Winemaking
The tank method (Charmat)
A second fermentation in a pressurised tank, preserving fresh fruit instead of developing bready complexity.
Overview
The wine ferments a second time in a large sealed tank, is filtered under pressure and bottled. Lees contact is short.
This is not a cheaper way of doing the same thing — it produces a genuinely different result, and deliberately so. Prosecco made by the traditional method would lose the fresh pear-and-blossom character it is bought for.
Also called the Charmat or Martinotti method, after the two people who developed it.
Step by step
1 Base wine
A still wine is made, usually from aromatic or neutral-but-fruity varieties.
2 Tank fermentation
Sugar and yeast are added in a pressurised tank. Fermentation generates carbon dioxide that dissolves into the wine.
3 Short lees contact
Brief by design, so autolytic character never develops.
4 Filtration and bottling
Filtered and bottled under pressure to keep the bubble in.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Consorzio di Tutela della Denominazione di Origine Controllata Prosecco — Consorzio Prosecco DOC
- 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.