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The traditional method of making sparkling wine developed in France’s Champagne region. This process, referred to as the “champagne method,” consists of taking various still wines and blending them to make a cuvée that represents the style of a winery or Champagne house. A complex cuvée can consist of as many as thirty to forty different wines. Once the various wines are blended in large blending vats, a bottling dosage (also known as dosage d’tirage or liqueur d’tirage), a syrupy mixture of sugar and wine (and sometimes brandy and/or citric acid), is added along with special yeasts. The cuvée is then immediately bottled and corked (or often capped with a crown cap, which is much less expensive and just as effective). The sugar (in the bottling dosage) and the yeast cells cause a secondary fermentation to take place in the bottle. This results in the creation of additional alcohol and carbon dioxide gas, which gives the wine its effervescence or “sparkle.” During this secondary fermentation, pressure in the bottle builds up to 90 to 110 pounds per square inch (psi). If less bottling dosage is used in the cuvée, there will be less pressure, which will result in a lightly sparkling wine style called crémant. Such wines have slightly more than half the pressure of a regular bottling. sediment is also thrown off during the second fermentation and is removed through the steps of riddling (or rémuage) and disgorging (or dégorgement). Just before final bottling, a shipping dosage (dosage d’expédition or liqueur d’expédition), sugar, and some of the same cuvée (reserved for this purpose) is added. The percentage of sugar in the shipping dosage determines the degree of sweetness in the final wine. From dryest (see dry) to sweetest, sparkling wines are classified as brut, extra dry (or extra-sec), sec, demi-sec, or doux. Once the final handling is complete and the bottles are recorked, the final pressure in a standard bottle ranges from 60 to 90 psi (approximately 6 atmospheres). The words “méthode champenoise” are used only on labels of wines that use this method. See also Charmat.