Sparkling Winemaking: Méthode ancestrale or méthode rurale

This method (given new life by the pétillant naturel vogue) results in a lightly sparkling wine, often with some sweetness and sediment, and most closely parallels how wines were originally made sparkling. It involves bottling young wines before all the residual sugar has been fermented into alcohol. Fermentation continues in bottle and gives off carbon dioxide. Today it is becoming increasingly common in parts of France such as the Loire and the Jura, and is spreading throughout the wine world, but variants on this theme are still made in gaillac, limoux, and for clairette de die méthode ancestrale (see below).