Does anyone actually call sparkling wine, sparkling wine instead of just calling it champagne?

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One_Recover_673@reddit

You only call it champagne if it’s produced in the Champagne region of France.

All champagne is sparkling wine. But, you can’t call all sparkling wine champagne.

I went snooty, come at me bro

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BookLuvr7@reddit

I make my own wines, including sparkling (just add more sugar). I might say they're "like champagne" but I try to use the correct terms, just out of respect.

Which is hilarious and admittedly hypocritical of me because I'll call generic plastic bags Ziploc bags, facial tissue Kleenex etc. But as a foodie, I know a bit more about the time, effort, work, and history that went into earning those names. The French appellation d'origine contrôlé is a big deal among foodie - the name is controlled for a reason. There's a long, laborious process that goes into it all.

It would be like someone calling a cheap knockoff a brand name, a random group of players your favorite sports team, or a similar collection of chords your favorite song.

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Traditional_Ant_2662@reddit

I've found champagne to be quite dry with sparkling wines being sweeter. I am not a connoisseur by any means. ??

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K9WorkingDog@reddit

I call it prosciutto to anger the frnch and* the Italians

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RodeoBoss66@reddit

If you really want to piss off the Italians (and Italian Americans), also give prosciutto a Californian pronunciation, with the Ts converted to Ds, and overemphasize the “pro,” like it’s short for “professional”: pro-zhuddo. 😁

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Caratteraccio@reddit

non ci farebbe incazzare

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RodeoBoss66@reddit

How about pineapple on pizza, though? 😉

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Caratteraccio@reddit

nemmeno quello

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Archlefirth@reddit

🫡

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Celeraic@reddit

Is that emoji a salute or a condescending pat on the head?

A+ for the dad joke, though.

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Doomdoomkittydoom@reddit

It's someone being struck in the head by a carrot.

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Immediate_Falcon8808@reddit

I can't unsee this now

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Complete_Aerie_6908@reddit

You’re my kind of people.

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Samiam2197@reddit

My crowds have always used champagne to refer to champagne, prosecco to refer to prosecco, and sparkling wine to refer to any other bubbly wine.

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qu33nof5pad35@reddit

I just call it Cham-pag-knee

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The_Menu_Guy@reddit

No

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Current_Poster@reddit

Outside of the joke structured "you're not allowed to call it (X)- unless it's from (Y) it's just sparkling (Z)", I never hear about 'sparkling wine'.

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PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit

I'm honestly surprised about the number of responses here who do say sparkling wine. Generally speaking, Americans don't care about European protected geographical names. Even to the extent that we use protected names, such as bourbon, they specify ingredients or methods, not geographic origin. The only protected geographical names we have are things like "Idaho potatoes" or "Florida oranges." Not the same thing.

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Suppafly@reddit

I'm honestly surprised about the number of responses here who do say sparkling wine.

Same, I don't think I've ever heard it from a real person in real life other than a joking context.

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cdecker0606@reddit

Kentucky Bourbon is a thing too.

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PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit

But the only requirement to be called Kentucky bourbon is that the bourbon be made in Kentucky. Bourbon can be made anywhere in the country, as long as it is made with at least 51% corn and aged in charred oak barrels.

It is interesting that it does have to be made in the U.S. to qualify as bourbon but I feel confident that if the Irish or Japanese distilled a whiskey from 51%+ corn and aged it in charred oak barrels and imported it to the U.S., we'd still call it bourbon even if they'd have to put something else on the label.

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Kellaniax@reddit

Yeah, I don’t know what the people in this thread are talking about. I’ve never heard anyone refer to champagne as sparkling wine.

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Suppafly@reddit

sometimes we buy a sparkling moscato, we just call it moscato. the ones that are meant to be champagne, we just call champagne though. champagne isn't a protected term in the US, so no one is bothered by it not being 'real champagne'.

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JohnnyCoolbreeze@reddit

Yes. I lived in France and visited Champagne so I feel obligated to.

