How champagne is made, in brief
Champagne is a sparkling wine that gets its bubbles from a second fermentation inside the bottle. That one rule shapes the whole champagne production process. The grapes have to be grown in the Champagne region of north-east France, picked by hand and pressed gently. The juice is fermented into still wine and blended, then bottled with yeast and sugar so that it ferments again in the bottle. After at least 15 months on its lees in the cellar, the sediment is worked into the neck, frozen and removed, and the bottle is topped up, corked and labelled [1][2].
The Finshots infographic above follows the first half of that journey, from the vineyard to the chalk cellars, and sets it against the reasons champagne costs more than most other sparkling wine. The stages below cover the full process as the Comité Champagne, the industry body for the appellation, describes it.
Where champagne comes from
Only wine from the Champagne appellation in France can be sold as champagne. As of 2025 the appellation covers 34,200 hectares of vines (about 84,500 acres) across 319 villages, worked by 16,460 growers, 120 cooperatives and 410 champagne houses [2]. Almost all champagne is made from three grapes: Pinot Noir (38% of the vineyard), Meunier (30%) and Chardonnay (32%) [2].
The region sits close to the northern limit for growing wine grapes, at a latitude of about 49 degrees north. Its average annual temperature is around 10 to 11°C [3][4]. The graphic says 10°C is “necessary” for the right acidity, which overstates it: the cool climate helps the grapes keep their natural acidity as they ripen, but there is no fixed temperature requirement [4]. That acidity is what makes the region’s wine such a good base for sparkling wine.
The champagne production process step by step
- Harvest. Every year in late summer about 120,000 people pick the grapes, entirely by hand, which is a rule of the appellation [5]. The harvest usually lasts about three weeks [6].
- Pressing. The whole bunches are taken straight to an approved pressing centre and pressed gently so the skins of the black grapes don’t colour the juice. Pressing is split into two fractions, the first juice (the “cuvée”) and the second (the “taille”), which are used for different wines [7].
- First fermentation. Yeast turns the juice into a still, dry wine of no more than about 11% alcohol. This usually happens in stainless steel vats, although some producers use oak [7]. (The infographic says the first fermentation happens in oak vats, which is true for only a minority of champagne.) Many winemakers also let a second, malolactic fermentation soften the acidity, but that part is optional [7].
- Blending. In the spring after the harvest, the cellar master blends wines from different grapes, villages and often different years to get the house style. Non-vintage champagne relies on reserve wines from earlier years to taste the same every year [6].
- Bottling and second fermentation. From 1 January after the harvest, the blended wine is bottled with the “liqueur de tirage”, a mix of wine, sugar and yeast, and sealed with a crown cap. The yeast eats the sugar and makes alcohol and carbon dioxide, which can’t escape, so the wine becomes sparkling. Standard 75cl bottles and magnums stay in the bottle they fermented in all the way to the shop [7][8]. This stage, the “prise de mousse”, takes about two months [6].
- Ageing on the lees. The bottles lie in the cellars on their sides with the dead yeast, or lees, which gives champagne its toasty, brioche flavours. The cellars are cut into chalk and stay at about 12°C [7]. By law, champagne must age for at least 15 months before release and vintage champagne for at least three years. In practice most non-vintage champagne gets two to three years and vintage four to ten [7].
- Riddling. To collect the sediment, the bottles are turned a little at a time and tilted until they are neck down. By hand on wooden racks this takes four to six weeks and about 25 turns per bottle. Most houses now use machines that hold 500 bottles at a time and do the job in about a week [7].
- Disgorgement. The neck of the bottle is dipped into a liquid at about minus 27°C, which freezes the sediment into a plug. When the cap comes off, the pressure inside pushes the plug out [7].
- Dosage and corking. The bottle is topped up with a little wine and cane sugar, the “liqueur de dosage”, about 1cl for a 75cl bottle of brut. It is then corked, wired, shaken to mix the dosage in, checked and labelled [7].
How the dosage decides the style
The amount of sugar added at the end decides how sweet the champagne tastes. Brut, the most common style, has less than 12 grams of sugar per litre. Extra dry has 12 to 17 grams, sec 17 to 32, demi-sec 32 to 50 and doux more than 50. Champagne with less than 3 grams and no added sugar is called brut nature [7].
Why champagne costs more than other sparkling wine
The infographic’s main point is that champagne is expensive because of the time and labour the process takes, and the official figures back that up.
- Hand picking. Machines aren’t allowed, so an army of about 120,000 pickers has to be hired and housed every harvest [5].
- Limited land. The appellation’s boundaries are fixed and the vineyard is just 0.5% of the world’s area under vine, so vineyard land is scarce and costly [2].
- Years of stock. A house has to hold every bottle for at least 15 months, and usually much longer, before it can sell it. For vintage champagne the minimum is three years, which ties up a lot of money in stock sitting in the cellar [7].
- Bottle by bottle work. The second fermentation, riddling and disgorgement are done in each individual bottle, rather than in a big tank as with most cheaper sparkling wine [8].
Prestige and limited supply play their part too. Champagne is only 8% of the world’s sparkling wine by volume but 31% by value [2]. In 2025 the region shipped 266.1 million bottles, 57.1% of them outside France, with the United States and the United Kingdom the biggest export markets [2].
The traditional method compared with the Charmat method
The way champagne is made is called the traditional method (méthode traditionnelle). It used to be called méthode champenoise, but since 1994 European rules have not allowed other wines to use that name [8]. Other wines made the same way include crémant from other parts of France, cava from Spain and many English sparkling wines.
Prosecco and most cheaper sparkling wines use the Charmat or tank method instead. The second fermentation happens in a large pressurised steel tank, and the wine is filtered and bottled afterwards. It costs considerably less and keeps the wine fresh and fruity, but it doesn’t give the long contact with the lees that creates champagne’s finer bubbles and bready flavours [8].
Questions about the champagne production process
How long does it take to make champagne?
At least 15 months from bottling to release for non-vintage champagne, and three years for vintage. Most producers age their wines for longer, so in practice it is often two to three years for non-vintage and four to ten years for vintage, plus the months between harvest and bottling [7].
What is the difference between the champagne method and the Charmat method?
In the champagne (traditional) method, the second fermentation happens in the bottle you buy. In the Charmat method, used for prosecco, it happens in a large steel tank and the wine is bottled afterwards [8].
Is champagne only made in France?
Yes. Only sparkling wine from the Champagne appellation in France, made under its rules, can be called champagne. Sparkling wine made the same way elsewhere has to use another name [1].
What grapes are used to make champagne?
Mainly Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay, which make up nearly the whole vineyard. A few older varieties such as Pinot Blanc, Arbane and Petit Meslier are also allowed [1][2].
Why is champagne so expensive?
Mostly because of how it is made: hand picking, a fixed and very expensive area of vineyard, bottle by bottle fermentation and riddling, and at least 15 months (often years) of ageing before it can be sold [2][5][7].
Sources
- Wikipedia, Champagne.
- Comité Champagne, Champagne at a glance, key figures of the Champagne industry in 2025.
- Wikipedia, Champagne wine region.
- Comité Champagne, Champagne and its climate.
- Comité Champagne, Champagne and its people.
- Épernay Tourisme, The secrets of champagne making.
- Comité Champagne, How Champagne is made (pressing, fermentation, bottling, maturation, riddling, disgorgement and dosage).
- Wikipedia, Sparkling wine production.
- Finshots, Why is Champagne so expensive?, 23 July 2022.
Last reviewed 5 November 2026
