05 · Topic hub · Reference

Sparkling

Crémant, Cava, Franciacorta, Pét-Nat. What they share beyond Champagne.

4 Guides
4 Sub-themes
Latest: 2 September 2026
Jump to:RegionsStyles & methodBuyingAlcohol-free

1 · Regions

1 piece
Crémant and Champagne compared: two vineyard slopes split by a scale motif, brutalist style

Crémant vs Champagne: Just as Good for Less?

Crémant vs champagne: same method, often the same grapes, a third of the price. Which to choose, when, and what you taste in the glass.

Regions27 Apr

2 · Styles & method

1 piece
Five fractured bottle silhouettes at staggered heights, each on a different bedrock pattern, brutalist composition

Champagne vs Prosecco, Cava and other sparkling

Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Prosecco, Franciacorta, English sparkling. Method, grapes and price-quality laid out side by side.

Styles & method22 May

3 · Buying

1 piece
Editorial brutalist composition: eight columns of varying height rising like a price ladder, halftone texture and ascending bubbles

Affordable sparkling: 8 bottles under 40 euros

Eight sparkling wines under 40 euros, from alcohol-free to Dutch, with the price, the style and how each bottle reached me.

Buying11 Aug

4 · Alcohol-free

1 piece
Brutalist illustration of three column-shaped glasses with rising bubbles on a stone plinth, next to an empty fourth recess

Dry Alcohol-Free Sparkling: What Survives

Which alcohol-free sparkling wines are dry enough to take seriously at the table, which lean on sugar, and how to read that off the label.

Alcohol-free25 Aug

5 · Glossary

12 terms
Technique

Autolysis

Breakdown of dead yeast cells during extended lees ageing in the bottle. Source of brioche, hazelnut and creamy texture in Champagne and other traditional-method sparkling wines.

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Blanc de Blancs

Champagne made from white grapes only, which in practice almost always means one hundred percent Chardonnay.

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Blanc de Noirs

White Champagne made entirely from black grapes, typically Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or a blend of both.

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Brut

Dosage category for sparkling wine: up to 12 g/l residual sugar. The de-facto standard for non-vintage Champagne, around 95 percent of production.

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Brut Nature

Strictest dosage category: 0 to 3 g/l residual sugar, no added sugar. Also Pas Dosé or Zéro Dosage. Shows the base wine without mercy.

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Cava

Spanish sparkling DO, mostly from Penedès, segmented since 2020 into four ageing tiers running from 9 to 36+ months.

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Charmat method

Second fermentation of sparkling wine in a sealed pressurised stainless steel autoclave rather than inside the bottle.

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Col fondo

Cloudy Prosecco with second fermentation in bottle, undisgorged, formally permitted inside the DOC since 2019.

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Crémant

French sparkling AOCs outside Champagne made by traditional method with hand-harvested whole-cluster fruit and nine months minimum on the lees.

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Dégorgement

Removing the yeast lees from the Champagne bottle after ageing. Freeze the neck, pop off the crown cap, the deposit shoots out under internal pressure.

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Demi-Sec

Off-dry dosage category for sparkling wine: 32 to 50 g/l residual sugar. Classic with dessert. Has become rarer in modern Champagne offerings.

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Dosage

The small amount of sugar solution added to champagne after dégorgement to balance the final taste.

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All terms →

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This is the reference. For reviews, opinion and podcast conversations about sparkling: see the blocks below.

About sparkling, not in the Library

Reviews, opinion and market news under Articles. 3 pieces.

Sparkling on Sparks (podcast)

Conversations featuring sparkling. 10 episodes.