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InquisitiveNerd@reddit

I say bubbley when it's not champagne, but I won't correct parmesan cheese cause I have ZERO idea what you'd call it otherwise.

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MortynMurphy@reddit

I say champagne if it's champagne, prosecco if it's prosecco, and sparkling wine if it's not either of those or if I'm suggesting something in the category (including champagne and prosecco).

Not a wine snob, just one of those really word-brained people that likes to know the "most correct" word for things.

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bcatrek@reddit

You forgot Cava.

Prosecco is from Italy, Cava from Spain.

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manfrombelmonty@reddit

And if I want a bottle of vinho verde Im asking for a bottle of vinho verde.

I’ll not get that if I ask for champagne.

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Lumpasiach@reddit

That's mostly because Vinho Verde isn't a sparkling wine to begin with. If you ask for a local champagne in Portugal, I'm sure they will offer you an Espumante.

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hsj713@reddit

It sounds a lot better in Portuguese than in English! 😁

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bcatrek@reddit

I absolutely love a nice vinho verde!

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manfrombelmonty@reddit

Been in the sun all day today. Can’t wait for an icy cold glass later

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basszameg@reddit

And Asti!

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y0da1927@reddit

It's all sparkling wine.

The difference between grapes from Spain and France is mostly branding.

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splorp_evilbastard@reddit

Just like when I say 'Coke' I mean Coca-Cola.

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JuventAussie@reddit

I had an ex girlfriend who loved her Prosecco but alcohol didn't like her back and after two glasses she just asked for "More bubbles, please"

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Imaginary_Roof_5286@reddit

Same here. I tend to get rather nerdy about words. If their meanings slide about, can they really communicate clearly?

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Prof_Acorn@reddit

that likes to know the "most correct" word for things.

I.e., an orthodox diction.

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tmrika@reddit

Yeah this is exactly it for me. I also refer to moscato by name as well, but that’s cuz moscato’s easily my favorite of the sparkling wines

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FruitPlatter@reddit

I love the description of word-brained. I've been called a nitpicker or pedant too often. I don't go around saying "AKSHUALLY" but if I know the right words for things why wouldn't I use them

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Doomdoomkittydoom@reddit

Persnickety?

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IHSV1855@reddit

Same. Calling prosecco champagne would be absolute insanity.

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MoonieNine@reddit

That is my spouse, who likes to be annoyingly correct. I just say champagne.

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ThePurityPixel@reddit

Likewise.

And I genuinely love being (tactfully but forthrightly) corrected if I've misused a term.

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messibessi22@reddit

No haha

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Ananvil@reddit

Its all champagne to me

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botulizard@reddit

I call it whatever it is if I'm being specific, but I say sparkling wine if I'm talking about the category overall.

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xx-rapunzel-xx@reddit

never heard that used before.

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Ginsu_Viking@reddit

No. Americans in general are less bound by "terms of art" then Europeans unless there is a specific reason, aka wine snobs or sommeliers. While I would want to know location of origin, I am going to call sparkling wine champagne unless there is a specific label on the bottle saying otherwise. It is an excellent shorthand for "be careful while uncorking if you don't want to lose an eye or breakable items."

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KiaraNarayan1997@reddit

I don’t drink any booze but I used to work at a liquor store. Honestly I just call all wines just simply “wine” regardless of if they are sparkling or not or where they are made, because more often than not, I don’t even know.

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LennyFackler@reddit

Bubbly. Covers all of it.

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farts_in_your_hair@reddit

Or bubs for short

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FreydisEir@reddit

That’s my reason for using “bubbly” too.

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nopointers@reddit

My wife confused me this morning by asking for a can of bubbly. It turns out there’s a brand of sparkling water called “Bubly.”

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OrdinarySubstance491@reddit

I call it what it is. My favorite is Cava.

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Lugbor@reddit

I don't drink, so I just call it whatever annoys the relevant snobs the most. Bubble booze is one of my favorite terms.

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Mushrooming247@reddit

Yeah, I actually would say “sparkling wine,” if it didn’t have another name like champagne or Prosecco, as others are saying.

