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The Sparkling White Wine vs. Champagne Debate: French Vintners Say "Non"

By John V

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 04Mar2012
Word count: 563
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Many people know by now that the term Champagne, which was used for years to refer to any sparkling white wine, is actually much more specific. Much the way Kleenex and Q-Tip have become household names for facial tissues and cotton swabs, this specific brand of sparkling white wine suffered due to its own popularity, as imitators from all over Europe sought to use the name associated with nobility, exclusivity, and class. And for a long time this situation held. But as the drink became popular with the growing U.S. middle class in the 19th Century, sparking white wine growers and makers in the Champagne region of France decided that they needed to fight harder to protect their exclusive rights to the name.

An 1891 treaty legally reserved the name Champagne for just this purpose. However, even though through both world wars the brand was seen not just as an international treasure but a specific object of pride for the French by most people in the world, the proliferation of the name's misuse to describe any sparkling white wine continued. This despite the fact that with international support the French authorities can seize any mislabeled shipment and destroy it to protect the brand. Since the formation of the European Union, which forced all the countries in Europe to come into complete compliance with the treaty, the issue has received more attention.

People now understand, for the most part, that the term Champagne can't accurately be applied to any sparkling white wine. This has given rise to the popularity of other brands such as Prosecco. And to be reasonable, there is plenty of precedence and merit to the claim that the brand deserves to be protected by strict labeling regulations. Many other wines enjoy this degree of protection, such that international wine makers often must specify where their wine was grown as well as the variety of grape.

The reasoning is part commercial - protecting a brand gives owners the ability to market it more effectively and thus charge higher prices - and part science. Many grapes, especially those used for sparkling white wine, are very expressive of the minerals and elements in the water, soil, and air where they grew. Wine tasters with refined palettes can identify different regions of growth for the same grape and same wine production technique, even when all of them come from within France. So there is certainly something to the claim that Champagne from the specific region of France is physically different than other sparkling white wines.

The reality is that the United States, which produces a fair amount of sparking white wine and consumes a great deal as well, is slow to comply with the regulation. But few would suffer if the country began to enforce compliance. Those who own mislabeled brands will have to invest to change future labeling, but they are profiting from a high-jacked brand anyway, so as long as they aren't forced to re-label bottles already in circulation and ready for shipping, it is not unreasonable. And consumers can learn the difference - those who can actually taste the supposed superiority of a sparkling white wine from Champagne, France can spend the extra for this exclusively-priced product, while everyone else can continue to celebrate with other, satisfactory brands and be no worse for it.

The Essential History of Champagne and the Misnaming of an Entire Category of White Wine. Learn the Real Facts and Then Find the Right One for You.

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