Tank fermentation process

Form of production for sparkling wines; see under Méthode charmat.

Process in the production of sparkling wine or semi-sparkling wine, in which the second fermentation does not take place in the bottle but in a pressurised tank. This is why it is also known as tank fermentation or large-capacity fermentation, in France as Cuve-close and in Spain as Granvás. The invention is attributed to the French agricultural engineer Eugène Charmat.

He experimented with pressurised tanks at the beginning of the 20th century at the University of Montpellier (Languedoc) and introduced the method in 1910. In Italy in particular, however, Federico Martinotti (1860-1924), the director of the l'Istituto Sperimentale per l'Enologia di Asti, is regarded as the inventor, who apparently carried out extensive experiments at his institute even before Charmat. He used closed containers that could withstand pressures of up to 6 bar. This is why the process is patriotically known in Italy as Metodo martinotti, Metodo martinotti-charmat or Metodo...

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Tank fermentation process

Méthode charmat

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