Glossary
Méthode Traditionnelle
The sparkling winemaking process involving a second fermentation in the same bottle the wine is sold in. Formerly called méthode champenoise, a term now reserved for Champagne AOC.
Méthode traditionnelle (also méthode classique outside the EU) is the winemaking process that defines Champagne and other premium sparkling wines — Cava, Franciacorta, Crémant, English sparkling, much of California and Tasmania.
The process: a still base wine receives liqueur de tirage (sugar + yeast) and is bottled under a crown cap. A second fermentation (prise de mousse) in that bottle produces CO₂ and a lees deposit. The wine ages on the lees, then goes through remuage and dégorgement before the final dosage and corking.
Inside Champagne AOC, the process is still called méthode champenoise. Outside, EU regulation reserves that name and requires producers to use méthode traditionnelle or méthode classique instead.
Related terms