Minimum ageing by appellation

Months on lees or from tirage, compared

Legal minimum ageing for sparkling wine ranges from 1 month for Asti to 60 months for Franciacorta Riserva.1,2 Most traditional-method appellations require between 9 and 36 months, counted from tirage or from the start of the sparkling fermentation unless stated otherwise.3,4,5

The comparison

Months are the minimum on lees or from tirage, as each text defines them. Where a text sets a time to market, it is shown separately.

CountryAppellation or termCategoryMonthsNotes
EUQuality sparkling wine with PDO, bottleBaseline9Process from start of sparkling fermentation; 90 days on lees8
EUQuality sparkling wine with PDO, tankBaseline690 days on lees, or 30 with stirrers8
EU"Traditional method" termLabel term9On lees without interruption, from constitution of the cuvée3
EU"Bottle-fermented" termLabel term9Whole process; at least 90 days fermentation and lees3
FranceChampagneNon-vintage15From tirage; disgorgement not before 12 months4,6,9
FranceChampagneVintage36From tirage4,6,9
FranceCrémant (all, EU rule)All9On lees3
FranceCrémant de LoireAll9Sold to consumers at least 12 months after tirage10,11
FranceCrémant de BourgogneAll9Marketed after 12 months from tirage12
FranceClairette de DieMéthode ancestrale4In bottle on lees; release not before 1 March after harvest13,14
SpainCavaGuarda9On lees in the same bottle5,15
SpainCavaReserva18Raised from 15 from January 20225,15
SpainCavaGran Reserva305
SpainCavaParaje Calificado365
SpainCorpinnatAll wines18Collective brand, not a DO; each winery offers one vintage wine of at least 60 months16,17
ItalyFranciacortaNon-vintage18On lees from tirage2,18,19
ItalyFranciacortaSatèn242,18
ItalyFranciacortaRosé242,18
ItalyFranciacortaMillesimato302,18
ItalyFranciacortaRiserva602,18
ItalyTrento DOCNon-vintage15Cannot start before 1 January after harvest20
ItalyTrento DOCMillesimato2420
ItalyTrento DOCRiserva36Vintage mandatory20
ItalyAlta LangaSpumante, rosato30From start of bottle fermentation; vintage mandatory21
ItalyAlta LangaRiserva3621
ItalyOltrepò Pavese Metodo ClassicoNon-vintage15From bottling22
ItalyOltrepò Pavese Metodo ClassicoMillesimato2422
ItalyAstiSpumante, autoclave1Including bottle refinement1
ItalyAstiMetodo classico9On lees in the same company1
ItalyProsecco DOCSpumantenone setAutoclave only; EU tank baseline applies23,8
ItalyProsecco DOCRosé60 daysSecond fermentation24
AustriaSekt AustriaBasic tier9 / 69 in bottle, 6 in tank, on yeast25
AustriaSekt Austria ReserveReserve18Bottle fermentation only26
AustriaSekt Austria Große ReserveGroße Reserve36Traditional method only7
GermanyWinzersekt, GermanyTraditional term9On lees from preparation of the cuvée, at the same business27
UKEnglish Quality Sparkling WineQuality sparkling9On yeast lees; disgorged28,29
South AfricaCap ClassiqueAssociation rule12Producers Association statement30

Sources and their status

Several of these figures come from texts that are drafts, reproductions or possibly outdated. The table is only as current as the texts below.

  • Champagne: the cahier des charges read is an INAO draft under national opposition, in two versions (11 September 2024 and 18 June 2026); the 15, 36 and 12 month figures are identical in both.4,6 The homologated version was not opened.
  • Crémant de Loire (27 November 2025) and Crémant de Bourgogne (11 February 2021): INAO drafts under national opposition.10,12 The voluntary Crémant de Bourgogne tiers "Eminent" (24 months) and "Grand Eminent" (36 months) could not be confirmed in any official text and are left out of the table.
  • Clairette de Die: INAO drafts under national opposition of 2016 and 2023.14,13
  • Oltrepò Pavese: only a reproduction of the 2014 decree on the AIS site was read.22 Press reports of March 2025 describe a planned change to a "Classese" DOCG with 24 months; no official decree was found, so it is not shown as in force.
  • Trento (2011 decree) and Alta Langa (2014 decree) texts may not be the latest versions.20,21
  • Prosecco DOC: the 2019 decree sets no ageing minimum and does not cover Rosé; the 60-day figure comes from the Consorzio technical sheet.23,24 Whether the EU tank baseline applies in practice was not confirmed in a Prosecco text.
  • Austria: Große Reserve is 36 months in the 2022 regulation; older materials give 30 months.7 Whether a 2023 amendment changed §§ 2 and 4 was not confirmed. The term "Klassik" is no longer permitted.31,32
  • EU baseline: read in the legislation.gov.uk reproduction of Regulation (EU) 2019/934; a 2021 amendment removed figures from part of that annex, so the 6, 9 month and 90 day values should be re-checked on EUR-Lex.8
  • Cap Classique: 12 months is the Producers Association's statement; the legal minimum under South African regulations was not verified.30
  • Sussex PDO: the specification could not be read, so it is not listed.

