One of the great ways to celebrate the holidays is with a glass of champagne. There is just something especially festive about bubbly wine. We often think of sparkling wine as champagne because champagne is, after all, the most famous, most expensive and unquestionably the highest quality of all bubbly. But champagne accounts for less than 8% of all sparkling wines in the world. Many of those other wines are made just like champagne, but are from somewhere other than the region of Champagne, France.

First, there are two different ways to make sparkling wine. The highest quality bubblies are fermented in the bottle. The label will state: “Fermented in This Bottle” or “Methode Traditionelle.” The other process is a bulk process called “charmat” where the fermentation happens in a tank. Most bubblies made in the bulk process are very fruity and would not benefit from ageing in the bottle as champagne does.

Another important aspect about sparkling wine is how extremely well it goes with food. All bubblies are natural complements to food due to their crisp acidity which helps clean the palate. Try an inexpensive bottle of sparkling wine with a normal evening meal and witness for yourself how well it works.

There are many times during the season when bubbly would be perfect, but not every occasion calls for a $50 bottle of champagne. So let’s talk about some great bubbles for those celebrations.