Sparkling Wine Guide: Champagne, Cava, Prosecco

A wedding guest enjoys some bubbly (credit: Jose Villa)

Living in Northern California, you tend to learn about wine just by osmosis -- whether from a friendly sommelier, or your wine snob friend, you're sure to pick up a few wine tips along the way.

While most people refer to anything with bubbles as "champagne," only grapes from the French region of Champagne can truly be called "champagne." Everything else should be called sparkling wine, though some sparkling wine can be made in what's referred to as the méthode Champenoise.

The other day, I was editing a timeline and had crossed out the word "champagne" and wrote something above it. My assistant who is not from this area asked what this (odd) word was that I had written above it. I had written the word Prosecco, which is sparkling wine from Italy. She'd never heard of Prosecco, which is what inspired this blog post. Another sparkling wine to know about is Cava, sparkling wine from Spain. Those two are the most well-known Champagne siblings, though both Germany and Austria make a sparkling wine called Sekt which I personally haven't tried.

What's your favorite type of bubbly?