Winemaking
The ancestral method
Bottling wine before its first fermentation finishes, so a single ferment produces the bubbles.
Overview
The oldest way of making sparkling wine, and the basis of pét-nat. Wine is bottled part-way through fermentation and finishes in the bottle.
There is no second fermentation, no added yeast or sugar, and usually no disgorgement — which is why the wine is cloudy and why bottle-to-bottle variation is real.
Pressure is generally lower than in traditional-method wine, giving a gentler, frothier bubble.
Sources
Sources consulted
- WSET educational materials and the Systematic Approach to Tasting — Wine & Spirit Education Trust
More in winemaking
Winemaking
Fermentation
Yeast converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide — the step that makes wine wine.
Winemaking
How red wine is made
Fermenting grape juice in contact with the skins, which is where colour and tannin come from.
Winemaking
How white wine is made
Pressing the juice off the skins before fermentation, then fermenting the clear juice.