All Anderson Sparkling wines are made using the traditional Champagne method.

This means that the bubbles are naturally fermented inside each individual bottle. The bottle fermentation only takes a matter of weeks, but we cellar our sparkling wines for much longer than this with the yeast cells in the bottle. As the yeast break down, they release flavour & textural components into the wine, adding creaminess & complexity. It also slows the aging of the wine, because the yeast have used up all of the oxygen in the bottle.

The Champagne method requires wines to spend at least 9 months in the bottle on yeast lees, but all Anderson Sparkling wines have at least 2 years with the yeast in the bottle, with most having 3 or 4, and some older releases having even longer.

Once the yeast is removed from the bottle (which for our wines is just before we sell the wine), we recommend drinking the wine within a year or so to retain the freshness and creaminess derived from the extended yeast maturation.