Define the traditional method (Méthode Champenoise) of making Champagne and list its key steps.

• A. It uses only single-vintage wine, with no fermentation in bottle.
• B. It is base wine produced, blended into a cuvée, bottled with liqueur de tirage to trigger a second fermentation, aging on lees, riddling, disgorgement, and dosage before final corking.
• C. It uses carbonation via injected CO2 to add fizz.
• D. It uses non-vintage blending with no disgorgement.

Answer: (B)

The traditional method hinges on a second fermentation that happens inside the bottle, which creates the natural bubbles and sets the Champagne apart. It starts with a base wine, often blended into a cuvée to achieve the house style, acidity, and balance. Then liqueur de tirage, a sugar-yeast mixture, is added and the bottle is sealed to trigger a second fermentation in the bottle. This fermentation builds the pressure and fizz that define the sparkle. After enough time aging on the lees, where autolytic flavors develop and the wine gains complexity, the sediment is moved to the neck through riddling (remuage). The bottle is then disgorged to remove the yeast sediment, and a measured dosage (liqueur d’expédition) is added before final corking to adjust sweetness. This sequence—bottle second fermentation, aging on lees, riddling, disgorgement, and dosage—is what characterizes the traditional method.

The other descriptions don’t fit because they omit or replace key steps: one suggests no bottle fermentation, another describes carbonation injected into the wine rather than developing bubbles in the bottle, and another uses non-vintage blending with no disgorgement, which omits essential stages of the traditional process.