Sparkling Wine vs. Champagne: Part 1

Video Transcript

"Now, the thing about champagne is that because it is very popular and because it is very festive, a lot of wine makers have decided that they like to make it. Some of them only make champagne. Some of the great French houses have come to California to make sparkling wine, which is really what I should call it. But there are also some sparkling wines that come from around the world that have been made for a very long time that are still extremely value oriented. The first one I want to talk about comes from Italy, and it is Prosecco. Now one of the lovely things about Prosecco is that it's a little bit fruitier. And when I say "fruity," I don't mean "sweet." I mean "more pronounced fruit flavors; a very lovely ripe pear feel. It's a little bit more effervescent, and that's one of the things that separates true champagnes from sparkling wines. Sparkling wines always tend to be a little bit more effervescent with some few exceptions which we will talk about later on. So, this Prosecco, I believe you'll find for about fifteen dollars, which I've got to say is not so bad. It comes from Valdobbiadene and Prosecco is the name; this is Conegliano. There are a couple of different areas that are made, where they make Prosecco in Italy. And Canella is the producer. Okay, it is a non-vintage or mixed vintage, which means that there are wines from different years mixed together. But it's not made in a single year. And that's why they call it "non-vintage," because it doesn't come from just a single year. We'll get to some vintage champagne later on. But once we get to vintage, you are always talking a higher price. So when you don't see a year, generally speaking, you've got a more value oriented sparkling wine (pardon me). The next one is from Spain. And in Spain they call their sparkling wine Cava. And once again, you've got the producer, you've got the type of wine it is, which is called Cava, and again it is a non-vintage. They call it a brute which is the French word for "dry." And it is indeed quite dry, but once again, just like the Prosecco, it's going to have a little bit more pronounced fruit flavor. I find Cavas tend to have more of a ripe apple; a little bit more crisp. Now, one of the nice thing about having a wine like Prosecco or Cava is that they are sparkling, but they're not too expensive. So if I were throwing a brunch, these are the kinds of wines I would like to use for any champagne cocktail; whether it's mimosa, maybe throw a little pomegranate juice in there. There are a lot of different fruit juices that mix well with champagne and you've got that lovely effervescence. And they are real fun for brunch. But the other thing about them is they are value oriented, which once again leads you to the idea that you don't have to just wait for New Year's or for your birthday to drink them. "