Sparkling wine - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sparkling wine is a wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

with significant levels of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

in it making it fizzy. The carbon dioxide may result from natural fermentation

Fermentation (wine)

The process of fermentation in wine turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeast interact with sugars in the juice to create ethanol, commonly known as ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide...

, either in a bottle, as with the méthode champenoise, in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures involved (as in the Charmat process), or as a result of carbon dioxide injection

Carbonation

Carbonation is the process of dissolving carbon dioxide in water. The process usually involves carbon dioxide under high pressure. When the pressure is reduced, the carbon dioxide is released from the solution as small bubbles, which cause the solution to "fizz." This effect is seen in carbonated...

.

Sparkling wine is usually white or rosé

Rosé

A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...

but there are many examples of red sparkling wines such as Italian Brachetto

Brachetto

Brachetto is a red Italian wine grape variety grown predominantly in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. At one time the grape was thought to be related to the French wine grape Braquet, but recent thought among ampelographers is that the two are distinct varieties...

and Australian sparkling Shiraz

Shiraz grape

Syrah or Shiraz is a dark-skinned grape grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce powerful red wines. Whether sold as Syrah or Shiraz, these wines enjoy great popularity.Syrah is used as a varietal and is also blended...

. The sweetness of sparkling wine can range from very dry "brut" styles to sweeter "doux" varieties.

The classic example of a sparkling wine is Champagne, but this wine is exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France and many sparkling wines are produced in other countries and regions, such as Espumante in Portugal, Cava

Cava (Spanish wine)

Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine of Denominación de Origen status, most of which is produced in Catalonia. It may be white or rosé. The macabeu, parellada and xarel·lo are the most popular and traditional grape varieties for producing cava...

in Spain, Franciacorta

Franciacorta (wine)

Franciacorta is a sparkling wine from Lombardy with DOCG status produced from grapes grown within the boundaries of the territory of Franciacorta, on the hills of a series of townships to the south of Lake Iseo in the Province of Brescia. It was awarded DOC status in 1967, the designation then...

, Trento

Trento

Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...

, Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico and Asti in Italy (the generic Italian term for sparkling wine being spumante) and Cap Classique in South Africa. Most countries reserve the word Champagne for a specific type from the Champagne region of France. The French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

terms "Mousseux" or "Crémant" are used to refer to sparkling wine not made in the Champagne region. German

German wine

German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of the German wine production is situated in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions ...

and Austrian sparkling wines are called Sekt. The United States is a significant producer of sparkling wine with producers in numerous states. Recently the United Kingdom, which produced some of the earliest examples of sparkling wine, has started producing sparkling wines again.

History

Effervescence

Carbonation

has been observed in wine throughout history and has been noted by Ancient Greek and Roman writers but the cause of this mysterious appearance of bubbles was not understood. Over time it has been attributed to phases of the moon as well as both good and evil spirits. The tendency of still wine from the Champagne region to lightly sparkle was noted in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

but this was considered a wine fault

Wine fault

A wine fault or defect is an unpleasant characteristic of a wine often resulting from poor winemaking practices or storage conditions, and leading to wine spoilage. Many of the compounds that cause wine faults are already naturally present in wine but at insufficient concentrations to adversely...

and was disdained in early Champagne winemaking. Dom Pérignon

Dom Pérignon (person)

Dom Pierre Pérignon, O.S.B., was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still and red...

was originally charged by his superiors at the Abbey of Hautvillers

Abbey

An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...

to get rid of the bubbles since the pressure in the bottles caused many of them to burst in the cellar. Later, when deliberate sparkling wine production increased in the early 18th century, cellar workers would still have to wear a heavy iron mask that resembled a baseball catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

's mask to prevent injury from spontaneously bursting bottles. The disturbance caused by one bottle's disintegration could cause a chain reaction, with it being routine for cellars to lose 20-90% of their bottles to instability. The mysterious circumstance surrounding the then unknown process of fermentation and carbonic gas caused some critics to call the sparkling creations "The Devil's Wine".

The British were the first to see the tendency of wines from Champagne to sparkle as a desirable trait and tried to understand why it produced bubbles. Wine was often transported to England in wooden wine barrels where merchant houses would then bottle the wine for sale. During the 17th century, English glass production

Early modern glass in England

The early modern period in England brought on a revival in local glass production. Medieval glass had been limited to the small-scale production of forest glass for window glass and vessels, predominantly in the Weald. The organisation of production evolved from the small-scale family-run glass...

used coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

-fueled ovens and produced stronger, more durable glass bottles than the wood-fired French glass. The English also rediscovered the use of cork

Cork (material)

Cork is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber , which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...

stoppers, once used by the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

but forgotten for centuries after the fall of the Roman empire. During the cold winters of the Champagne region, temperatures would drop so low that the fermentation

Fermentation (wine)

process was prematurely halted—leaving some residual sugar and dormant yeast. When the wine was shipped to and bottled in England, the fermentation process would restart when the weather warmed and the cork-stoppered wine would begin to build pressure from carbon dioxide gas. When the wine was opened, it would be bubbly. In 1662, the English scientist Christopher Merret presented a paper detailing how the presence of sugar in a wine led to it eventually sparkling and that by adding sugar to a wine before bottling it, nearly any wine could be made to sparkle. This is one of the first known accounts of understanding the process of sparkling wine and even suggests that British merchants were producing "sparkling Champagne" before the French Champenois were deliberately making it.

Production

The viticultural and winemaking

Winemaking

Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...

practices of making sparkling wine have many similarities to the production of still wine with some noted divergence. At the vineyard, grapes are harvested early when there is still high acid levels. In areas like Australia, winemakers aim to harvest the grapes at 17 to 20° brix

Brix

Degrees Brix is the sugar content of an aqueous solution.One degree Brix is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution and represents the strength of the solution as percentage by weight . If the solution contains dissolved solids other than pure sucrose, then the °Bx is only approximate the...

