There are rules that distinguish sparkling wine from Champagne

 

Your smart aleck friend who says “aaaaactually…” every time you call any bottle of bubbly “Champagne” is, unfortunately, probably right.

French law, recognized by over 130 countries including the EU, dictates that any drink branded as Champagne must be made with grapes grown in France’s Champagne region, known for its cool climate conducive to concocting crisp wines. It must also be aged for at least 15 months and fermented in the bottle.

The trade group Comité Champagne has pursued legal action against ads that even jokingly reference the word to promote products that aren’t from the region.

Champagne is where it all began

A local 17th-century monk with the now-famous name Dom Perignon developed the signature taste by corking wine for in-bottle fermentation and using refined grape material.

Protections for the fizzy libation have been around for over a century:

• Champagne winemakers were popping bottles when the 1891 Treaty of Madrid gave them the ability to sue their foreign colleagues for misleading geographic branding.
• International protection was further extended by the Treaty of Versailles in a boon to French winegrowers whose vineyards suffered from the destruction of World War I.

But, in good news for Miller High Life…the US didn’t ratify the treaty. And a later transatlantic agreement with the EU didn’t apply to brands retroactively, so you can still buy California sparkling wine branded as Champagne.

The right to call bubbly Champagne is lucrative: The region exported more than $4 billion worth of proper Champagne last year.—SK