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Champagne and Sparkling Wine Glossary

FERMENTATION METHODS

Méthode Champenoise the traditional French process that has a second fermentation in the bottle to be sold creating the natural carbonation in the bottle.
Charmat also called the “bulk” process, where sparkling wines undergo secondary fermentation in tanks.
Fermented in the Bottle indicative of the “transfer” process, whereby the wine undergoes its secondary fermentation in the bottle but the wine is then emptied from that bottle and filtered, then rebottled.

LEVELS OF SWEETNESS (DOSAGE)

Brut Nature Bone dry
Brut No sweetness
Extra Dry Slight sweetness
Sec, Dry Noticeable sweetness
Demi-Sec Very sweet
Doux Ultra sweet

OTHER TERMS

Blanc de Blancs Wines made primarily from Chardonnay grapes.
Blanc de Noirs A white or slightly tinted wine made from Pinot Noir grapes.
Cava The Spanish term for sparkling wines using Methode Champenoise.
Champagne Sparkling wine made from the Champagne region in France.
Cuvée A blend of several still wines to become a well balanced sparkling wine.
Disgorging The process by which the sediment collected in the neck of the sparkling wine bottle during the riddling process is frozen and expelled prior to final corking.
Dosage The liqueur (sugar dissolved in reserve wine) added to sparkling wine just before final corking, determining the level of wine’s sweetness.
Mousse The ring of foam around the top of a glass of sparkling wine.
Prise de Mousse French term describing the effervescence created in the sparkling wine bottle during the second fermentation.
Riddling The art of turning and tilting bottles of sparkling wine in order to ease the sediment into the neck of the bottle.
Sekt The German designation for sparkling wine.
Spumante The Italian term for sparkling wine.
Tirage The process of bottling the Cuvée with the addition of active yeast and sugar in order to induce a second fermentation.
Vin Mousseux French sparkling wines produce outside the Champagne region of France.