But I don’t really drink any “sparkling wines” so it never comes up in my life.

And weirdly if I homebrew something that is sparkling, I describe it as “carbonated,” like I would describe soda pop. When serving it to people, I say, “this mead is carbonated!”

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RelativelyRidiculous@reddit

I've only ever seen "sparkling wine" in the blogs of wine nerds where they talk about well acktually those American made champagnes shouldn't be calling themselves that, they're just sparkling wines since they're not from this one specific region of France. They always go on about how California is the only place people make bubbly and call it champagne but I know there are a couple wineries in my state doing the same as well.

Visiting Italy I first learned about prosecco. I had heard the name and I think I knew it had bubbles, but this was the first I ever tasted any or actually saw it anywhere. I brought some home and found when I mentioned to friends and family I had prosecco from Italy every one of them asked me what that was. Even the ones who'd been to Europe though not to Italy.

I'm not fond of bubbles outside of the one type of prosecco I brought back from Italy so I've not had much of it. I've never noticed anything labeled "sparkling wine" in shops here or Europe. Then again since I never buy it I'm always just passing the section where the bubbly is and seeing "champagne" in passing. It is possible if I spent any time looking at those shelves I would have seen "sparkling wine" on many products.

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Extension-Dot-4308@reddit

I say bubbles/ bubbly for anything not champagne

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far_tie923@reddit

Just call it what it actually is. Using "champagne" as a catch-all is like calling all deli meat "pastrami". At best, its just misleading and confusing. At worst, it obscures actually critical information.

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stevethemathwiz@reddit

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YE4NyXL5JAQ

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icrossedtheroad@reddit

I just say Sparkles. It's not region specific.

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EruditeTarington@reddit

I only call sparkling wine made outside the champagne region of France champagne, and I refer to all sparkling wine from the champagne region of France as sparkling wine wine .

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MyUsername2459@reddit

The only people who call it "sparkling wine" and get pedantic over the technical wording about what is champagne and isn't are wine snobs and restaurants.

I don't think I've ever heard a real person, who isn't hip-deep in wine culture or wasn't a server call it "sparkling wine".

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OodalollyOodalolly@reddit

Maybe because you aren’t in wine country. Don’t you think you’d think it’s weird, being from Kentucky, if people used rye and bourbon interchangeably?

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shelwood46@reddit

If I tell you get "sparkling wine", I mean the cheapest crap you can find. If I say "prosecco" I mean the moderately priced Italian stuff. If I want champagne, I will specify the brand name and possibly the vintage if I am very flush. Pretty much never say "champagne".

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quandjereveauxloups@reddit

I'm not a wine snob or a restaurant and use sparkling wine if it's not actually champagne. I haven't even had wine in years, so I'm definitely not into the culture.

I am pedantic at times, though. I couldn't call a red sparkling wine champagne, unless it was actually champagne.

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RupeThereItIs@reddit

Or someone making a joke about Europeans or wine snobs might use the term to mock them.

Because to the grand majority of us, it's such a silly argument to say "Champagne is only Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France". It just sounds like an insanely snobby thing to say.

Especially in a country that culturally eschews blatant signalling of class division. The idea we can't call Champagne what it is because it comes from say California, comes off as being offensively ostentatious.

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lavasca@reddit

Yes. Why not?

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MisterBlack8@reddit

I can't believe a one-off joke to make Rob Lowe's character in Wayne's World sound likeable to women but unlikable to the protagonist has such global reach.

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worrymon@reddit

I just order a white wine spritzer.

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DefrockedWizard1@reddit

isn't that white wine diluted with seltzer?

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worrymon@reddit

Oui!

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worldslamestgrad@reddit

I usually call the wine by its name: champagne, cava, prosecco, etc.

I do it because they all generally taste different. I wouldn’t call all white wine Chardonnay or all red wine Cabernet. Why would I do the same to Champagne?

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moxie-maniac@reddit

In the US, some white sparkling wine is often labeled Champagne, since the rules are different from Europe.

For example, Korbel of California is sold in the US as champagne.

