The French agricultural engineer and oenologist Eugène Charmat worked at the University of Montpellier (Languedoc-Roussillon), among other places. He experimented with large-capacity fermentation in pressure tanks made of enamelled steel for the production of sparkling wine. In 1907, he developed the Méthode charmat (tank fermentation method), which was later named after him and subsequently became the standard method used worldwide to this day. In 1909, he was also a founding member of the CFGV (Compagnie Française des Grands Vins) sparkling wine cellar in Wissembourg , Alsace, which still exists today (today it belongs to the Schloss Wachenheim AG sparkling wine cellar in Trier, Upper Moselle). In Italy, Federico Martinotti (1860-1924) worked on the subject of tank fermentation.
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Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien