Have a sparklingly good time

THE WINE CLUB

All champagnes are sparkling wines, but not all sparkling wines are champagnes. Of course, you knew that. I was just repeating it for the benefit of those might have forgotten, and for those who insist on calling any sparkling wine "champagne." (Indian champagne, anyone?)

As you well know, champagnes are sparkling wines produced by the methode champonaise in the Champagne district of France. Anything similar produced elsewhere in the world (even in France itself) cannot be called champagne.

There are over 100 famous Champagne houses. Some, like Moet & Chandon, Tattinger (which Vijay Mallya recently tried to buy), or Dom Perignon (James Bond's preference) are better known here than houses like Bruno Paillard or Duval Leroy.

There are also thousands of lesser-known champagne producers whose products are rarely found outside France. Non-vintage champagne will be a dry (brut or extra-brut) sparkling white wine that is at least 15 months old (though most houses mature their products for much more); vintage champagne will be a minimum of 39 months, while prestige cuvees are produced only in vintage years, and would have been aged for at least five years prior to being released for sale.

Pink champagne (the drink, not the Swedish women rock band) forms only about 5 per cent of all champagnes, but is the stuff of myth and legend. Generally sweeter and lighter than regular champagne, it's the thing for lovers and romantics.

In India, apart from the three champagnes mentioned above, we also have Veuve Cliquot and Krug, as well as Bollinger, Lanson, Laurent Perrier and Mumm.

In keeping with their positioning as celebratory drinks, these brands are generally found only in the top hotels and restaurants, and only rarely sold at retail.

What about sparkling wines?

The sweet, light and aromatic sparkling wine of Italy is called spumante (Asti Spumante is from the Asti grape); elsewhere in Italy they have lightly-frizzy wines (both white and red) that are called "" what else "" Frizzantes! So far as I know, neither category is as yet available in India.

German sparkling wine is called sekt, and Germans down such copious quantities of it so as to have the highest per-capita consumption of sparkling wine worldwide. The best known sekt is Henkell Trocken, and other sekt giants like Schloss Wachenheim or Graeger are virtually unknown in India.

In Spain they call it cava, which is actually a separate appellation near Barcelona in NE Spain. Sparkling wine made elsewhere is simply called vino espumoso. Freixenet is the most well-known cava, and is available in many hotels in India.

An so to India, where Indage made the first methode champonaise sparkling wine way back in 1988 as Marquise de Pompadour (Rs 550), which is still the market leader here; its subsequent efforts (Joie, Rs 450, and Ivy Brut, Rs 500) have been nowhere as successful. Sula Vineyards is the only other company in this area with Sula Brut (Rs 525) "" a very decent effort.

So let's pop the bubbly and celebrate.

al_chandra@yahoo.co.uk