Méthode Traditionnelle

The seven steps

The méthode traditionnelle process has seven main steps. First, the base wine is made, just like a still wine, with a focus on high acidity and moderate alcohol. Second, the liqueur de tirage, a mixture of sugar and yeast, is added and the wine is bottled under a crown cap. Third, the bottles are laid horizontally in a cool cellar, where the second fermentation takes 4 to 6 weeks.

Fourth, the bottles are aged on the lees for 24 to 84 months, depending on the cuvée. Fifth, the bottles are riddled, either by hand on a pupitre or by machine on a gyropalette, to collect the lees in the neck. Sixth, the neck is frozen, the crown cap is removed and the lees plug is expelled in a process called disgorgement. Seventh, the liqueur d'expédition, the dosage, is added, the bottle is sealed with a cork and a wire cage, and the wine is ready for labelling and shipping.

Why méthode traditionnelle dominates in the UK

The méthode traditionnelle is the dominant technique in the UK for one reason: it makes the best sparkling wine. The bubbles are finer and more persistent than those from tank methods, because they form in bottle under pressure against a glass wall. The lees ageing adds a complexity that no other technique can match. And the long, patient process has a marketing value that the more industrial methods cannot replicate.

Almost every English sparkling wine worth talking about is made by méthode traditionnelle. The English Sparkling PDO requires it. The leading houses, including Nyetimber, Ridgeview, Gusbourne, Hambledon, Chapel Down, Hush Heath, Black Chalk, Exton Park and dozens of smaller producers, all use the same basic process. The variations lie in the base wine blend, the lees ageing time, the dosage and the final style.

Variations and alternatives

Other sparkling wine methods include the Charmat, or tank, method used for Prosecco, the transfer method used for some mass-market wines, the ancestral or Pét-Nat method, and the continuous method used for very large production. The méthode traditionnelle sits at the top of the quality pyramid, with the transfer method a step below, the Charmat method below that, and the Pét-Nat as a small but trendy niche.

A few UK producers, particularly those making Prosecco-style wines or low-intervention wines, use the tank method or the ancestral method. Hambledon's First Flight, for example, is a Charmat-style sparkling Pinot Noir. Litmus makes a Pét-Nat. Black Chalk and Sugrue South Downs have experimented with the ancestral method. But the vast majority of English sparkling is méthode traditionnelle.

The cost of patience

Méthode traditionnelle is expensive. The capital cost of the riddling and disgorging equipment, the cellar space for years of lees ageing, the labour for the second fermentation and the handling, the cork and wire cage, the dosage, the labelling, all add up. A bottle of méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine typically costs at least 25 pounds to make, and a prestige cuvée can cost 50 or more.

The English industry has invested heavily in the equipment to do this at scale. Nyetimber's rotary gyropalette can handle tens of thousands of bottles at a time. Hambledon's underground cellar, dug into the chalk, holds hundreds of thousands of bottles in perfect ageing conditions. Chapel Down's new winery in Tenterden is built around méthode traditionnelle production. The infrastructure is now in place to make English sparkling wine a serious global category.