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jebuswashere@reddit

Korbel specifically was grandfathered in, but they are legally required to call their bubbles "California Champagne" to make it clear you aren't getting the actual thing.

Also, fun fact: Spanish cava is made from the same grapes and in the same method as Champagne, but is usually around 50%-75% cheaper for a bottle of comparable quality.

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RealPutin@reddit

cava is made from the same grapes and in the same method as Champagne

I love Cava, but that's just not a broadly true rule

Champagne production these days is about one-third each Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier with little tiny bits of other stuff here and there (like, less than half a percent of Champange plantings). And even within Champagne you get full red-grape bottles, full white-grape bottles, and blends - there's no one grape or grape blend.

Cava is traditionally Macabeo, Xarel·lo, and Parellada, but it's a lot more flexible than Champagne, so there are decent amounts of Chard and Pinot Noir plantings now (but also a bunch of other accent grapes). It's definitely possible to get Cava that's made from purely Chardonnay or Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blends, but if you just go pick one off the shelf, it's unlikely to be purely Champagne varietals. And that's good! Those other varieties tend to grow better in the Spanish climate.

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GarlicAndSapphire@reddit

shhhhhh. we american cava people don't want the champagne snobs to know about this. it's fuxking delicious, and it's a secret

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nlpnt@reddit

IIRC the (mostly) California wineries that had a wine called "champagne" before the turn of the millennium are grandfathered in.

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IllustratorWeird5008@reddit

Sparking wine is actually Prosecco, not champagne. Champagne is much better and way more expensive, and has less sugar. And yes, I call sparking wine Prosecco

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I_demand_peanuts@reddit

more like sparkling bud light with how easily i can drink champagne compared to regular wine.

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ChapterOk4000@reddit

You can call it whatever you want. It's the companies and businesses that sell it that can't call it champagne unless it's from Champagne.

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Felicity_Calculus@reddit

We just refer to everything that isn’t actual champagne as “bubbly”

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AutofluorescentPuku@reddit

Champagne is a specific type as is Prosecco and Cava. Others are “sparkling wine”

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Jewish-Mom-123@reddit

I call them by the name on the bottle. I don’t use either sparkling wine or call them all champagne. My husband does. He brought home an Asti last week for a minor celebration, poured it for us and I was expecting champagne. Ick. Asti is too sweet for me.

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tooslow_moveover@reddit

I’m not a wine snob, but I’m less than 30 minutes from the Napa Valley. Most of the bubbly I see in stores and restaurants is labeled sparkling wine, so that’s what I call it.

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stroppo@reddit

Yes, if it's sparkling wine you don't call it "champagne," that's silly.

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Able-Seaworthiness15@reddit

I call each thing what it is, whether champagne, prosecco or sparkling wine. It's a habit by now. I also call sodas by their names, ie coke, sprite, Pepsi, mountain dew. Like I said, a habit.

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pxystx89@reddit

I usually say Prosecco or sparkling bc I used to have a snooty friend that would correct me if I called it champagne and it wasn’t the technically term lol

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bcatrek@reddit

To us amateurs champagne is a subset of the wider category “spelling wines”.

Champagne is strictly from the champagne region in France. Prosecco comes from Italy. Cava comes from Spain.

If you drink a bubbly without any of these hallmarks, why not just call it “sparkling wine”.

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MuscaMurum@reddit

If it's a bar I ask what bubbles they have open. There's usually a prosecco or something by the glass. When ordering off a menu, I know what I'm ordering and ask appropriately.

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Randomizedname1234@reddit

None of these other early comments have lived in a hipster college town in the mid 2010’s and it showed.

100% some parts of certain cities call it sparkling wine.

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Anustart15@reddit

None of these other early comments have lived in a hipster college town in the mid 2010’s and it showed.

When I was a college kid, we almost exclusively called it Andre because that was the only shitty bubbles we could afford

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DefrockedWizard1@reddit

Andre Cold Duck and orange juice makes a passable sangria

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cdb03b@reddit

Distributors and others who sell it will for legal and technical reasons. Most common folk will call it Champagne, though they may distinguish Prosecco as it too is a regional name. But many people are pedantic and will strive to use the correct terms, if only to annoy other people, so a not insignificant number will use them.

