How to Make Sparkling Wine: Methode Champenoise at Home

Updated: February 2026 | Reading Time: 13 minutes

Few winemaking projects are as rewarding—or as impressive—as making your own sparkling wine. The Methode Champenoise (Traditional Method) is the same technique used to create the world's finest Champagnes. It involves a second fermentation in the bottle, creating those characteristic fine bubbles and complex flavors that mass-produced sparkling wines simply can't match.

While traditional method sparkling wine production is complex and equipment-intensive, home winemakers can achieve remarkable results with patience, attention to detail, and some specialized equipment. This guide walks you through the entire process.

Understanding the Method

The traditional method (Methode Champenoise) involves:

1. First fermentation: Make a base wine (still wine)
2. Second fermentation: Induce fermentation in the bottle
3. Aging: Let the wine mature on its lees
4. Riddling: Gradually turn bottles to collect sediment in the neck
5. Disgorgement: Remove the sediment
6. Dosage: Add a small amount of sugar wine mixture
7. Final corking: Seal the bottle

This creates wines with fine, persistent bubbles and complex flavors developed during aging on lees.

Step 1: Make Your Base Wine

Everything starts with a quality base wine. This is a dry, still wine (typically Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, or a blend) that will become the foundation for your sparkling wine.

Choosing Grapes

Classic choices include:

• Chardonnay: The "white" of Champagne; provides elegance and finesse
• Pinot Noir: The "red" of Champagne; adds body and fruit
• Pinot Meunier: Adds fruitiness and robustness

For home winemakers, any white wine grape can work. The key is high acidity—you want more acidity than you would for a table wine.

Making the Base Wine

Follow your standard white winemaking process:

1. Press grapes immediately after crushing
2. Ferment at cool temperatures (50-55°F/10-13°C)
3. Prevent malolactic fermentation (add sulfites immediately)
4. Ferment to complete dryness
5. Stabilize and store until ready for second fermentation

Base Wine Requirements

• High acidity: pH below 3.3
• Low pH: Total acidity above 0.7%
• Clean fermentation: No off-flavors
• Dry: No residual sugar

Step 2: Prepare for Second Fermentation

Equipment Needed

• Bottles: Traditional champagne bottles (thick glass, mushroom cork capacity)
• Corks: Champagne corks (mushroom-shaped)
• Corker: Champagne corker
• Riddling rack or pupitre (or DIY solution)
• Disgorging bucket

The Liqueur de Tirage

To trigger second fermentation in the bottle, you need to add a mixture of yeast, sugar, and nutrients—this is called "liqueur de tirage."

For each gallon (3.8L) of base wine, prepare:

• 24g sugar (sucrose)
• 1g yeast nutrient
• Active yeast culture (rehydrated)

Dissolve the sugar in a small amount of warm base wine, let cool, then add the yeast starter. This mixture is your liqueur de tirage.

Step 3: Bottle and Ferment

Add the liqueur de tirage to your base wine and stir gently to distribute evenly.

Transfer the base wine + liqueur mixture into champagne bottles, leaving about 1 inch of headspace (the "prise de mousse" space). Cork tightly with champagne corks.

Store bottles on their sides in a cool, dark place (50-55°F/10-13°C). The second fermentation will begin within a few days and continue for 6-8 weeks.

During this time:

• Yeast consume sugar and produce alcohol + CO₂
• CO₂ dissolves into the wine (creating bubbles)
• Yeast die and create lees (sediment)

Step 4: Riddling

Riddling (or "remuage" in French) is the process of gradually turning bottles to collect dead yeast (lees) in the bottle neck. This is essential for producing clear sparkling wine.

Traditional Riddling

1. Place bottles in a riddling rack (pupitre), angled neck-down
2. Each day, rotate each bottle about 1/4 turn and raise the neck slightly
3. Continue for 2-4 weeks
4. Eventually, all sediment collects in the neck

DIY Riddling (For Home Winemakers)

If you don't have a riddling rack:

1. Place bottles in a wine rack, tilted neck-down
2. Each day, give each bottle a quarter turn
3. After 3-4 weeks, the sediment should be in the neck

Accelerated Riddling

For a faster (but less thorough) method:

1. After 2-3 months, place bottles in a jig or holder
2. Vigorously shake and vortex each bottle for 30 seconds daily
3. Continue for 1-2 weeks

Step 5: Disgorgement

Disgorgement is the process of removing the sediment (lees) from the bottle while preserving the carbonation.

The Traditional Method

1. Freeze the neck of the bottle (using a salt-ice bath or freezer)
2. This creates a small ice plug of frozen sediment
3. Open the bottle—the pressure shoots out the ice plug
4. Immediately re-cork to preserve carbonation

For Home Winemakers

1. Place bottles in freezer (-10°F/-23°C or colder) for 2-3 hours
2. Remove and open over a bucket (expect some foam spurting)
3. Let the frozen sediment plug eject
4. Work quickly—the wine is still under pressure
5. Re-cork immediately

Step 6: Dosage

After disgorgement, you'll have lost some wine (and some CO₂). The dosage replaces this with a mixture of sugar and wine—called "liqueur d'expedition"—to reach the final fill level and determine sweetness.

Dosage Levels

For most sparkling wines, a Brut level (6-12 g/L) is appropriate. Prepare your dosage by mixing equal parts sugar and wine, heated to dissolve, then cooled.

Step 7: Final Bottling

After adding dosage:

1. Top up with same wine if needed
2. Recork with fresh champagne cork
3. Wire the cork in place (cage)
4. Store horizontally in cool, dark place

Your sparkling wine should be ready to drink within 1-3 months of disgorgement, though it can age for several years.

Alternative: Simplified Method

If Methode Champenoise seems too complex, consider this simpler approach:

Charmat Method (Tank Method)

1. Complete first fermentation as usual
2. Transfer base wine to a pressure tank
3. Add sugar and yeast for second fermentation
4. Ferment under pressure in tank (not bottle)
5. Filter and bottle under pressure

This produces simpler sparkling wine but requires less specialized equipment and time.

Common Problems

Flat Wine (No Bubbles)

• Fermentation didn't complete in bottle
• Bottle wasn't sealed properly
• Not enough sugar in liqueur de tirage

Cloudy Wine

• Incomplete riddling
• Disgorgement wasn't clean

Explosive Bottles

• Used regular wine bottles instead of champagne bottles
• Too much sugar in liqueur de tirage

Conclusion

Making traditional method sparkling wine at home is a significant undertaking—but the rewards are extraordinary. The satisfaction of popping the cork on your own handcrafted bubbly is unmatched in home winemaking.

Start with a small batch, be patient, and don't be discouraged if your first attempts aren't perfect. Even "imperfect" home sparkling wine is a triumph. And as your skills develop, so will the quality of your bubbles.

Ready for dessert wine? Check out our guide to Making Dessert Wine.