. Unlike still wine production, high sugar levels are not ideal and grapes destined for sparkling wine production may be harvested at higher yields. Care is taken to avoid tannins and other phenolic compounds with many premium producers still choosing to harvest by hand rather than risk mechanical harvesting which may split the berries and encourage maceration

Maceration (wine)

Maceration is the winemaking process where the phenolic materials of the grape— tannins, coloring agents and flavor compounds— are leached from the grape skins, seeds and stems into the must. Maceration is the process by which the red wine receives its red color, since 99% of all grape juice is...

between the skins and juice. The press house is often close by the vineyard to where the grapes can be quickly pressed and separated from their skins. Red wine grapes like Pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

can be used in the production of white sparkling wines because their juice is initially clear and is only later tinted red through exposure to the color pigments in grape skins. While some skin exposure maybe desirable in the production of rosé

Rosé

sparklers and some blanc de noirs (white of blacks), most sparkling wine producers take extended precautions to limit the amount of skin contact.

The primary fermentation

Fermentation (wine)

of sparkling wine begins like most other wines, though winemakers may choose to use specially cultivated sparkling wine yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

s. The wines may go through malolactic fermentation

Malolactic fermentation

Malolactic fermentation is a process in winemaking where tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples...

, though producers wishing to make fruitier, simpler wines will usually forgo this step. After fermentation the base wines are then blended to form a cuvee
Cuvee
Cuvée is a French wine term derived from cuve, meaning vat or tank. The term cuvée is used with several different meanings, more or less based on the concept of a tank of wine put to some purpose:...

. While there are examples of varietal

Varietal

"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...

sparklers, such as blanc de blancs (white of whites) made from 100% Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

, most sparkling wines are blends of several grape varieties, vineyards and vintage

Vintage

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...

s. Producers with wide access to grapes will use wines from several hundred base wines to create a blend that reflect the "house style" of their non-vintage wine. It is through the initiation of a secondary fermentation that distinguishes sparkling wine production and gives the wine its characteristic "bubbles". One of the by products of fermentation is the creation of carbon dioxide gas. While this gas is able to be released during the first fermentation, efforts are taken during the second fermentation to retain the gas and have it dissolve into the wine. This creates a massive amount of pressure within the wine bottle (on average around 5 atmospheres

Atmosphere (unit)

The standard atmosphere is an international reference pressure defined as 101325 Pa and formerly used as unit of pressure. For practical purposes it has been replaced by the bar which is 105 Pa...

) and wine producers take care to package the wine in strong glass bottles. When the wine is open and poured into a glass, the gas is released and the wine becomes sparkling.

Secondary fermentation

There are several methods used to carry out this secondary fermentation. The most well known is the Traditional or "Champagne method" where the base cuvee is bottled with a mixture of sugar and yeast. The introduction of a fresh yeast and food source (the sugar) triggers the fermentation process in the bottle that the wine will eventually be sold in. Through the process of riddling and eventually disgorgement, the dead yeast cells (lees) are removed from the wine while still maintaining the dissolved carbon dioxide gas. A dosage

Sparkling wine production

There are four main methods of sparkling wine production. The first is simple injection of carbon dioxide , the process used in soft drinks, but this produces big bubbles that dissipate quickly in the glass. The second is the Metodo Italiano – Charmat process, in which the wine undergoes a...

mixture of fresh wine and some sugar syrup is used to adjust the sweetness level of the wine after it has been disgorged. In the methode ancestrale the disgorgement step is skipped and the wine is sold with the lees still present as sediment in the wine. In the transversage method, after the wines have gone through the traditional method including riddling and disgorgement, the bottles are emptied into a large tank where they are then transferred to small and large format wine bottle

Wine bottle

A wine bottle is a bottle used for holding wine, generally made of glass. Some wines are fermented in the bottle, others are bottled only after fermentation. They come in a large variety of sizes, several named for Biblical kings and other figures. The standard bottle contains 750 ml,...

s such as 3 liter

Litér

- External links :*...

jeroboam and small split sizes used on airlines. Numerous quality producers worldwide use the "Traditional" method to make their sparkling wines.

The Charmat method takes place in stainless steel fermentation tanks that are pressurized. The fresh yeast and sugar mixture is added to the wine which rapidly stimulates fermentation in the pressurized environment. The wine is then cooled, clarified and bottled using a counter pressure filler. The process of carbon injection (or carbonation), the method used to make soda pop fizzy, does not involve initiating a secondary fermentation but rather injecting carbon dioxide gas directly into the wine. This method produces large bubbles that quickly dissipate and is generally only used in the cheapest sparkling wines.

Bubbles

An initial burst of effervescence occurs when the sparkling wine contacts the dry glass on pouring. These bubbles may form on imperfections in the glass that facilitate nucleation or on cellulose fibres left over from the wiping/drying process. Nucleations are needed to stimulate the formation of bubbles because carbon dioxide has to first diffuse from the wine solution before it can rise out of the glass and into the air. A poured glass of sparkling wine will lose its bubbliness and carbon dioxide gas much more quickly than an open bottle alone would. The frothiness or "mousse" of the sparkler, along with the average size and consistency of the bubbles, can vary depending on the quality of the sparkler and the type of glass used.

The average bottle of Champagne contains enough carbon dioxide to potentially produce 49 million bubbles. (Wine expert Tom Stevenson

Tom Stevenson

Tom Stevenson is a British author who has been writing about wine for more than 30 years. Described by his colleagues as one of today’s most prolific wine authors, Stevenson is regarded as the world’s leading authority on Champagne...

puts the number at 250 million.) The bubbles initially form at 20 micrometer

Micrometer

A micrometer , sometimes known as a micrometer screw gauge, is a device incorporating a calibrated screw used widely for precise measurement of small distances in mechanical engineering and machining as well as most mechanical trades, along with other metrological instruments such as dial, vernier,...

s in diameter and expand as they gain buoyancy and rise to the surface. When they reach the surface they are approximately 1 millimeter in size. It is speculated that the bubbles in sparkling wine may speed up alcohol intoxication by helping the alcohol to reach the bloodstream faster. A study conducted at the University of Surrey

University of Surrey

The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...

in the United Kingdom gave subjects equal amounts of flat and sparkling Champagne which contained the same levels of alcohol. After 5 minutes following consumption, the group that had the sparkling wine had 54 milligrams of alcohol in their blood while the group that had the same sparkling wine, only flat, had 39 milligrams.

