Champagne and Sparkling Wine

Transversage and transfer method are similar but not the same, and the description here conflates the two. While both are transferred to pressurized tank, transversage sees remuage and disgorgement whereas transfer method does not. As I understand it, transversage is used in bottling special sizes and not transfer method. Also spelling needs a quick fix.

The guide above currently includes the following text: “Champagne is bottled in a range of bottle sizes. The names of large bottles, from Jeroboam forward, have Biblical connotations. Bottle sizes larger than a Jeroboam and smaller than a half bottle may be filled by transversageor [sic] by the transfer method, from a tank or through the process of decanting multiple smaller bottles.” This is tricky as ‘transfer method’ might not be a legally defined term, but typically, as Victoria O'Bryan commented above, it typically refers to a process where the process of riddling and disgorgement is omitted and instead sediment is removed by clarification/filtration in tank [see, for example, the entry for ‘sparkling winemaking’ Oxford Companion to Wine (4th Edition) or ‘transfer method’ in Chapter 9 of Wine Science: Principles & Applications (5th edition) by Ronald S Jackson (Academic Press/Elsevier 2020)]. Champagne, however, requires disgorgement - “L’élimination des sous produits issus de la fermentation en bouteilles destinée à rendre le vin mousseux est effectuée par dégorgement.” (‘Section IX. ― Transformation, élaboration, élevage, conditionnement, stockage; Subsection 2° Dispositions par type de produit’ from the 2022 cahiers des charges) Opportunity for confusion here is rife, as the OCW definition for ‘transversage’ does not correspond with the OIV definition for ‘transvasage’, and other sources such as Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine by Tom Stevenson & Essi Avellan MW (Sterling Epicure 2014) use the transfer method and transvasage as synonyms. I pity the fool (and that would be me . . .) trying to make sense of all this.

The guide above currently includes the following text: “Champagne is bottled in a range of bottle sizes. The names of large bottles, from Jeroboam forward, have Biblical connotations. Bottle sizes larger than a Jeroboam and smaller than a half bottle may be filled by transversageor [sic] by the transfer method, from a tank or through the process of decanting multiple smaller bottles.” This is tricky as ‘transfer method’ might not be a legally defined term, but typically, as Victoria O'Bryan commented above, it typically refers to a process where the process of riddling and disgorgement is omitted and instead sediment is removed by clarification/filtration in tank [see, for example, the entry for ‘sparkling winemaking’ Oxford Companion to Wine (4th Edition) or ‘transfer method’ in Chapter 9 of Wine Science: Principles & Applications (5th edition) by Ronald S Jackson (Academic Press/Elsevier 2020)]. Champagne, however, requires disgorgement - “L’élimination des sous produits issus de la fermentation en bouteilles destinée à rendre le vin mousseux est effectuée par dégorgement.” (‘Section IX. ― Transformation, élaboration, élevage, conditionnement, stockage; Subsection 2° Dispositions par type de produit’ from the 2022 cahiers des charges) Opportunity for confusion here is rife, as the OCW definition for ‘transversage’ does not correspond with the OIV definition for ‘transvasage’, and other sources such as Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine by Tom Stevenson & Essi Avellan MW (Sterling Epicure 2014) use the transfer method and transvasage as synonyms. I pity the fool (and that would be me . . .) trying to make sense of all this.