Charmat method sparkling wines (or Martinotti)

This method was developed in the mid-1800s and was born out of the need to shorten the production times of the sparkling wine, which until then had been produced with the Champenoise method. The enologist Martinotti takes up and develops a French intuition, but again Charmat , another enologist from beyond the Alps, perfects and patents the method. The substantial difference concerns the fact that in this method the second fermentation of the wine is not foreseen (ie the birth of the C02, i.e. the bubble) in the bottle, nor all the phases that follow. It is therefore a much shorter and less expensive process; the refermentation of the wine, which must become sparkling, is activated with the yeasts directly inside large steel autoclaves. This method is mainly used to obtain sparkling wines characterized by primary (therefore grape) and fruity aromas, which are very reminiscent of the starting vine, very fresh, even light and delicate. Some of the most suitable grapes for this sparkling wine system are moscato (Asti spumante docg), aromatic malvasia and glera, with which the very famous Prosecco is made.