Sweetness

The amount of sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

(dosage) added after the second fermentation and aging varies and will dictate the sweetness level of the sparkling wine. Wines produced within the European Union must include the sweetness level on the wine label

Wine label

Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it...

. For wines produced outside the EU, the sweetness level is not required but if it is included on the label the terms used must conform to EU guidelines.

Brut Natural or Brut Zéro (fewer than 3 grams of sugar per litre)
Extra Brut (fewer than 6 grams of sugar per litre)
Brut (fewer than 12 grams of sugar per litre)

French sparklers

The most well known example of sparkling wine is that of Champagne from the Champagne wine region of France. On average, Champagne is responsible for about 8% of worldwide sparkling wine production with many other regions emulating the "Champagne style" in both grapes used (generally Chardonnay

Chardonnay

, Pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

and Pinot Meunier

Pinot meunier

Pinot Meunier, , also known as Meunier or Black Riesling, is a variety of black wine grape most noted for being one of the three main grapes used in the production of champagne...

) and production methods—sometimes referred to as the "Champagne method". French sparklers made according to the Champagne method of fermentation in the bottle, but sometimes use different grape varieties, are known as Cremants and are governed under their own Appellation d'origine contrôlée
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

(AOC) regulations. Another style of sparkling wine found in France are those made according to the methode ancestrale which skips the process of disgorgement and produces wines with slight sweetness and still containing the particles of dead yeast matter in the form of lees in the bottle. The regions of Gaillac

Gaillac

Gaillac is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.-Geography of Gaillac:Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Monatauban. It has gained a large amount of recognition due to the wines that bear the towns name. The Tarn river runs along the border of the town by the...

, Limoux and Clairette de Die are the most well known producers of methode ancestrale wines.

Champagne

Champagne is produced at the far extreme of viticultural circumstances, where the grape struggles to ripen in a long drawn out growing season. Cool climate weather limits the types of wine and grape varieties that can be made but it is in this region that sparkling wine has found its standard bearer. The limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

–chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

soil produces grapes that have a certain balance of acidity, extract and richness that is difficult to replicate in other parts of the world. The Champenois vigorously defend use of the term "Champagne" to relate the specific wine produced in the Champagne wine region. This includes objection to the term "Champagne style" to refer to sparkling wines produced outside the Champagne region. Since 1985, use of the term methode champenoise has been banned in all wines produced or sold in the European Union.

Blending is the hallmark of Champagne wine, with most Champagnes being the assembled product of several vineyards and vintages. In Champagne there are over 19,000 vineyard owners, only 5,000 of which are owned by Champagne producers. The rest sell their grapes to the various Champagne houses, negociants and co-operatives. The grapes, most commonly Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot meunier, are used to make several base wines that are assembled together to Champagne. Each grapes add their own unique imprint on the wine. Chardonnay is prized for its finesse and aging ability. Pinot noir adds body and fruit while Pinot meunier contributes substantially to the aroma adding fruit and floral notes. The majority of Champagne produced is non-vintage (or rather, multi-vintage) blends. Vintage Champagne is also produced, and this is often a house's most prestigious and expensive wine, but only in years when the producers feel that the grapes have the complexity and richness to warrant it.

Crémant

Sparkling wines designated Crémant are produced using the traditional method, and have to fulfill strict production criteria. In France, there are seven appellations for sparkling wine which include the designation Crémant in their name:

Crémant d'Alsace
Crémant de Bordeaux
Crémant de Bourgogne
Crémant de Die
Clairette de Die AOC
Clairette de Die AOC is a natural sparkling white wine from the Rhône Valley region in France. It is made from the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains and Clairette grape varieties...
Crémant du Jura
Jura wine regions
The wine regions of Jura include several Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée.-Wine regions:*Arbois is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wines made in the Jura wine region of France, around the town of Arbois...
Crémant de Limoux
Crémant de Loire

There is also a Crémant designation outside of France:

Crémant de Luxembourg

French appellation laws dictate that a Crémant must be harvested

Harvest (wine)

The harvesting of wine grapes is one of the most crucial steps in the process of winemaking. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to...

by hand with yields not exceeding a set amount for their AOC

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

. The wines must also be aged for a minimum of one year. The Loire Valley

Loire Valley

The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...

is France's largest producer of sparkling wines outside of the Champagne region. The majority of these Crémant de Loire are produced around the city of Saumur

Saumur

Saumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...

and are a blend of the Chardonnay

Chardonnay

, Chenin blanc

Chenin Blanc

Chenin blanc , is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled...

and Cabernet franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

. AOC laws do allow cuvée

Cuvee

Cuvée is a French wine term derived from cuve, meaning vat or tank. The term cuvée is used with several different meanings, more or less based on the concept of a tank of wine put to some purpose:...

s with Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

, Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

, Pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

, Gamay

Gamay

Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th century...

, Côt

COT

-Beds:* A camp bed, a simple, temporary and portable bed* A baby's infant bed* See cot side for beds with raised sides-Transportation:* Car of Tomorrow, a new car design by NASCAR* Cottingley railway station, National Rail station code COT...

, Pineau d'aunis

Pineau d'Aunis

Pineau d'Aunis, also known as Chenin noir is a red wine grape variety that is grown primarily in the Loire Valley around Anjou and Touraine. A favorite of Henry Plantagenet, wine made from the grape was first exported to England in the thirteenth century. Today the grape is blended with the white...

and Grolleau

Grolleau (grape)

Grolleau or Grolleau Noir is a red French wine grape variety grown primarily in the Loire Valley of France. The name is derived from the French word grolle, meaning "crow" and is said to reflect the deep black berries of the Grolleau vine...

but those grapes are rarely used in a significant amount. In Burgundy, AOC laws require that Crémant de Bourgogne be composed of at least thirty percent Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Pinot blanc

Pinot Blanc

Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produced white fruit....

or Pinot gris

Pinot gris

Pinot gris is a white wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot noir grape, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name but the grape can have a brownish pink to black and even white appearance...

. Aligoté

Aligoté

Aligoté is a white grape used to make dry white wines in the Burgundy region of France, and which also has significant plantings in much of Eastern Europe including Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria. With , it was the 22nd most planted vine variety in the world in 2004...

is often used to fill out the remaining parts of the blend. The Languedoc wine

Languedoc wine

Languedoc - Roussillon wine, including the vin de pays labeled Vin de Pays d'Oc, is produced in southern France. While "Languedoc" can refer to a specific historic region of France and Northern Catalonia, usage since the 20th century has primarily referred to the northern part of the...

