Charmat; Charmat process

(food engineering) A bulk process for making champagne in which the wine undergoes secondary fermentation in a glass-lined vat instead of in a bottle.

[shar-MAH; shar-MAHT] A bulk method for making sparkling wines developed around 1910 by Frenchman Eugène Charmat. The Charmat process involves faster and less expensive production techniques using large pressurized tanks throughout production. These interconnecting tanks retain the pressure (created by the production of carbon dioxide during fermentation) throughout the entire process. For many winemakers, the Charmat process replaces the expensive méthode champenoise technique of secondary fermentation in bottles, thereby enabling them to produce inexpensive sparkling wines. Charmat wines can be good (although, once poured, they often lose their bubbles quickly) but are usually not as esteemed as méthode champenoise sparkling wines. The Charmat process is superior, however, to the technique used by some producers of simply pumping carbon dioxide gas into still wine (as carbonated soft drinks are made). The Charmat process is also called bulk process, and in the United States, wines may be labeled "Bulk Process" or "Charmat Process" (the latter being preferred). In France, this process is also called cuve close; in Italy, it's known as metodo charmat or sometimes autoclave (the Italian name for the sealed tanks). In Spain, it's called granvas, and in Portugal, método continuo.