PalQ

Champagne sales figures for the year 2005 are in and French Champagne estates sold over 300,000,000 bottles of the bubbly - up 2% from the previous year.
--Sales are now about equally divided between the domestic and foreign markets
--sales in Australia rose 24%
--Brits remain the leading foreign Champagne drinkers - up 13% from 2004.
Wine labelled Champagne in Europe can only come from grapes grown in the relatively compact Champagne AOC wine district around Reims, Epernay and the Marne valley just east from Paris. Other similar wines can use the "Champagne Method" on their labels but not the word Champagne. in the US, however, the French trademark on Champagne is ignored and US makers can call their swill Champagne.
Touring the Champagne houses and cobweb-covered caves in Reims and Epernay are fascinating experience that often end up with free samples of the bubbly at the conclusion. Epernay is the acclaimed most presigious Champagne center i believe.

AGM_Cape_Cod

We try to do our humble best! My husband and I toured our favorite Champagne house, Lanson, in 2002 and came away reassured because they had 25 Million bottles in their cave.

ira

Lord Peter Wimsey stopped taking out chorus girls because they only wanted to eat champagne and lobster.

PalQ

How do you eat Champagne? Maybe the ice wine?

SAnParis

I believe most of the US producers label there wines 'Sparkling'. Everyone knows where champagne comes from, anyway. We do produce some pretty good swill, try some Gloria Ferrer next time you get a chance. BTW - If you will please attempt to not be such a wine snob, I promise to do the same.

PalQ

My favorite wine is Charles Shaw, "$2 Chuck", the mark of all "wine snobs"! I admit i know little about fine wine and just saw this in the French Embassy newsletter and thought it was interesting - i know very little about Champagne and the use of "swill" for American bubbly was inappropriate on my part since i don't know diddly about French Champagne or American champagne, but assume like lots of wines now American vintages stack up well in blind taste tests - as does Charles Shaw's Chardonnay - at $2.99 a bottle at my local Trader Joe's. I'll have to check out Joe's champagne though i really don't care for the stuff a'tall. so i give up any false impression that i may have created about being a wine snob. Thanks, sincerely, for the comment.

wco81

Link to the stats?

How does cava compare?

nycjenny

My husband I learned the following about the labeling use of "champagne" while touring Napa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_(beverage)

The US never signed the treaty so they are free to label things as they will. One sparkling wine house in CA put it this way though, "It is courteous/traditional not to use the word champagne though".

I love the bubbly, whatever you want to call it! We had the pleasure of visiting some friends their family's champagne house outside of Reims this past October--one of my favorite champagne memories ever...sipping champagne while sitting on the terrace overlooking the vineyards... Heaven!

nycjenny

Okay, the link broke--drat! Click on the champagne (beverage) link on that page.

ekscrunchy

Cava is a sparkling Spanish wine from Catalunya that is made by the "Champagne method." Two of the most popular mass-market, exported brands are Cordoniu and Freixnet.

cadillac1234

Actually one good way to tell if a Champagne in grown in CA is 'swill' is to see if it actually called 'Champagne'.

All of the major, good vitners that I know either call it 'sparkling wine' or 'method d'champaise' while Andre and Balltore call their brutal stuff 'Champagne'.

tondalaya

Only wine that is from the Champagne French country is the true champagne.
Others are sparkling wines.