A big project that I would like to tackle down the line is sparkling wine. I’ve been searching my books and this subreddit for info I can since I know this is more intensive than making still wine, and I’ve come across some good stuff here. I still have some questions though, and I’d appreciate any answers, particularly from people who have tried this before.

1. How easy/difficult/messy is the process of disgorging? I’ve read tips that you can dip the neck of a bottle into a salt-ice bath to freeze a plug containing the lees and extract it fairly easily, similarly to flash freezing done on a commercial scale, can anyone speak from experience on this or whatever method they’ve used?

2. How necessary is disgorging? I know that, historically, champagne actually used to be served a bit cloudy, and some producers of pétillant naturel don’t bother with this, but will leaving the lees have any detrimental effects over time? Is there a way to leave yeast in the bottle but reduce the amount of lees produced?

3. The methods I’ve read about for making sparkling wine at home consist of either fermenting in the bottle or forcing carbonation like soda; are there other methods out there? I know that commercial producers have the charmat method, where the wine can ferment in bulk in metal vats, but can that possibly be replicated by the home winemaker?