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So now the wine was made and turned into Champagne- but there is a big chuck of lees/sediment in the upside down bottle. To remove this it’s time for the degorgement process. The bottle is inverted and placed in a cold liquid to chill it to 45F/7C. This reduces the pressure and freezes the sediment/lees. The bottle is turned right side up, the top removed, and the frozen puck of sediments shoots out. Then the Dosage (liquer d’expedition) is added- which is a wine and sugar mixture. The wine replaces what was lost during disgorgemnet and the sugar addition determines the final sugar level of the Champagne.

For non vintage Champagne, this wine is aged for 15 months; and for Vintage Champagne, it ages 36 months.
This is the classic Champagne method known as Methode Champenoise. As its name suggests, this is the technique used to create Champagne, as well as Franciacorta in Lombardy Italy. A sparkling wine made in this method outside of the appellation boundaries of the Champagne region is called Cremant. Cava from Penedes, Spain is made in this method too- but the grapes used in the base blend are Parellada, Macabeo, and Xarel-lo.

There are other methods to produce sparkling wine:
Transvasage, or Transfer method, is used in sparkling wine production for small and large bottle sizes. The wine has its secondary fermentation in the bottle, is poured into a large vessel, and re-poured into the chosen bottle sizes. This can be done for splits (187ml), and above 3L only (375ml, 750ml, 1.5ml must all have second fermentation in the bottle, riddled, disgorged, and liquer de triage added.

In the Tank, Cuve Close, or Charmat method both the first and second fermentation take place in a closed tank. This process simulates what happens in an individual bottle on a much larger scale. While much less labor intensive and less expensive the Tank method produces sparkling wine of much less finesse than the traditional Methode Champenoise. Prosecco is made by this fermentation process from Glera (aka Prosecco) grapes from Veneto, Italy. German Sekt is made in this way too.

The most cost effective technique to make a sparkling wine is carbonation. Yes, the same thing they do to make Coca-Cola bubble can be done to wine. Carbon Dioxide is injected into the base wine and incorporated as large clumsy bubbles.