not the cork, with the base at 45 degrees. A cork fired across a teak deck is a claim on the insurance.