Before we get into how sparkling wines are made, we should first make a distinction between sparkling wine and champagne. Champagne is sparkling wine, but sparkling wine is not necessarily champagne.
True champagne is produced in the Champagne region of France by using the Methode Champenoise and is produced from a high quality grape. In many [...]

Wine is probably the best social drink man has ever known. It comes in hoards of varieties and peculiarly, the classification is generally based on the area in which wine is grown. The classification is required because the number of types is just so mind boggling that the entire industry would be disarrayed if a [...]

Many people don’t realize it, but there is a difference between sparkling wine and real champagne. Champagne is only champagne if it comes from a certain area of France and it actually says "Champagne" on the label.
Beside the fact that Champagne is only made in France, there are other strict guidelines to [...]

There is much misunderstanding about the difference between sparkling wine and champagne. When you taste them, you probably will not notice a great deal of difference and there is a good reason for that. The real truth behind sparkling wine and champagne is that they are basically the same thing. Due to technicalities, though, they [...]

If you are looking for fine French wine and food, consider the Loire Valley region of central France. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review a white Chenin Blanc from Anjou-Saumur Touraine in the central part of the region.
Among France’s [...]

Very recently we reviewed a Chilean red wine that was made from a Bordeaux blend. Here we will review a Chilean Viognier white wine. For a relatively small country, Chile has many wine regions that are now developing their own personality. The wine reviewed below comes from the Colchagua Valley which is located about 80 [...]

If you are looking for fine French wine and food, consider the Loire Valley region of central France. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review a white Sauvignon Blanc-Chardonnay from Touraine in the eastern part of the region.
Among France’s eleven [...]

Viognier is a very common and ancient white grape that used to be fairly common. Now it is a rare white grape and the wine made from it is usually quite expensive (but also quite good!).
This wine grape probably originated centuries ago in Damatia. Roman history says it was brought to history in 281 [...]

I don’t think I have to tell you about the beauty of the French Mediterranean, an area known affectionately as the "Midi". Unlike Tuscany, this fantastic region is not particularly well known for fine wines. Many of its wines are roses, best consumed on a terrace overlooking the sea. The grape Picpoul de Pinet is [...]

If you are looking for fine French wine and food, consider the Rhone Valley region of southeastern France. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review one the area’s best-known wines, a white Chateauneuf-du-Pape that comes from some of the stoniest [...]