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Winemaker Inquiring TIM P A T TERSON Charmat? Why Not? for example, that any country can have vineyard dirt, but only France has terroir. Or that American oak is always inferior to French, or that great wine can only be made from savagely low yielding vines, or that anyone who likes their table wines on the sweet side is an untutored hayseed. It's time to add one more to the list: that traditional, bottle-fermented méthode champenoise sparklers are always vastly superior to tank-fermented, Charmat-style bubblies. Sure, this prejudice has its origins in an ocean of badly made, tank-fermented wines; but leaving the discussion there is like dismissing all German Riesling be- cause of a traumatic experience with a bottle of Blue Nun. Truth be told, Charmat is capable of making wines of great quality, something open-minded wine tasters and blind-tasting competition judges will attest to. As with T he wine world is home to many deeply held beliefs, especially when it comes to wine quality, which upon further examina- tion reveal a strong streak of sheer prejudice. The notion, any winemaking technology, it's not the machinery but the quality of the grapes and the care taken in the winemaking that deter- mines the final quality. There's every reason for wineries that want to add some bubbles to their lineup to explore Charmat strate- gies as well as bottle-fermented options. One thing to keep in mind, though: The equipment costs a bundle. Parallel winemaking universes Maybe the unflattering comparisons trace to the fact that méthode champenoise was developed not only in France, but (accord- ing to historical fantasy) by a man of the cloth, Dom Perignon, giving the whole thing a kind of divine gloss. Per- haps there's some ethnic ranking involved: though the patent for the process went to a French- man, Eugene Charmat, much of the development of the approach before and after was done by Italians, with names like Mar- tinotti and Carpene, which is why Charmat is also known as Metodo Italiano. Maybe it's because bottle fermenta- tion involves so much hand labor, conjuring up visions of smiling, elfin workers deep in picturesque caves, Steele's Black Bubbles sparkling Syrah uses carbonation instead of a secondary fermantation. Castoro_Nov08 10/8/08 1:54 PM Page 1 Highlights • Tank-fermented sparkling wines don't have a glamorous reputation, but with careful winemaking they can be quite good. • The bottle-fermented and tank-ferment- ed processes are in fact quite similar, except for the difference in scale. • There's no winemaking reason the U.S. couldn't start its own Prosecco phenomenon. WINES & VINES DECEMBER 2012 49 • VELCORIN DOSING NOW AVAILABLE! • Bottle cleaning, sparging & gravity filling • Vacuum corking & multiple head corkers • All types of capsules including SCREW CAP • Single or dual web PS labeling • NEW – 187ml bottling • 20 years of hands-on bottling experience • Supported by a winery • Experienced bottling line technicians • Technical support for bottling prep & packaging • Competitive prices