How to read it

Each row is a legal or official minimum, not a description of what producers actually do. In Champagne, for example, the Comité Champagne says non-vintage wines are usually aged 2-3 years and vintage wines 4-10 years.33 For what happens in the bottle during these months see ageing on lees.

See also

Ageing on leesMethodsTraditional methodMethodsLabel terms in EU lawMethodsChampagneRegionsCavaRegionsFranciacortaRegionsVintage (millésime)Styles

Sources

  1. Regione Piemonte. Disciplinare di produzione DOCG Asti (2025-01)
  2. Consorzio per la tutela del Franciacorta. Franciacorta DOCG production regulations (English translation), as amended 17 July 2017 (2017-07-17)
  3. EUR-Lex. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 (consolidated text), Articles 47, 48, 49, 53, 54 and Annex III Part A (2023-12-08)
  4. Cahier des charges de l'AOP « Champagne » - modifications approved by the INAO national committee on 11 September 2024 (national opposition procedure text) (2024-09-11)
  5. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (Spain). Pliego de condiciones de la Denominación de Origen Protegida «Cava»
  6. Cahier des charges AOP Champagne, proposed modifications approved by INAO national committee 18 June 2026 (2026-06-18)
  7. RIS (Austrian Federal Chancellery). Sektbezeichnungsverordnung, BGBl. II Nr. 30/2022, § 4 (Sekt Austria Große Reserve) (2022-01-27)
  8. legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Annex II (sparkling wine oenological practices), as reproduced on legislation.gov.uk (2019-03-12)
  9. Comité Champagne / champagne.education. Principales dispositions du cahier des charges de l'AOC Champagne (fiche) (2026-08)
  10. Cahier des charges AOC Crémant de Loire, proposed modification approved by INAO national committee 27 November 2025 (2025-11-27)
  11. INAO. Crémant de Loire blanc (product page)
  12. INAO. Cahier des charges AOC Crémant de Bourgogne, modification project after national committee of 11 February 2021 (2021-02-11)
  13. INAO. Cahier des charges AOP Clairette de Die, proposed modification approved by national committee 29/30 June 2023 (2023-06-30)
  14. INAO. Cahier des charges AOC Clairette de Die, national opposition procedure after committee of 10 February 2016 (2016-02-10)
  15. Consejo Regulador DO Cava. Resumen normas Segmentación y Zonificación
  16. Corpinnat commitments
  17. Corpinnat (home page)
  18. Gazzetta Ufficiale (copy hosted by unionalimentari.com). Proposta di modifica del disciplinare Franciacorta, GU n. 3 of 4 January 2017 (reproduction) (2017-01-04)
  19. Consorzio per la tutela del Franciacorta. Franciacorta regulations: amendment history
  20. Camera di Commercio di Trento. Disciplinare di produzione DOC Trento (modificato con DM 30.11.2011) (2011-11-30)
  21. Regione Piemonte. Disciplinare di produzione DOCG Alta Langa (modificato con DM 13.10.2014) (2014-10-13)
  22. Associazione Italiana Sommelier (aisitalia.it). Disciplinare DOCG Oltrepò Pavese metodo classico (DM 7.03.2014), reproduction (2014-03-07)
  23. Gazzetta Ufficiale (copy hosted by unionalimentari.com). Decreto 8 agosto 2019, disciplinare DOP Prosecco (GU n. 199, 26 August 2019), reproduction (2019-08-08)
  24. Consorzio di Tutela della DOC Prosecco. Prosecco DOC Rosé technical sheet (2024-02)
  25. RIS (Austrian Federal Chancellery). Sektbezeichnungsverordnung, BGBl. II Nr. 30/2022, § 2 (Sekt Austria) (2022-01-27)
  26. RIS (Austrian Federal Chancellery). Sektbezeichnungsverordnung, BGBl. II Nr. 30/2022 idF BGBl. II Nr. 191/2023, § 3 (Sekt Austria Reserve) (2023-06-24)
  27. Bundesministerium der Justiz (gesetze-im-internet.de). Weinverordnung (WeinV) § 34a Crémant, Winzersekt
  28. GOV.UK (Defra). English PDO product specification (wine)
  29. GOV.UK. English (PDO wine), UK protected food and drink names register (2021-03-10)
  30. Cap Classique Producers Association. About us
  31. RIS (Austrian Federal Chancellery). Sektbezeichnungsverordnung, BGBl. II Nr. 30/2022 idF BGBl. II Nr. 191/2023, § 1 (2023-06-24)
  32. RIS (Austrian Federal Chancellery). Sektbezeichnungsverordnung, BGBl. II Nr. 30/2022 idF BGBl. II Nr. 191/2023, § 7 (transitional provisions) (2023-06-24)
  33. Comité Champagne (champagne.fr). Maturation

Facts checked on 2026-10-19