IT had to be said again. “Not all sparkling wine can be called Champagne.” The repetition can get boring but it is still a helpful reminder, said one wine instructor I know. At one tutored tasting session, the lecturer put it another way. If you called your wine Champagne, but you didn’t make it in the Champagne region of France, you’ll end up in jail, she said. Misappropriation of the name can lead to a lawsuit, protected (fiercely) as it is by the Comité Interprofessionnelle du Vin de Champagne. And the CIVC always wins, she added.
But the label “California Champagne” is perfectly legal because of a little (big, really) loophole in the treaty regarding wine trade between the US and the European Union. That’s an interesting story but the real score is that most consumers still say “Champagne” to refer to all sparkling wines. And this holiday season, when the festivities call for that bottle of bubbly, not all will be Champagne.
It’s not just because of the price of Champagne is prohibitive—at least P3,000 for a standard Brut—but because other excellent bubblies will be crowding the shelves of wine stores, too. There will be crémant from the rest of France, cava from Spain, spumante from Italy, sekt from Austria and Germany, Cap Classique from South Africa, and just plain “sparkling” everywhere else where wine is made. And these will all come in a wide range of colors, from white, red and the palest of pinks; and in varying degrees of sweetness or the absence of it—from just a whisper of sweetness to really sweet.
And then there are the bubbles to consider. The finer the bubbles, like in Champagne, the finer the wine (and the more expensive). Franciacorta, from Lombardy, Italy, has the fine, long-lasting bubbles of Champagne. Most cava and crémant have fine bubbles too. But most non-Champagne sparklers will have more aggressive bubbles that fizzle out quickly, like Italy’s Prosecco.
For semi-sparklers called frizzante in Italy, look out for the softly fizzy and slightly sweet Moscato d’Asti. Red sparklers—most a tad sweet—are largely overlooked, like Lambrusco and Brachetto d’Acqui, both from Italy and sparkling Shiraz, a specialty of Australia.
How best to enjoy these sparklers? Well-chilled, with almost anything and definitely with good company.
Vinofile: Where to find bubblies
- Happy Living Tasting Room: Warehouse 16A, La Fuerza Compound, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City: Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs Brut, Schramsberg J. Schram, Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut (Napa Valley, California); Valdivieso Brut (Curico, Chile).
- iTrulli: Ground Floor, LRI Design Plaza, Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati City: for Italian bubblies, including Franciacorta, Prosecco and Lambrusco.
- Säntis Delicatessen: main store at WIC Building, 7431 Yakal Street, San Antonio Village, Makati City; Prosecco, Cap Classique, Batasiolo Brachetto d’Acqui.
- Terry’s Bistro and Gourmet Store: main store at the Ground Floor BCS Prime Building, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City: Cava Masachs Blanc de Blancs Brut, Rosat Trepat Cava Torello.
- Wine Depot: main store on Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati City, near the LRI Design Plaza: Brachetto d’Acqui, sparkling Shiraz, Prosecco.
