Sparkling white wine is often thought of as poor man’s champers. On the contrary, worldwide producers are creating fantastic new flavours all the time that are giving the champagne houses a run for their money. Sparkling white wines and sparkling Rose wines are produced all over the world including UK sparkling wine but predominantly they are produced in the New World. These days, the whole world seems to have gone organic mad and yes, you can buy organic sparkling wine also. Is organic wine better for you? Yes and no. Yes because the vineyards don’t used insecticides and chemicals and no, if you drink too much of it. Like any wine or sparkling wine, it contains alcohol. So as the ads tell us; drink responsibly!

Sparkling Wine Gestures aims to help you to make an informed decision when buying sparkling wine. Keeping the information very basic, we will cover how sparkling wine is produced, the fermentation processes and a few facts about famous sparkling wine houses. Hopefully when you buy sparkling wine online, from a wine merchant or supermarket in the future, you will have a little more knowledge to back up your purchase.

The principle of making sparkling wines are the same as when producing still wine. The sugar that’s created in the fermentation of a grape wine is modified naturally into alcohol and carbonic gas. The gas in still wine is released however; the gas in sparkling wine is allowed to dissolve in to the liquid by adding a stopper as in a cork or cap. The gas is released when the bottle is opened creating the bubbles.

There are four procedures that dominate the production of sparkling wines. The Method Champenoise means the wine has received a second fermentation in the bottle it will be sold in. Bottle Fermented also receives a second fermentation in bottle but it doesn’t mean it will be sold within that bottle. Cuve Close or Tank Method, used for bulk and inexpensive sparkling wine, receives second fermentation in a tank and then it’s filtered and bottled under pressure. Lastly, Carbonation, the cheapest method consists of forcing CO2 into the wine.

Sparkling Wine Houses

Langlois are proud to use natural methods while respecting the environment especially in regards to pest. This producer was one of the first to obtain the "Terra Vitis" label associated with winegrowers who restrain from using pesticides.