Crémant de Limoux is produced in the forty one villages around the village of Limoux in the south of France. The wine is composed primarily of the indigenous grape Mauzac

Mauzac (grape)

Mauzac or Mauzac Blanc a white variety of grape used for wine, of the species Vitis vinifera. It is mainly grown in the Gaillac and Limoux regions in the southwest of France. Total French plantations of Mauzac stood at in the year 2000....

with some Chenin blanc and Chardonnay. The wine must spend a minimum of one year aging on its lees. The sparkling Blanquette de Limoux is composed predominately of Mauzac and is aged for nine months.

The designation Crémant was previously used for sparkling wines from the Champagne region which were produced with slightly less carbon dioxide and somewhat lower bottle pressure (typically 2-3 atmospheres instead of 5-6). These wines were rare in comparison to regular, full-pressure Champagne. The Crémant designation was also used for sparkling wines from the Loire valley, in the form of Crémant de Saumur and Crémant de Vouvray, without being defined as separate appellations. In 1975, Crémant de Loire was given formal recognition as an AOC, and was followed by Crémant de Bourgogne (1975) and Crémant d'Alsace (1976). When in the late 1980s lobbying by Champagne producers led to méthode champenoise being forbidden within the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

as a designation for the traditional method, the term Crémant was given its present definition. This meant that the use of "Crémant" in the Champagne region was discontinued and additional French Crémant AOCs were created from 1990, starting with Bordeaux and Limoux.

In Luxembourg

Luxembourg wine

Luxembourg wine is primarily produced in the southeastern part of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with vineyards overlooking the Moselle River. Along this river, which for 42 km makes up part of the border between Luxembourg and Germany, wine is made in three countries. There is a continuous history...

, Crémant de Luxembourg is a designation within the Moselle Luxembourgeoise appellation, rather than a separate appellation, but otherwise follow the same rules as French Crémant.

Since the designation Crémant is not reserved exclusively for French use (as a result of it replacing méthode champenoise), it may also be used by producers in other EU countries which fulfill the production criteria, although such usage is rare.

Other French sparkling wines

There are also some other French appellations for sparkling wines, which do not carry the name Crémant. Some of these are exclusively sparkling wine appellations, and some are appellations allowing both still and sparkling wine to be made. The term Mousseux is French

French language

for "sparkling" and can refer to a sparkling wine made using methods other than the méthode champenoise such as charmat method. While Crémant can only be used for wines that have been made using the méthode champenoise.

Sparkling-only are:

Anjou mousseux AOC
Blanquette de Limoux AOC
Blanquette méthode ancestrale AOC
Bourgogne mousseux AOC
Clairette de Die AOC
Clairette de Die AOC
Clairette de Die AOC is a natural sparkling white wine from the Rhône Valley region in France. It is made from the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains and Clairette grape varieties...
Saumur mousseux AOC
Touraine mousseux AOC

Either still or sparkling are:

Gaillac AOC
Gaillac AOC
Gaillac AOC is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in South West France in the département of Tarn, just north of Toulouse.-History:...
Saint-Péray AOC
Saint-Péray AOC
Saint-Péray is a French wine Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in the northern Rhône wine region of France. Located in the southernmost part of Northern Rhône, the appellation is very small and not widely known. The production is mainly white sparkling wine, somewhat like Champagne. However, some...
Vouvray AOC
Montlouis AOC

Cava

Cava is the name of a type of Spanish (mostly in Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

but also in other regions such as Valencia, La Rioja

La Rioja (Spain)

La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...

, Extremadura

Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...

) white or pink sparkling wine produced mainly in the Penedès region

Alt Penedès

Alt Penedès is a comarca in Catalonia, northern Spain. The capital is Vilafranca del Penedès.-Municipalities:*Avinyonet del Penedès - pop. 1334*Les Cabanyes - pop. 603*Castellet i la Gornal - pop. 1562*Castellví de la Marca - pop. 1497...

in Catalonia

Catalonia

, 40 km to the south west of Barcelona, with the méthode champenoise but grape varieties different from grapes used in Champagne making. Cava is a Greek term that was used to refer to a "high end" table wine or wine cellar, and comes from the Latin word "cava" which means cave in English. Caves were used in the early days of Cava production for the preservation or aging of wine. Today Cavas have become integrated with Catalan and also Spanish family traditions and is often consumed at any kind of celebrations (baptism, marriages, banquets, dinners and parties). The sparkling wine of Cava was created in 1872 by Josep Raventós. The vineyards of Penedès were devastated by the phylloxera

Phylloxera

Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...

plague, and the predominantly red vines were being replaced by large numbers of vines producing white grapes. After seeing the success of the Champagne region, Raventós decided to create the dry sparkling wine that has become the reason for the region's continued success. In the past the wine was referred to as Spanish Champagne (no longer permitted under EU law), or colloquially as champaña in Spanish or xampany in Catalan.

Cava is produced in varying levels of dryness of the wine

Sweetness of wine

The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine to be sure, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Briefly: sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness; acids and bitter tannins counteract it...

which are: brut nature, brut (extra dry), sec (in Catalan) seco (dry), semisec (in Catalan) semiseco (medium) and dolç (in Catalan) dulce (sweet). Under Spanish Denominación de Origen
Denominación de Origen
Denominación de Origen is part of a regulatory classification system primarily for Spanish wines but also for other foodstuffs like honey, meats and condiments. In wines it parallels the hierarchical system of France and Italy although Rioja and Sherry preceded the full system...

laws, Cava can be produced in six wine regions and must be made according to the Traditional Method with second fermentation in the bottle and uses a selection of the grapes Macabeu, Parellada

Parellada

Parellada is a white grape variety of Catalan origin specially grown in Catalonia. With Macabeu and Xarel·lo, is one of the three traditional varieties used to make the sparkling wine Cava, which is primarily produced in Catalonia...

