🍷 Continuous method

The continuous method is a way of making sparkling wine in which wine with yeast flows continuously through a chain of closed tanks and becomes charged with gas. Unlike the traditional method, where every bottle ferments separately, production here runs without a pause, like a conveyor belt.

Wine with sugar and yeast is fed into the first tank. Under pressure it moves slowly onward, the second fermentation continues, and the carbon dioxide stays dissolved. At the end the wine is cooled, clarified and bottled. This yields large volumes in a short time.

The continuous method is related to the Charmat method, where wine ferments in one large tank, and belongs to production techniques of large wineries. It is used for inexpensive sparkling wines in some countries, including Portugal and Germany. Such wine is usually fruity, light and fresh and meant to be drunk soon. It is simpler than Champagne in technology and costs less.