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WulfTheSaxon@reddit

If it’s méthode champenoise it’s champagne to me. That doesn’t apply to all sparkling wines, but it certainly applies to many that aren’t from France. The requirement for non-grandfathered American wineries to call it “sparkling wine” is silly nonsense that was forced on us by treaty. The vast majority of 99% of Swiss cheese, Parmesan, etc. is from the US, and nobody tries to say they’re only sparkling milk – people understand that it means means. “Parmesan-style”.

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BankManager69420@reddit

I don’t even drink? But I still differentiate between champagne and other sparkling wines.

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LunarVolcano@reddit

I say sparkling wine, or prosecco/cava/etc if I know more specifically what it is.

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Sleepygirl57@reddit

I never discussed it at all. I’m a gin and tonic gal.

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cryptoengineer@reddit

There's plenty of wine with some carbonation that isn't champagne.

Some of its pretty low-end: Ever heard 'Cracklin Rose' by Neil Diamond?

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Doomdoomkittydoom@reddit

I call it champagne, but pronounce it like The Continental

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SchoolForSedition@reddit

Crémant

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trikakeep@reddit

Bubbly grape juice 😇

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SavannahInChicago@reddit

No, its only Champagne if its is grown in the champagne region of France. Prosecco is only grown and made in Italy. There are all sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne or Prosecco.

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Federal-Membership-1@reddit

Cava, prosecco, champagne, cold duck. Words have meaning.

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Round-Lab73@reddit

Yeah, most people refer to a wine as what it is. If it's Champagne I call it Champagne. If it's a different kind of sparkling wine with a different name I call it by that name

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PretrialLawyer@reddit

As my yellow friend from finding Nemo; I say BUBBBLES

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im_in_hiding@reddit

I just call it all Champaign. Tastes exactly the same

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blaimjos@reddit

No; I've never called it "sparkling wine" and never will. I've also never heard someone use the term in person either. It's an entirely nonsensical term invented by French assholes trying to twist the English language for personal gain.

I find such "designation of origin" protections offensive and are the best way for countries to draw my ire for which I would otherwise have a strong affinity. It's a total nonstarter and I'd rather raze our ally France to the ground that accept such a dictate.

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Ok_Gas5386@reddit

The French didn’t just make this up, they’ve always called wines and cheeses after their region of origin.

You could say it is also a kind of protectionism, but it’s also part of the heritage of the product.

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jebuswashere@reddit

You might want to see a therapist if calling things by the correct name upsets you so much.

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PghSubie@reddit

I generally refer to champagne as champagne and prosecco as prosecco

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MarkRick25@reddit

I don't, because I'm not a huge wine person, but I understand why people would. Personally I'm more of a whiskey person, and more specifically a bourbon person, and it bothers me when I see a menu at a restaurant that has a list of bourbons, and then a separate list of other whiskeys and the whiskey list has one random bourbon in it when they already have a separate list for that. Or when I see a kind of whiskey listed as a bourbon when it's not (I see Jack Daniels listed as a bourbon pretty often), so I get it. Not that I go around correcting people on it, because that's useless, and honestly, kind of douchey, but it does bother me in a little bit lol

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jebuswashere@reddit

I mean, Jack Daniels is bourbon, in the sense that it meets all of the production standards to be classified as bourbon.

Jack Daniels simply chooses to market itself as "Tennessee Whiskey" instead of bourbon.

Not that I go around correcting people on it, because that's useless, and honestly, kind of douchey, but it does bother me in a little bit lol

I'll just quote this here, because I just did exactly what you said you don't do, and you're right not to.

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MarkRick25@reddit

For the sake of discussion, I will agree that Jack Daniels meets the requirements to be considered a bourbon, but it also exceeds the requirements in a way that makes it a separate and district product imho. People might disagree with that, and they wouldn't necessarily be wrong, but I do personally believe that it deserves the distinction that it claims. It's more than just a branding distinction, it has a separate, extra process that it goes through while making it, that makes it a different product with a different taste.