, Xarel·lo

Xarel·lo

Xarel·lo is a white grape variety of Spanish origin specially grown in Catalonia. With Macabeu and Parellada, is one of the three traditional varieties used to make the sparkling wine Cava...

, Chardonnay

Chardonnay

, Pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

, and Subirat. Despite being a traditional Champagne grape, Chardonnay was not used in the production of Cava until the 1980s.

Portuguese sparklers

Espumante, pronounced esh-pu-man-te, is the Portuguese version of a sparkling wine. And unlike Cava, which is produced solely in northern climates, Espumante is not only produced in the northern wet region of Vinho Verde, but also throughout Portugal all the way to the southern region of the Alentejo, known for its extreme temperatures and arid climate.

While Spain has one regulating body, DOC Cava, spread across several different political regions, quality Espumante is produced solely in DOC Bairrada, located just south of Vinho Verde. In order for a wine to be certified as a quality Espumante from DOC Bairrada, it must be made in the traditional Champagne (indicating the year of harvest) and stamped with the VEQPRD (Vinho Espumante de Qualidade Produzido em Região Determinada) certification.

VFQPRD: is a regional sparkling wine made in the traditional champagne, charmat or transfer method in one of the following determined regions: Douro

Douro

The Douro or Duero is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto...

, Ribatejo

Ribatejo

The Ribatejo is the most central of the traditional provinces of Portugal, with no coastline or border with Spain. The region is crossed by the Tagus River...

, Minho

Rios do Minho VR

Minho, formerly Rios do Minho, is a Portuguese wine region covering the same areas as the Vinho Verde DOC. The region is classified as a Vinho Regional , a designation similar to a French vin de pays region...

, Alentejo or Estremadura.

VQPRD: is a sparkling wine that can made by injecting the wine with gas in the traditional champagne, charmat, transfer method anywhere in Portugal.

Espumosos: the cheapest and lowest level of sparkling wine, made by injecting the wine with CO2.

Top quality Espumantes can be found in Bairrada region and in Távora-Varosa

Távora-Varosa DOC

Távora-Varosa is a Portuguese wine region located in the northwestern section of the Beiras region. The region is designated as Denominação de Origem Controlada after it was promoted from its former Indicação de Proveniencia Regulamentada status, when it was called Varosa IPR...

sub region - Murganheira is a great example of high quality Espumante from this region.

Italian sparklers

According to etymological sources, the term "spumante" was not used in a wine context until 1908, more than 40 years following the first Italian sparkling wine using the méthode champenoise produced by Carlo Gancia which was then sold as "Moscato Champagne".

Sparkling wines are made throughout Italy but the Italian sparklers most widely seen on the world market are the Franciacorta

Franciacorta (wine)

from Lombardy, Asti from Piedmont, Lambrusco

Lambrusco

Lambrusco is the name of both a red wine grape and an Italian wine made principally from the grape. The grapes and the wine originate from four zones in Emilia-Romagna and one in Lombardy, principally around the central provinces of Modena, Parma, Reggio nell'Emilia, and Mantua...

from Emilia

Emilia (region of Italy)

Emilia is a historical region of northern Italy which approximately corresponds to the western and north-eastern portions of today’s Emilia-Romagna region...

and Prosecco

Prosecco

Prosecco is an Italian white wine — generally a Dry or Extra Dry sparkling wine — normally made from Glera grapes. DOC prosecco is produced in the regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, and traditionally mainly in the areas near Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, in the hills...

from Veneto. The Trento DOC

Trento DOC

Trento is an Italian wine Denominazione di origine controllata region producing white and rosé sparkling wine made in Trentino. The sparkling wines of Trento are produced using the same production method as Champagne, and the Champagne grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier...

is also famous. Though Franciacorta wines are made according to the traditional method, most Italian sparkling wines, in particular Asti and Prosecco, are made with the Charmat method.

Asti is a slightly sweet sparkler made from the Moscato

Muscat (grape and wine)

The Muscat variety of grapes of the species Vitis vinifera is widely grown for wine, raisins and table grapes. Their color ranges from white to near black. Muscat almost always has a pronounced sweet floral aroma. Muscat grapes are grown around the world...

grape in the province of Asti

Asti

Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...

. The wine is noted for its low alcohol levels around 8% and fresh, grapey flavors. Moscato d'Asti

Moscato d'Asti

Moscato d'Asti is a "Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita" sparkling white wine produced mainly in the province of Asti, north-west Italy, and in smaller nearby regions in the provinces of Alessandria and Cuneo. The wine is sweet and low in alcohol, and often enjoyed with dessert. ...

is a frizzante style slightly sparkling version of Asti; it is sweeter and contains even less alcohol, typically around 5.5%.

The Franciacorta region, located northwest of Brescia

Brescia

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

, is home to the largest segment of Italian sparkling wine production. Made predominately from Chardonnay and Pinot bianco

Pinot Blanc

, sparklers labeled under the Franciacorta DOCG are permitted to include no more than 15% Pinot nero. Both vintage and non-vintage Franciacorta sparklers are made which require 30 and 18 months, respectively, of aging on the lees. Franciacorta Satèn, a Blanc de blancs, is produced with the reduced 4.5 atmosphere

Atmosphere (unit)

The standard atmosphere is an international reference pressure defined as 101325 Pa and formerly used as unit of pressure. For practical purposes it has been replaced by the bar which is 105 Pa...

s of pressure instead of 6 for an expression of softness.

Trento DOC is an appellation for white and rosé sparkling wines maded according to the méthode traditionnelle. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier grapes are used. There is a maximum vien yield of 150 q.l. per hectare for all varietals, and a maximum grape yield of 70%. The wines must rest for a minimum of 15 months on their lees for non-vintage, 24 months for vintage, and 36 for riserva. Minimum alcohol content must be of 11.5%, or 12% for riserva. Trento DOC wines are distinguished by their straw-yellow color.

