Bottle-fermented

English · EU labelling term

Bottle-fermented (fermenté en bouteille) is an EU term for PDO/GI or quality sparkling wine made sparkling by second fermentation in a bottle, with at least 9 months of total production and 90 days on lees, separated by filtering or disgorging.1

Filtering is allowed "in accordance with the racking method", so bottles may be emptied into a tank under pressure, filtered and rebottled.2 This makes it the label term of the transfer method.

The stricter terms, such as traditional method, require nine months on lees without interruption and separation by disgorging, so transfer-method wines may not use them.2 See soutirage and EU labelling.

See also

Transfer methodMethodsMéthode traditionnelleGlossaryLabel terms in EU lawMethodsTraditional methodMethods

Sources

  1. legislation.gov.uk (copy of EU OJ text). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, Article 53 (terms referring to certain production methods), original version as adopted (2018-10-17)
  2. EUR-Lex. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 (consolidated text), Articles 47, 48, 49, 53, 54 and Annex III Part A (2023-12-08)

Facts checked on 2026-10-19