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BlowFish-w-o-Hootie@reddit

We call it Bubbly. Prosecco, Cava, Champagne, all of it is Bubbly.

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Dolphopus@reddit

Unless it’s labeled champagne, I’m calling it sparkling wine. But I don’t really talk about either enough for it to be particularly prominent in my daily conversation

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One-Hand-Rending@reddit

Personally, I call Prosecco and Champagne by name. If it comes from California I would probably call it champagne anyway.

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outdatedelementz@reddit

I’ve worked in restaurants and so I was trained to be precise.

That said if someone said they would bring me a nice expensive bottle of champagne if I house sat for them and instead they brought me sparkling wine. I would be a little pissed. I would feel like they intentionally mislead me and that would be the last time I did them a favor like house sitting for them.

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SpatchcockZucchini@reddit

Everyone I know uses "sparkling wine" as a descriptor for the thing we're drinking along side the kind of sparkling wine it is. We (the people I know, not speaking for all Americans) never use Champagne as a catch all.

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Scout6feetup@reddit

I call it what it says it is on the bottle lol

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PymsPublicityLtd@reddit

We call sparkling wine from Spain, Cava and sparkling wine from the champagne region of France, Champagne. The rest we call sparkling wine. But that is mostly because we love those 2.

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PuzzleheadedLemon353@reddit

They are all different, you order or purchasr whichever one you want. I personally like Prosecco....champagne is very expensive and sparkeling wines have too much sugar to me.

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TsundereLoliDragon@reddit

No, I would just call it what it is. Champagne is a specific thing.

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flp_ndrox@reddit

Ever since I saw that Christopher Walken bit on SNL, "The Continental".

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Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit

Everytime anyone mentioned champagne, my brother would correct them like "ayuckshully it's sparkling white wine, champagne only come from the champagne reason of France."

Eventually he stopped doing it around me because every time he did I would just say "We know. Everyone here has seen Wayne's World."

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Beneficial-Basket-42@reddit

Sparkling wine is my favorite type of wine most of the time, so of course I use the names. Champagne and prosecco don’t taste the same, and they both taste wildly different from the peach Bellini at Trader Joe’s or an Alabama muscadine, so of course I use the name to indicate which is which. I can’t really understand not doing this. Plus I usually like a dry wine that isn’t tart, so I like actual champagne.

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kae0603@reddit

Champagne technically needs to come from a specific region in France or believe it or not a place in NJ, USA. I say Champagne, Prosecco or Sparkling Wine if neither of those 2.

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Emotional_Star_7502@reddit

I just say whatever’s on the bottle

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jquailJ36@reddit

Most people ask "do you have/are any of your wines sparkling" or "do you have anything with bubbles?"

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NJBarFly@reddit

I am fascinated by all the people in this thread calling it "bubbly". I'm 50 years old and have never heard anyone calling it that. Maybe it's a regional thing?

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DOMSdeluise@reddit

If I am ordering in a restaurant I will be specific (champagne is expensive!) but if I am just talking casually or something then yeah it's all champagne.

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SnarkyFool@reddit

I use sparkling wine as a catch all.

Like if we're going to make summer cocktails that use it, I'll say let's get sparkling wine...meaning let's go to TJ's or Costco and buy the big cheap bottles. I don't care what region produced it. It might be cheap California Champagne, it might be prosecco, it probably WON'T be French Champagne.

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ThingFuture9079@reddit

No. It sounds like a more expensive and fancy drink when you say champagne instead of sparkling wine.

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Ok_Watercress_7801@reddit

See “Santana DVX”

https://youtu.be/2fxTJgUVNBY?si=FNgziuoWxquobcMg

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Zestyclose-Phrase210@reddit

Perhaps this was the mentality of my trashy family when they would pop a 12.99$ bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate something big 25+ years ago.....

...as long as they kept calling it Champagne, what they were doing was classy, and they weren't simply just getting hammered on a Sunday morning....

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