Prosecco is made in both fully sparkling (spumante) and lightly sparkling (frizzante) styles. The wine is produced in the cool hills around the town of Valdobbiadene

Valdobbiadene

Valdobbiadene is a town in the province of Treviso, Veneto, Italy. Valdobbiadene is a picturesque wine growing area. Just below the Alpine areas of Veneto, it provides a climate for cool varieties of grape. This area is the home of ProseccoConegliano-Valdobbiadene a dry sparkling white wine....

and are generally dry but sweeter examples are produced.

v.f.q.p.r.d. (Vini Frizzanti di Qualità Prodotti in Regioni Determinate): Quality Vini frizzanti made within defined regions

Quality Wines Produced in Specified Regions

Quality Wines Produced in Specified Regions is a quality indicator used within European Union wine regulations. The QWpsr category identifies wines with protected geographical indications...

are generally labeled as such.

Sekt

Sekt is the German term for quality sparkling wine. The majority of Sekt produced (around 95%) is made by the Charmat method with the remaining premium Sekt being made according to the méthode traditionnelle. Cheap sparkling wine made with CO₂ injection must not be called Sekt, but rather Schaumwein (German for sparkling wine, literally "foam wine"), semi-sparkling wine is called Perlwein. Around 90 percent of Sekt is made at least partially from imported wines from Italy, Spain and France. Sekt labeled as Deutscher Sekt is made exclusively from German grapes, and Sekt b.A. (bestimmter Anbaugebiete, in parallel to Qualitätswein b.A.) only from grapes from one of the 13 quality wine regions in Germany.

Some of the premium wines are often made using the Riesling

Riesling

Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...

, Pinot blanc

Pinot Blanc

, Pinot gris

Pinot gris

and Pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

grapes, with much of it drunk locally rather than exported. These Sekts are usual vintage dated with the village and vineyards that the grapes are from. Premium Sekt b.A. produced in smaller lots is often referred to as Winzersekt (winegrower's Sekt), since it is typically produced by a producer which has vineyards of his own, rather than by the large Sekt-producing companies (Sektkellereien) which buy grapes or base wine on a large scale for their production. In Austria, the corresponding term is Hauersekt.

German production of sparkling wines dates back to 1826, when G. C. Kessler & Co. was founded in Esslingen am Neckar

Esslingen am Neckar

Esslingen am Neckar is a city in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, capital of the District of Esslingen as well as the largest city in the district....

by Georg Christian Kessler (1787–1842), who had previously worked at the Champagne house Veuve Clicquot

Veuve Clicquot

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is both a champagne house in Reims, France, and a brand of premium champagne. Founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron, Veuve Clicquot played an important role in establishing champagne as a favored drink of haute bourgeoisie and nobility throughout Europe...

from 1807 to 1826. The names used by the German producers for their sparkling wines in the 19th century were "Mousseux", "Sect" or "Champagne" (or Champagner), but the 1919 Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

forbade Germany the use of this name, long before European Union regulations prohibited its use outside the Champagne region. Sekt was initially an informal German name for sparkling wine, coined in Berlin 1825, but was in common use by the 1890s. Germany long attempted to have the name Sekt reserved for sparkling wine from countries with German as an official language, but these regulations were annulled by the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

in 1975. Another legal decision in the 1970s abolished the large producers' monopoly

Monopoly

A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

on Sekt production, allowing winemaking cooperative

Winemaking cooperative

A winemaking cooperative is an agricultural cooperative which is involved in winemaking, and which in similarity to other cooperatives is owned by its members...

s and individual winegrowers to produce and sell their own sparkling wines. Together, these two decision produced the situation of the name Sekt being possible to apply to sparkling wines of varying quality level.

Sekt typically comes with elaborate enclosure (safety cage) to withstand its considerable CO₂ pressure. It also comes with a Schaumwein tax, which since 2005 has been 136 euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

per hectoliter, corresponding to 1.02 euro per 0.75 liter bottle. This tax was famously introduced by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1902 to fund the expansion of the Imperial Navy

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

.

Germans also call some similar foreign wines Sekt, like Krimsekt (often red) from Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

.

In Austria, Sekt is often made in the méthode champenoise with the Welschriesling

Welschriesling

Welschriesling is an ancient variety of white wine grape, unrelated to the Rhine Riesling, that is grown throughout Central Europe. The origin of Welschriesling is uncertain. The German name "Welschriesling" literally means 'Romanic Riesling', and most of the synonyms in Central Europe are...

and Grüner Veltliner

Grüner Veltliner

Grüner Veltliner is a variety of white wine grape variety grown primarily in Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It has a reputation of being a particularly food-friendly wine...

grapes giving the wine a golden hue color. Sparkling rosé

Rosé

are made from the Blaufränkisch

Blaufränkisch

Blaufränkisch is a dark-skinned variety of grape used for red wine. Blaufränkisch, which is a late-ripening variety gives red wines which are typically rich in tannin and may exhibit a pronounced spicy character...

grape. Austria's history of producing sparkling wine dates back to the Austro-Hungarian empire. Most Austrian Sekt producers are based in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

and source their grapes from the Weinviertel

Weinviertel

The Weinviertel or Viertel unter dem Manhartsberg is located in the northeast of Lower Austria....

region in Lower Austria

Lower Austria

Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

. Like its German counterpart, Austrian Sekt can be made trocken

Trocken

Trocken is German for dry, and is used in the classification of German wine. On a wine label, it indicates a wine that is dry rather than off-dry , sweeter or sweet . Technically, trocken wines are not devoid of residual sugar, but have, at most, a few grams per liter, which can be perceptible but...

(dry) or halbtrocken (medium dry).

The first Austrian producer of sparkling wine was Robert Alwin Schlumberger, who presented his first sparkling wine in 1846 under the name Vöslauer weißer Schaumwein (White sparkling wine of Vöslau). It was produced from Blauer Portugieser

Blauer Portugieser

Blauer Portugieser is a red Austrian and German wine grape found primarily in the Rheinhessen, Pfalz and wine regions of Lower Austria. It is also one of the permitted grapes in the Hungarian wine Egri Bikavér . In Germany, the cultivated area covered or 4.5% of the total vineyard area in 2007...

grapes growing in vineyards in Bad Vöslau

Bad Vöslau

Bad Vöslau is a spa town the Lower Austria federal state of Austria. It is also known as the cradle of the Austrian red wine cultivation. Population : 11,190.- History :...

which Schlumberger bought in 1843, and the sparkling wine was an immediate success. Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

-born Schlumberger had worked in the Champagne house Ruinart

Ruinart (champagne)

Ruinart is the oldest established Champagne house, exclusively producing champagne since 1729. Founded by Nicolas Ruinart in the Champagne region in the city of Reims, the house is today owned by the parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA....

before he moved to Vienna

Vienna

in 1842.

