Why is sparkling wine so confusing?

Why is sparkling wine so hard to understand?

What's up everyone. Hope you've all been doing well and are hanging in there and staying safe! Today's post will be a little different. I sat down to write a review of a sparkling wine, but was gonna end up writing an essay about what exactly makes different sparkling wines different. So, instead I'm gonna take this time to briefly explain sparkling wine (*disclaimer* No matter how much I read about it, it's still confusing, so bear with me). Buckle up everyone, here we go.

Sparkling wine... what a wonderful and confusing thing. I love it, you love it, my dad hates it. He's weird. Anyways, I'll try to briefly touch on some of the things that make sparkling wine so great and so confusing.

Cava vs. Prosecco vs. Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine vs. vs. vs. SO MANY DIFFERENT NAMES. So what do they mean and why does it matter to call things by their official names? Does it?

We'll start with Champagne because France makes life easy for all of us. Champagne is a geographic region (my favorite region btw) in Northern France that sets out strict requirements for things like grapes allowed, quality, etc. They also specify the method that the bubbly is made. The Champagne winemakers actually discovered that if you put a little sugar in the bottle before corking, a brief "secondary fermentation" occurs and the CO2 created gets trapped, thus carbonation! So if you see "traditional method" or "methode champanoise" on the bottle, that's what that means (this was a gross oversimplification for your own sanity- I could go on forever). This, conveniently, is also the most expensive method of making bubbles. Combine that with a PAINSTAKING method of blending (seriously, look it up. It's ridiculous.), the most unique soil/climate combo in the world, and some fantastic marketing and you've got some of the most expensive wine in the world. SO, does it irk me when people call Andre (no disrespect) Champagne? Yes, because if I didn't know what and where Andre was from, I would be forming a wildly incorrect idea of what the wine was. And yes, it really really irks me that US winemakers are allowed to call it "California Champagne," but alas, we have no laws. Ok, off my soapbox. (P.S. Cremant is the name of French sparkling wine that isn't made in Champagne)

On to Prosecco. Prosecco is slightly more confusing because while it is technically made almost entirely in the Veneto Region of Northern Italy, it legally can be a sparkling wine made from a certain percentage of Glera grapes anywhere in Italy. BUT, we'll just say it's from the Veneto Region because you'll be hard-pressed to find a bottle that isn't. Prosecco is significantly cheaper because aside from having a worse marketing team, it is not made in the traditional Champagne method. It's made in the "Tank Method." Sounds reallllll fancy right? Yeah, it's not. You do all the carbonation work in giant tanks, thus making it easier and cheaper. And so prosecco is everyone's go-to bubbly cause it's absolutely delicious and pretty cheap.

Finally... Cava. Why must you be so confusing? See, Cava originated in the Penedès region of Catalonia and is primarily made there. This region is known as a Denominacion de Origen (DO), kind of similar to what Champagne is- a protected region with rules. But Cava got to be so famous, that it was given its own DO status??? WHAT? So a type of wine has its own protected status, but isn't a physical location? So confusing. That's the skinny on Cava- Usually from Penedès, but Cava will be listed as the "region" because... technically it is. Flavor-wise, it's really good and definitely underappreciated. It's made from Macabeo, Xarel-lo, and Parellada grapes in the traditional method, but it doesn't have "Champagne" on the bottle, so it's cheaper. Side note- I personally think Cava makes for the best mimosas.

There are a ton of other sparkling wine classifications, but these are the ones that are most frequently encountered and that are the most specific. American bubbly does not have a technical name, so it really should just be called sparkling wine. However, some winemakers will call it "California Champagne" or something like that. I guess it's allowed, but it really just feels kind of disrespectful to Champagne.

Anyways, that's all. I know this was a lot, but I really do think it's good to know some of the differences. Let me know if you have questions or want more info. Peace

drink what you like,

db