The Wine Institute

Sparkling wine/champagne is a beverage that brings to mind several thoughts—celebration, success, luxury, love and romance. These pleasant associations seem to be as strong now as they ever were. And because the wine is offered with different levels of sweetness, menu planners use the wine as an aperitif or a versatile accompaniment to a variety of foods such as salty nuts and cheese, lightly-spiced fish and Asian dishes, fried foods, strawberries and more.

The beginning of sparkling wine/champagne production in the U.S. was more than 160 years ago. Ohio Attorney Nicholas Longworth made the first American sparkling wine/champagne near Cincinnati in 1842. In California, Benjamin Davis Wilson, the first mayor of Los Angeles, produced the first one in this state. Today, U.S. wineries, with over 50 producers in California, shipped 16.7 million gallons of sparkling wine/champagne to U.S. markets in 2007. Total U.S. and foreign-produced sparkling wine/champagne shipped to the U.S. was 32.6 million gallons. The category holds a 4.4 percent share of all wine-buying purchases of Americans.

Several U.S. producers label their sparkling wines "champagne," which the U.S. government approves as long as "champagne" is directly and prominently qualified with the geographic origin indicating the location where the winegrapes are grown. Traditional winegrape varieties used in California sparkling wine/champagne production are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc, though many other varieties are used depending upon the production process and price point.

Major Production Processes

Following are the two most common methods used for sparkling wine/champagne production:

Méthode champenoise—Still wine is used as a base wine in the process. A blend of base wine, yeast nutrient and a sugar source is added to the base wine. The mixture is sealed, fermented a second time and aged in the bottle, which captures the carbon dioxide released in the fermenting process producing the bubbles.

Bulk or Charmat process—Still wines are fermented in a pressurized tank. Sugar and yeast are added for a second fermentation, but the wine remains in the tank for this stage of the process and is not fermented in individual bottles.

Styles

Sparkling wine/champagne ranges in style from very dry (Natural), dry (Brut), and slightly sweet (Extra Dry) to sweet (Sd Demi-Sec). (Wines with no noticeable sweetness are described as "dry.") Many sparkling wines/champagnes are also identified as "Blanc de Blancs" (wines made from Chardonnay grapes), "Blanc de Noirs" (wines produced from black grapes), or rosé or pink sparkling wine/champagnes (small amount of red wine added to the blend or wine that is allowed brief skin contact with color-laden grapeskins).

Source: 2007 Adams Wine Handbook

Source: 2007 Adams Wine Handbook