🍷 Transfer method
The wine ferments in the bottle, then is emptied into a tank, filtered and rebottled.
The transfer method is a way of making sparkling wine that sits between the traditional method and the Charmat method. As in Champagne, the second fermentation happens in the bottle. But the wine does not stay in that bottle; it is moved.
After fermentation and some time on the lees, the bottles are emptied under pressure into a large sealed tank. There the wine is filtered to remove the yeast sediment, the dosage is added, and it is filled into new, clean bottles. This skips riddling, the slow manual turning and tilting of each bottle.
The method was developed in Germany in the 20th century and is still used in German wine, Australia and the United States. It suits very small and very large bottles that are hard to handle the old way. The taste is close to bottle-fermented wine, because the wine has rested on the yeast. Labels often say “bottle fermented” rather than “fermented in this bottle”, which is how it is told apart from the traditional method.
Links
- Part of
- 🍷 Traditional method
- Related to
- 🗺️ German wine
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Traditional method, 🍷 Charmat method
Frequently asked questions
What is the transfer method?
A way of making sparkling wine: it ferments in the bottle, then is emptied into a tank, filtered and refilled into new bottles.
How is it different from the traditional method?
In the traditional method the wine stays in the same bottle and the sediment is removed by riddling. In the transfer method it is moved and filtered.
Why use the transfer method?
It is cheaper and faster, needs no riddling, and works well for unusual bottle sizes.
Similar
🍷 Liqueur de tirage · 🍷 Tirage · 🍷 Disgorgement · 🍷 Riddling · 🍷 Dosage · 🍷 Continuous method