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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Champagne

Traditional-method sparkling wine (Champagne, Cava, Franciacorta)méthode traditionnelle

A still base wine is bottled with a little sugar and yeast, and a second fermentation in the sealed bottle makes the bubbles. The wine then rests on the dead yeast for months or years, which gives toasty, bready notes. The yeast is worked into the neck, frozen and shot out, and the bottle is topped up and corked. Made in 8 steps over 13 months – 14 months. The longest step, age on the lees, takes at least 9 months (Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine…). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 9 monthsSet[champ-cdc][cava-pliego]Age on the lees
Temperature12–18 °CReported[gnoinski2021][charnock2022]Second fermentation in the bottle (prise de mousse)
AciditypH 2.8–3.4Set[cava-pliego]Age on the lees
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks13 months – 14 monthsChampagne AOC and Cava DOP set the rules for their names; the EU sets the minimum pressure for sparkling wineFamily: White wineMore alcoholic drinksMore from ItalyMore from FranceMore from Spain

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe Champagne and Cava specifications fix grape yields, ageing times and pressure, not a recipe; each house sets its own blend and sugar.
102 L of settled must from 160 kgGrapes, pressed whole · The Champagne limit for white and directly pressed rosé base wines[champ-cdc]
Liqueur de tirage · Wine, yeast, sugar, nutrients and a riddling aid; the sugar is sized for the pressure wanted[charnock2022][gnoinski2021]
OptionalLiqueur d'expédition (dosage) · Wine with or without added sugar, put in after disgorging to set the sweetness[charnock2022]
Starterinoculated wine yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) for the second fermentation

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 months – 14 months

Start
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What changes: Whole bunches are pressed gently and the cloudy must settles clear

Step 1 of 8
Press the grapes whole and settle the must
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeasts

The press fractions (cuvée and taille) are made into wine separately in Champagne. Output: clear, pale must.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

A white wine is finished once it is fermented and clarified. Here the dry base wine is fermented a second time in its own sealed bottle, kept on the dead yeast for months or years, and the yeast is then removed bottle by bottle.

Lees ageing, Champagne
At least 15 months from tirage before sale; 36 months for vintage Champagne
Lees ageing, Cava
At least nine months in contact with the lees in the bottle where the second fermentation took place
Pressure
About 6 atm at 20 °C; at least 3.5 bar for quality sparkling wine

Related ferments

Variants

  • ChampagneChampagne AOC; at least 15 months from tirage (36 for vintage); tirage no earlier than 1 January after harvest.
  • CavaSpanish DOP; at least nine months on the lees; Reserva 18, Gran Reserva 30 and Paraje Calificado 36 months from tirage to disgorging.
  • Transfer methodThe second fermentation is in the bottle, but the wine is then emptied into a pressure tank to remove the lees instead of riddling each bottle.
  • Tank (Charmat) methodThe second fermentation happens in a pressurised tank, not in each bottle.

Safety

The finished bottles hold about 6 atmospheres of pressure, so they must be opened with care. Sulfur dioxide is often added, mainly to the base wine or the dosage, against spoilage and oxidation.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Champagne appellation was first recognised by decree on 29 June 1936. The Champagne specification credits Jules Guyot, in 1866, with noting the value of blending grapes from different varieties and plots.

  1. [champ-cdc] Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Champagne », homologated by the arrêté of 31 July 2025 (JORF 5 August 2025), BO agri 7 August 2025spec
  2. [cava-pliego] Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Pliego de condiciones de la Denominación de Origen Protegida "Cava" (read from a web.archive.org copy of the mapa.gob.es PDF)spec
  3. [eu1308] Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII Part II, points 4 and 5 (sparkling wine and quality sparkling wine)spec
  4. [charnock2022] Charnock H.M., Pickering G.J., Kemp B.S. 2022, The Maillard reaction in traditional method sparkling wine, Frontiers in Microbiology 13:979866, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.979866paper
  5. [gnoinski2021] Gnoinski G.B. et al. 2021, Novel methods to manipulate autolysis in sparkling wine, effects on yeast, Molecules 26:387, doi:10.3390/molecules26020387paper