When we took on wine 101, for the sake of brevity, we didn't go into sparkling wine because it's a subject unto itself. Once you visit a sparkling wine house, and see how laborious it is, you'll wonder why it doesn't cost even more than it does!

Let's get some of the confusing terminology out of the way, starting with the word "Champagne". Champagne is the northernmost wine region in France, just northeast of Paris.

The people of the Champagne region didn't necessarily invent sparkling wine - there's evidence that the fore-runner to the Champagne we know now was made first in the south of France. And, reasonable facsimiles have been made by accident as long as wine has existed. However, Champagne is the region that perfected the arduous process and made it famous. True Champagne is still the benchmark for all that bubbles. For more on the history of Champagne, click here.

What's in a Name?
In the European Union the wine may not be called Champagne unless it comes from the legally- defined area that goes by that name. In fact, to make a point of it, very recently the labeling laws were changed so that they no longer refer to wine made in the traditional method as the Champagne Method or Méthode Champenoise. Instead, they call it the traditional or classic method and you'll see Méthode Traditionnelle or Méthode Classique on the label to indicate that the wine was made in the labor intensive, Champagne style. This traditional method requires almost all the work it takes to make table wine and then numerous steps are added. And, this method requires that the wine is managed bottle by bottle instead of tank by tank or barrel by barrel.

In other parts of the world, Champagne is viewed as a somewhat generic name, like Kleenex. But, most producers outside of the EU avoid using the name out of respect for the Champagne region. In the US we aren't allowed to use the name unless the label was approved before 2006 and also states where the wine was actually grown, for instance California Champagne. And, if we used a method other than the traditional Champagne method, it has to be clearly stated to call it Champagne. So, most of the new world calls it sparkling wine and many countries have their own names. In Spain, it's called Cava. In Italy, the Prosecco and Spumante are very popular. The Germans call it Sekt and in France, outside of the Champagne region, it's common to call it Crémant.

more