Best Champagne

Sparkling Wine Reviews

Find the best champagne. These sparkling wine reviews will help you find just the right sparkler you are looking for. You'll find great champagne in every price range for your next celebration.

What's the Difference Between Champagne and Sparkling Wine?

Most wineries will only use the name Champagne for a sparkling wine if it is produced in the Champagne region of France. However, less than 10% of the sparkling wines on the market are from Champagne and able to be labeled as such.

A sparkling wine can be produced anywhere. Many sparkling wines are also made in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Austria, and the United States.

Sparkling wines contain enough carbon dioxide to make the wine fizzy. A bottle of sparkling wine may produce 49 million bubbles or even more. These sparklers are produced using a blend of grapes, usually Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier.

Orgin
Winemakers in the Champagne region of France noticed during the Middle Ages the tendency of some of their wines to produce bubbles. At the time these bubbles were considered a fault. They worked hard to prevent the bubbles. The British were the first to deliberately produce wine that would be bubbly on purpose.

Food and Wine Pairing
Sparkling wines can range from very dry to quite sweet. You can find a sparkler to complement every food. The sweet sparklers such as asti spumante are best saved to pair with desserts. The driest champagne is labeled as "brut"; extra dry is a little less dry; dry is even less dry. Demi-sec is sweet, but not as sweet as a dessert wine or an asti.