Sapori
MARTINOTTI METHOD OR CHARMAT METHOD
The development of the most commonly utilized alternative process to make a sparkling wine, the so-called Martinotti Method or Charmat Method or even Italian Method, took place at the end of the XIX century, precisely in 1895 when Federico Martinotti, who was in charge of the Royal Enological Station in Asti, invented a steel pressurized and refrigerated vessel known as “autoclave” that is used to make Italian Method spumante wines. This alternative process is also known as “Charmat Method” because a French engineer by the name of Eugéne Charmat adapted the design of Martinotti’s autoclave to suit industrial production of sparkling wine and rolled out the product in 1907.
Most Charmant Method wines are generally made from aromatic grapes (as is the case for Asti Spumante, which is made from aromatic Moscato Bianco grapes) or partly-aromatic grapes (such as Glera, also known as Prosecco) and it therefore emphasizes the primary or varietal aromas of the grape(s) their base wine(s) are made out of.
Main Steps in the Charmat-Martinotti Method Production Process:
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Soft pressing of the base wine grape(s)
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Treatments of the must (e.g., clarification and application of sulfur dioxide)
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Fermentation of the base wine(s) by the addition of selected yeast
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Where necessary, blending of the base wines
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Transfer of the base wine(s) into a pressurized, refrigerated autoclave with the addition of sugar and selected yeast
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Refermentation in autoclave, which makes the wine bubbly because the carbon dioxide created by the yeast as a byproduct of alcoholic fermentation remains trapped inside the pressurized autoclave and dissolves into the wine
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Brief period of aging on the lees in autoclave (generally, just a few months)
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Isobaric stabilization and filtration, to remove the lees
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Isobaric bottling and closure