A glass of sparkling wine

Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it making it fizzy . The carbon dioxide results from natural fermentation, either in a bottle as with the methode champenoise, or in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures invovled, as in the Charmat proccess. In some parts of the world, the word champagne is used as a synonym for sparkling wine, although this is incorrect as champagne refers to a specific type (from France).

The classic example of a sparkling wine is Champagne, but many other examples are produced in other countries and regions, such as sekt in Germany, cava in Spain, spumante in Italy, Cap Classique in South Africa. Sparkling wine is usually white or rosé but there are several examples of red Australian sparkling shiraz.

For a description of the production method for Champagne and other wines made by the méthode champenoise see under Champagne. Because this process is expensive, using individual bottles for final fermentation, many other processes may be used. The tank method or charmat method is commonly used for lower priced sparklers.