Sparkling Winemaking: Transversage

Transversage is an occasional twist on the traditional method whereby, immediately after disgorgement, the contents of bottles of sparkling wine made by the traditional method are transferred into a pressure tank to which the dosage is added before the wine is bottled, typically in another (often small) size of bottle, under pressure. This is how many half-bottles, all airline ‘splits’ or quarter-bottles, and virtually all bottle sizes above a jeroboam of champagne are filled.