There are two common ways to make sparkling wines. Almost all better quality sparkling wines are made with the so-call Traditional Method. Prior to 1970s, almost all sparkling wines could call themselves Champagne. The EU and French put an end to that. Now, only sparkling wines made in the Champagne region of France can be called Champagne.
The method of production in Champagne is called Methode Champenoise. All other sparkling wines made this way but not from Champagne can only use the term Traditional Method, or something similar such as Methode Traditionnelle (France), Metodo Tradicional (Spain).
The other common way to make sparkling wines is called Charmat Method. The wines made with Charmat Method are usually of a lower quality and sell for a lower price.
Methode Champenoise or Traditional Method involves a secondary fermentation in the bottle. The base still wine is made like any other still wine with the first fermentation happening in the fermentation tank.
Once the base wine is ready, it is bottled with a small amount of yeast and sugar called the liquer de tirage and capped. The bottle is first laid in a horizontal position. The yeast and sugar will ferment inside the bottle and the resulting CO2 is trapped inside. The pressure build up can be as high as 70 to 90 psi (about as high as six atmosphers), hence the thicker glass is required to prevent the bottle from exploding.
The wine will stay in the bottle for a minimum of 15 months with the yeast in Champagne, and perhaps shorter in other jurisdictions. The bottle is slowly turned downwards overtime until it is inverted with the cap pointing down. A few weeks prior to the time of disgorging, the bottle is also turned slightly daily or every second day by somebody called a Riddler. The idea is to get the dead yeast particles and other cloudy particles to drop to the neck of the inverted bottle. The neck is then put in a freezing liquid and the cap removed quickly. The pressure inside the bottle will force the frozen dead yeast and other particles to leave the bottle in one quick expulsion. A small amount of wine and sugar (called dosage) is then added to the bottle to top up the volume and then corked with familiar compound cork and wire cage.
Champagne, Cremant (sparkling wines from other French regions), Cava from Spain, Sket, and Francicorta from Italy are all made using this method. Depending on the amount of sugar added in the dosage, the wine will end up with different level of sweetness. In order of sweetness from sweet to dry, the terms given are: doux, semi-sec, sec, extra sec, brut, extra brut, brut nature/brut zero, and ultra brut. The most common you will find is brut which is what most consumers prefer.
The other method, Charmat or tank method, has the secondary fermentation happened in a tank. The CO2 produced pressurizes the tank and forces the CO2 to stay in the wine. When the wine is ready to be bottled, it is filtered and then bottled with a small amount of sugar.
Prosecco, Moscato, Lambrasco, and Espumanto are all made using this method.
Champagne is usually non-vintage. Most Champagne houses blend multiple years of base wines to create their own house characteristics.
In exceptionally good years, some houses may declare a Vintage Champagne. In this case, the base wine has to come all from that year. Most houses will hold back about 50% of the base wine from that year for future blending of non vintage productions. For vintage Champagne, most houses will keep the yeast in the wines (sur lees) in the bottle for at least three years, in some cases up to six to eight years. That is the reason why Vintage Champagne is so rare and expensive.
Other common terms you will hear are Blanc de Blanc and Blanc de Noir. Champagne is commonly made from three different grapes: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are red grapes and Chardonnay is a white grape. When Pinot Noir and or Pinot Meunier are used, the juice is pressed quickly with minimal skin contact so the juice runs white or almost white (pink). Hence Blanc de Noir. When Chardonnay is used, of course, Blanc de Blanc.
A good Champagne should look clean and not cloudy. The fizz should be small and continuous rising in the glass. The nose should remind you of citrus, peaches, apples, almond and with Blanc de Noir, nuances of cherry and strawberry. Bread, toast and yeast should likely also present. On the palate, it should feel creamy, nice round mouth feel with the fizz bursting in your mouth.
Most Champagnes are drunk early as most consumers prefer the freshness in their Champagne. However, Champagnes can age gracefully in the bottle. As it ages it develops nuances of honey, caramel and even a hint of truffle.
Sparkling wines other than Champagnes are likely made with different grapes which will give you different nuances in the nose and palate. Also, the fizz in sparkling wines made with the Charmat or tank method will usually not last as long as those made with the Traditional Method.
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