So it’s holiday season, and that means I’m planning lots of celebrations: a large gathering of friends and colleagues at home, restaurant dinners with out-of-town visitors and with a group of fellow foodies, someone’s birthday party, gifts for some special friends and business associates, an elegant family dinner and several festive lunches.

What they will all have in common (in addition to celebrating the season with good people) is bubbly—sparkling wine, champagne and all its cousins. What we want here is laughter, so why not start with the beverage that is already laughing? That’s how I think of those hundreds of tiny bubbles popping to the surface in the glass: tiny little explosions of laughter and cheer. This is the main reason it’s nice to serve sparkling wine in flutes or tulips—their tall profile makes the bubbles bubble better. (There’s a scientific explanation here having to do with atmospheric pressure, but it’s rather dry and not very amusing, so we’ll skip it here.)

Champagne, that most traditional of all sparkling wines, seems the obvious choice to celebrate these occasions, but let’s be adventurous and think further. For one thing, Champagne tends to cost more than I want to spend for some events and then, it isn’t always to everyone’s taste, either. Among the host of options for sparkling wine, each has a place in the lexicon of celebratory tipples. You may find any of these descriptive terms on a label of wine that “sparkles”: Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Spumante, Prosecco, Asti, Sekt, or Sparkling Wine. There are similarities and differences—big differences as we’ll discuss below—but they all contain carbon dioxide under pressure in the bottle and therefore effervesce when opened. And they all bestow a festive note to any occasion.

So how do I match the wine with the event? Partly by price—I’ll spend more on an elegant dinner than on a large party, for instance—and partly by who will be there and the mood of the occasion:

Champagne, which comes ONLY from the Champagne region of France, is pretty much hand-made over a long period of time. The results vary from light to heavy in mouthfeel, but all have some creaminess to them. They are serious wines for solemn occasions—coronations, State dinners, baptisms, and wedding toasts. They are also, as you would expect of wines of this pedigree, expensive. So most of the time, I choose an alternative.

It might help here to explain the two main methods by which sparkling wines are made, that is, by which the CO2 gets into the bottle. These are méthode champenoise associated, since the 17th century, with the French wine region of Champagne, and Charmat, a less labor-intensive method.  (There is a third method involving adding CO2 directly to the wine; this practice is used only for bulk wines of low quality and requires no explanation.) Both methods begin just as still wine production does, but from grapes that would be considered under-ripe for regular wine. Grapes are crushed and the juice put in tanks or casks to ferment. From there on, the methods diverge.

Champagne and its method:
Méthode champenoise (known outside of Champagne as méthode traditionelle or traditional method) requires two fermentations. First, the process of making still wine continues, usually in small lots from individual vineyards. After several months, various lots are either blended with each other and with some wine reserved from previous years or set aside for later use. The blend, or assemblage, receives a small dose of yeast and sugar mixture just before it is bottled. The yeasts eat the sugar—as is their wont—and the second fermentation completes, capturing the CO2 under pressure in the bottle. The wine then ages on its lees (spent yeasts) for one to several years, acquiring additional complexity in the process. Through a lengthy process called riddling and disgorgement, these yeasts coalesce in the neck of the bottle, are frozen and then literally pop out when the bottle is opened. Now a bit of dosage (doe-SAJ), a mix of wine and sugar, is added. The sweetness of the dosage mixture determines the sweetness of the final wine.

Wines made by this method include:
CHAMPAGNE, of course. Champagne is made from one or more of three grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Chardonnay is a white grape and Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay is called blanc de blanc (white of white). Both Pinots are red grapes and Champagne made from these grapes in called blanc de noir (white from black) when it is clear. A bit of the color may be retained in rosé.

CRÉMANT, which is sparkling wine made anywhere else in France than in Champagne.
The grapes used differ region by region. The label will always tell you what the region is, e.g. Crémant de Bourgogne (Burgundy), Crémant d’Alsace, etc.

CAVA, Spanish sparkling wine, especially from Penedès, modeled on the Champagne method, but using primarily native white grapes Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo. These wines are often an incredible bargain in the taste/cost ratio.

Some SPARKLING WINES from the U.S., especially from those producers with parent companies in Europe, such as Domaine Carneros, Mumm Napa Valley, Domaine Chandon, Gloria Ferrer and Roederer. Others that use this method are Iron Horse, J Wine, Pacific Echo and Schramsberg Vineyards. All use largely the same grape varietals as Champagne does, but lacking the heritage, cannot command the price of Champagne.

Charmat method:
In the charmat method of sparkling wine production, secondary fermentation takes place in sealed and pressurized tanks. When fermentation is complete, the lees are filtered out, still under pressure, and the dosage (wine and sugar) is added before the wine is bottled. This might take no more than a few weeks. Sparkling wines made by this method are intended to be consumed young and fresh. So, while a traditional method wine may have no vintage listed because it is a blend of several vintages (It will be labeled NV), a charmat method wine may have no vintage listed because it should be consumed before the next vintage is produced. 

The charmat method predominates in Italian spumante (Italian for sparkling wine) production. Names you are likely to see on labels include:

PROSECCO, which is a grape from the Veneto region of NE Italy, has a melon-y fruit flavor that gives it a slightly sweet taste even when completely dry by standards of sugar content. It has bright and lively acid, making it refreshing and popular both as an aperitif and with food, especially seafood. This is good all-around choice for sparkling wine.

ASTI is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy. The Asti Spumantes of the past were often cloyingly sweet and simple, but today’s Astis are full-flavored with fresh fruit flavor and some sweetness. They are made from the moscato grape, which is best known for dessert wines. A wine called Moscato d’Asti has very low alcohol (5-6%), a bit more sweetness and somewhat less fizz than Asti. This is a hit with my relatives who don’t really like wine, but want to celebrate a particular occasion.

SEKT is German sparkling wine. It, too, is made by the charmat method and not often found on shelves or wine lists in the U.S.

Here’s wishing you holidays that sparkle with good wine, good food and cheerful companions!