Should You Buy Sparkling Wine?
Some people love to drink champagne and frown at the sight of sparkling wines. That's a shame - they're missing out on some great wines and they have been far too easily persuaded by advertising campaigns. The reality is that there are some excellent sparkling wines available and many of them don't carry the "champagne" label.
As you probably know, champagnes are produced in a particular region of France and are limited to making use of a small number of grape varieties. They can't be known as champagnes unless they follow these rules. So does this necessarily mean that they have the nicest taste? Not at all - just as there are fantastic white wines, red wines and roses produced throughout the world, so it's the same with sparkling wines. Just because a wine doesn't have the champagne label, it doesn't mean that it's not any good.
One thing that is true is that you'll probably end up paying more for champagne. That's because there's a premium associated with the branding and, here in the UK, we're suckers for it. That's why we are France's biggest export market for champagne. No other country is quite as mad for this stuff as we are.
But what about the alternatives? Should we really be happy with a bottle of cava, for example?
I think the answer is that you should drink wines that you like. Forget about snobbery - be happy drinking brands that simply taste good. If that means that you'd prefer a £4.99 cava, or you think it offers better value than a 30 quid bottle of champagne then don't feel ashamed or worried - choose to to drink what you enjoy and what fits in with your budget.
So let's a look at some wine notes...
Champagne
Produced in the Champagne region of France (which is how the wine gets its name), it largely makes use of 3 grape varieties - they are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. As you'll probably have spotted, other wines also make use of these grape varieties and they are grown in varying locations around the world.
There are many brands of champagne and there are also some distinctive types. In particular, you may have heard of prestige cuvee, blanc de noirs, blanc de blancs and rose champagne.
Cremant
Cremant is another type of French sparkling wine and is produced in one of 7 appellations. In order to be given the name cremant, there are strict criteria to be adhered to in terms of the production methods.
Cava
Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine that's generally associated with Catalonia. In the early days, such wines were produced in caves. It's produced in 6 regions within Spain and Chardonnay, now seen as an integral part of many cavas, was not first used until the 1980s.
Spumante
Italian sparkling wines are seen by some as having a poor reputation - you may well have tasted sparkling wines from the Asti region, which tend to be sweeter and have relatively low alcohol levels (often around 7% or 8%).
Buying Sparkling Wines Online
There are a number of options if you're interested in buying sparkling wines online. As you might expect, there are some excellent deals to be found. You could check out Wine Hound as a starting point - they offer some excellent deals.
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