Pezsgő

The Hungarian equivalent for sparkling wine is ’pezsgő’. The beginning of significant sparkling wine production in Hungary is dated back to the first half of the 19th century. The first wineries of sparkling wine were founded near Pozsony (today Bratislava) by Hubert I.E. 1825 (first in Central-Europe) and Esch és Társa in 1835. A couple of decades later the main producers moved to the Budai mountains and Budafok

Budafok

Budafok is a neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. It is situated in the southwestern part of Buda, near the Danube, and belongs to District XXII. Budafok was an independent municipality before 1950...

nearby the capital creating a new center of production, the so-called ’Hungarian Champagne’ existing till nowadays. At the end of the 19th century the two most important wineries were József Törley
József Törley
József Törley is credited as having established one of the most successful brands of sparkling wine outside of the champagne region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

és Társa moving from Reims, France to Budafok in 1882 and Louis és César-François founded in 1886. After the Soviet era the Hungarian wine sector was reborn. New and old wineries are seeking for the forgotten roots. Most of the Hungarian sparkling wines are made by the charmat and transvasée methods and a small but steadily growing amount by the traditional, champagneois method. The sorts of grape used during production can be international like Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Riesling, Muscat Ottonel

Muscat Ottonel

Muscat Ottonel or Muskat-Ottonel is a white wine grape that is a member of the Muscat family of Vitis vinifera. It is most notable for its use in dessert wines from Austria, Croatia and Serbia as well as dry wines from Alsace and Hungary...

, Muscat Lunel or natives like Olaszrizling, Kékfrankos, Furmint

Furmint

Furmint is a variety of wine grape from the Pontian Balcanica branch of Vitis vinifera, used for white wines. The name Furmint is taken from the word "froment" for the wheat-gold color of the wine it produces. While it is possible that it the grape is native to Hungary, the grape was likely...

, Királyleányka, Hárslevelű

Hárslevelu

Hárslevelű , also called Lipovina , Frunza de tei , Lindenblättriger and Feuille de Tilleul is a grape variety from the Pontian Balcanica branch of Vitis vinifera.The name refers to the "lime leaf" in each of these languages...

, Kéknyelű

Keknyelu

Kéknyelű is a white Hungarian wine grape planted primarily in the Badacsony region near Lake Balaton. The grape produces full bodied, smokey wines....

and Juhfark

Juhfark

Juhfark in is a variety of grape, of the species Vitis vinifera. The name in Hungarian literally means sheep's tail. The term refers to the elongated, cylindrical shape of the clusters....

Sovetskoye Shampanskoye

In the Soviet Union, sparkling wine was produced under the name Soviet Champagne, or Sovetskoye Shampanskoye

Sovetskoye Shampanskoye

Sovetskoye Shampanskoye is a generic brand of sparkling wine produced in the Soviet Union and successor states. It was produced for many years as a state-run initiative...

, most of it sweet. This designation continues to be used for sparkling wine produced in several countries formerly part of the Soviet Union, including Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

, Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, Russia and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. Most likely, the name has stuck since Sovetskoye Shampanskoye was one of the few products or brands of the Soviet era which were seen as luxurious. Nowadays, it is more common to encounter Sovetskoye Shampanskoye produced in a dry style, although a Moldovan made semi-sweet version from Muscat grapes has been regularly available in the U.S.

Romanian sparklers

In Romania, sparkling wine is mostly made in Panciu

Panciu

The town of Panciu in the county of Vrancea in Romania lies on the river Şuşiţa, in southern Moldavia, northwest of Focşani. It has a population of approximately 9,000. It administers five villages: Crucea de Jos, Crucea de Sus, Dumbrava, Neicu and Satu Nou....

. Located on the right side of the Zabrautului valley, in a place called Cerbului Valley, Panciu Cellars were built in loess

Loess

Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...

soil, and consist of a central corridor that gives off a total of 36 branching galleries along its side, totalling almost 3,000 m. The Cellars belong to the era of Stephen the Great and Saint (1457–1504). From a documentary point of view, the cellars are certified in the late 18th century, in an act of August 19, 1700 mentioning how to use and their owners - Ioan Costin, son of the great Lord Miron Costin

Miron Costin

Miron Costin was a Moldavian political figure and chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Aron Vodă încoace] was meant to extend Grigore Ureche's narrative, covering events from 1594 to 1660...

. Legends and mystery surrounding hills planted with vines around-the-city of Panciu ever since Burebista. The ancient Thracians, a people known for ingenuity and attraction towards the underground construction, inhabited the area in antiquity. About this region, some historians say that it was the ancient capital of Thrace, the ancient inhabitants of these places built underground cellars for an initial network of tortuous defence. Their length was impressive network of galleries stretching, according to hypotheses circulated by specialists, for tens of kilometers, up to Magura Odobesti. Later, they became the perfect hiding place against foreign invasions, in World War the cellars from Panciu being used to shelter local people from enemy bombs. The Cellars Steven the Great are historical monuments and UNESCO heritage, and are managed by Veritas Panciu since 1949. Here is produced by the classical method Champenoise best champagne - champagne Panciu.

English sparklers

Commercial production of bottle fermented sparkling wines from grapes grown in England started in the 1960s, although there has been a longer history of sparkling wines made in the UK from imported grapes. In the 1980s, some English winemakers started to grow the grape varieties as used in Champagne - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier - and in the ensuing decades availability of English sparkling wines made from these varieties increased. Today, there are over 100 vineyards in England producing sparkling wines with Nyetimber, Ridgeview and Chapel Down being some of the largest producers. In 2010, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were the two most commonly planted grape varieties in English vineyards. Along with Pinot Meunier, the three varieties combined accounted for around 40% of vines planted, which appears to reflect a significant growth in interest in English sparkling wines. To put that in context, the current yield for all types of English wine averages to around 2 million bottles annually.

