By Deborah Damery Lazear, CSW

Let’s clarify the different types of Champagne/sparkling wine and demystify the labels.  Non-vintage Champagne means the contents are a blend of several years of wine and maintain the consistent style of a Champagne house like Mumm, for example.  If a year is on the label, this is Vintage Champagne and all the grapes used came from the same year.  It will vary in style depending on the weather and growing conditions of that year.  An emerging trend is for more Champagne grape producers to bottle their own wine instead of selling their grapes to larger houses like Tattinger; look for the letters RM in tiny print on the label.  You can think of these Champagnes as boutique wines. In areas other than Champagne, look for the words Method Champenoise to ensure that Champagne-like effort and care has gone into your sparkling wine production.

Another point in reading labels of sparkling wines are a few tricky words that can easily lead to a disappointing experience.  Dry sparkling wine is Brut or Extra Brut.  Believe it or not, Extra Dry is actually a little sweet!  See what a mean about the devil in the details.  Sec, the French word for dry, is actually not dry at all; it would be a good choice for a wedding cake wine as both are sweet.

The grapes for Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Full stop.  Other countries and regions of France use same or other grapes for their sparkling wine.

Many countries of the world make sparkling wine.  I suggest you try them all (not on the same evening, however). Here are a few of my favorites.

Spain.  The wine is known as Cava and primarily comes from the Penedes region. The grapes are parellada, xarel-lo, macabeo, subirat, and a smaller amount of chardonnay.  All these grapes are white. Now you know why Freixenet doesn’t taste like Champagne!  It is usually made in the Method Champenoise and an excellent choice for food paring as it has high acid.  A name to look for is Mont-Marcal Cava Brut Reserva.

Italy. If you haven’t heard of Prosecco, you need to get out more.  This is the hot, but definitely not new, bubbly of choice for the incrowd at a summer barbeque or cocktail party. It is made from the grape of the same name.  It is low in alcohol and generally dry. Yumm!  Please don’t turn up your nose when you see the word Moscato.  Go out on a limb and buy a Moscato D’Asti, put some warm peaches in a dish, and begin the reverie.

Australia  Besides the sparkling Shiraz, which I don’t recommend too quickly, Australia has some fabulous sparkling wines. Look for the words Method Champenoise and Brut; you won’t be disappointed.

New Zealand.  With its reputation for sensational cool weather Sauvignon Blanc, it comes as no surprise that New Zealand excels at sparkling wine.  I suggest Kim Crawford  Brut or anything from around Hawkes Bay.

France, Alsace. A little harder to find but worth the hunt is the Cremant d’Alsace made from Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling with a little Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Delicious!  France, Loire Valley. Brut Vouvray NV is a delicate sparkling wine and a refreshing alternative to Champagne; made from Chenin Blanc grape.

United States.  First, let me clarify that California is not your only choice.  One of my favorite Rose Sparkling wines comes from Gruet in New Mexico and is made of the Pinot Noir grape.  Other states excelling at sparkling wines include Oregon. Look for Argyle Brut Rose Willamette Valley or Argyle Brut. Washington State, also a cool place for sparkling wine (pun intended), offers us value and quality with its Domaine Ste. Michelle NV Cuvee Brut.  Massachusetts and New York State also have wonderful sparkling wines.  Don’t overlook Michigan, either!

California is well known for its French liaisons, and I mean that in the most respectful way.  The French Champagne houses of Mumm (Mumm Cuvee Napa), Tattinger (Domaine Carneros), Moet Hennessey Lois Vuitton (Domaine Chandon), Remy Martin (Piper Sonoma), Veuve Clicquot (Pacific Echo) and Louis Roederer (Roederer Estate) are all examples of collaboration that greatly benefit the American sparkling wine consumer.

A few final tips: serve sparkling wine and Champagne a little colder that your still white wine.  Open the bottle with a cloth over the cork; sparkling wine is bottled at 6 atmospheres of pressure, enough to give you a bigger black eye than Rocky ever had.  Serve the wine in flutes to preserve the sparkle. If you don’t finish the bottle, make sure you have a sparkling wine bottle stopper (available at any wine store for a few dollars); it will keep its bubbles for a day or two.  Yeah, like I ever have any left!

To be continued... Click HERE to read Part 1 of 3.

Deborah Damery Lazear, CSW, is a member of the Society of Wine Educators and the program advisor for San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies "Certificate Program for The Business of Wine", and is also an independent journalist and a blog contributor to VinVillage.com

Click HERE to join us now!!!