American sparkling wines

Sparkling wines produced in the United States can be made in both the méthode champenoise and the charmat method. Lower cost sparklers, such as André, Cook's, and Tott's, often employ the latter method while more premium sparkling wines utilizing the former. The history of producing quality sparkling wine in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

can be traced to the Sonoma Valley

Sonoma Valley

Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of the California wine industry and often called The Valley of the Moon. Sonoma Valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of Prohibition...

where, in 1892, the Korbel brothers

Korbel Champagne Cellars

Korbel Champagne Cellars is a winery based in Guerneville, California. Korbel primarily manufactures sparkling wine and sells the largest volume of premium traditional Méthode Champenoise sparkling wine in the United States. The company is a division of F...

(immigrated from Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

in 1852) began producing sparkling wine according to the méthode champenoise. The first wines produced were made from Riesling, Muscatel, Traminer and Chasselas

Chasselas

Chasselas or Chasselas Blanc is a wine grape variety grown in Switzerland, France, Germany, Portugal, Baja Norte, Mexico, Hungary and New Zealand.Theories of its origin vary. Pierre Galet believes it is a native Swiss variety....

grapes. Partly aided by the foreign influence, the overall quality of Californian sparklers increased with the introduction of the more traditional sparkling wine grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier and Pinot blanc into the production. US AVA

American Viticultural Area

An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau , United States Department of the Treasury....

requirements and wine laws do not regulate the sugar levels and sweetness of wine

Sweetness of wine

though most producers tend to follow European standards with Brut wine having less than 1.5% sugar up to Doux having more than 5%. As the sparkling wine industry in California grew, foreign investments from some of the Champagne region's most noted Champagne houses came to set up wineries in the area. These include Moët et Chandon

Moët et Chandon

Moët & Chandon , or Moët, is a French winery and co-owner of the luxury goods company Moët-Hennessy • Louis Vuitton. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. The company holds a Royal Warrant to supply champagne to Elizabeth II...

's Domaine Chandon, Louis Roederer

Louis Roederer

Louis Roederer is a producer of champagne based in Reims, France. Founded in 1776, it was inherited and renamed by Louis Roederer in 1833, and is noted as the producer of the luxury champagne Cristal.-History:...

's Roederer Estate

Roederer Estate

Roederer Estate, founded in 1982 by Jean-Claude Rouzaud, then president of the parent company Champagne Louis Roederer, is a well-known California winery. It produces estate-bottled sparkling wines from Mendocino County's cool, fog-shrouded Anderson Valley...

, and Taittinger's Domaine Carneros.

While many top American sparkling wine producers utilize the traditional methods of production, there are distinct differences in their wine making techniques that have a considerable effect on the taste of the wines. In Champagne, the cuvée

Cuvee

blend will rarely have less than 30 wines and sometimes as many as 60 that are taken from grapes spanning 4–6 years of different vintage

Vintage

s. In California, cuvees are typically derived from around 20 wines taken from 1 to 2 years worth of vintages. Champagne laws require that the wine spend a minimum of 15 months on the lees

Lees (fermentation)

Lees refers to deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles that precipitate, or are carried by the action of "fining", to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and ageing. The yeast deposits in beer brewing are known as trub...

for non-vintage and minimum 3 years for vintage Champagne. It is not uncommon for a premium Champagne to age for 7 years or more prior to release. In the US, there are no minimum requirements, and aging length can vary from 8 months to 6 years. Another distinct difference, particularly in Californian sparkling wines, is the favorable Californian climate which allows a vintage wine to be produced nearly every year.

Current US regulations ban the use of the term "Champagne" on any wines not produced in Champagne except if the label was in use before 2006. No new labels including the term "Champagne" will be approved by the US Government for wines produced outside of the Champagne region of France after 2006. Those "grandfathered labels" can only use the term on a wine label if there appears next to that name the appellation of "the actual place of origin".

The growth of the Finger Lakes

Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes are a pattern of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York in the United States. They are a popular tourist destination. The lakes are long and thin , each oriented roughly on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in...

wine industry in New York State and the success of Riesling

Riesling

wines from the region has resulted in an increasing number of producers such as Swedish Hill Vineyards making méthode champenoise sparkling wines from primarily or 100% Riesling. Finger Lakes

Finger Lakes

producers such as Glenora and Casa Larga are also producing méthode champenoise sparkling wine from other grapes such as the traditional Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

A recently developed, popular category of sparkling wine is sparkling ice wine

Ice wine

Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape must to be pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more...

, first created accidentally in 1988, by Canadian wine writer, Konrad Ejbich, in his home cellar.

Australia

Australian sparkling wine can be produced using the Charmat method or the traditional method, and can be vintage dated or a multivintage blend. Most sparkling wine is produced from Chardonnay and Pinot noir, but an Australian speciality is Sparkling Shiraz, a red sparkling wine produced from Shiraz grapes. Most sparkling Shiraz is traditionally somewhat sweet, but some producers make it dry, full-bodied and tannic.

South Africa

Methode Cap Classique denotes a South African sparkling wine made by the traditional Champagne method. Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon blanc

and Chenin blanc

Chenin Blanc

have been the traditional Cap Classique grapes but the use of Chardonnay and Pinot noir have been on the increase. Sparkling wine is also made according to the with both the Charmat method and red sparkling Pinotage

Pinotage

Pinotage is a red wine grape that is South Africa's signature variety. It was bred there in 1925 as a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut...

can also be found.

Semi-sparkling wines

Fully sparkling wines, such as Champagne, are generally sold with 5 to 6 atmospheres of pressure in the bottle. This is nearly twice the pressure found in an automobile tire

Tire

A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...

. European Union regulations define a sparkling wine as any wine with an excess of 3 atmospheres in pressure. These include German Sekt, Spanish Espumoso, Italian Spumante and French Cremant or Mousseux wines. Semi-sparkling wines are defined as those with between 1 and 2.5 atmospheres of pressures and include German spritzig, Italian frizzante and French pétillant wines. The amount of pressure in the wine is determined by the amount of sugar added during the tirage stage at the beginning of the secondary fermentation with more sugar producing increased amount of carbon dioxide gas and thus pressure in the wine.

Red sparkling wines

While the majority of sparkling wines are white or rosé

Rosé

, Australia, Italy and Moldova

Moldova

all have a sizable production of red sparkling wines. In Australia, these sparklers are often made from the Shiraz grape.

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