Goomba38 wrote:

>
> > Technically. It is a name thing, and French produces have gone to court
> > to protect the use of the word Champagne. There are lots of wineries who
> > make a sparkling white wine with the same grape varieties and the same
> > techniques, but they are legally prohibited from calling it or marketing
> > it as Champagne.
>
> And I have no problems with that at all. Sort of
> like basalmic vinegar *only* comes from Modena
> area, a Smithfield ham in the town of Smithfield
> (but also I believe there are specifics as to what
> the pig is fed and how it is smoked).
>

I understand there is a similar issue with Parma products, prosciutto and
Parmesan cheese. There are products out there from other places that use a
similar process, but the results are disappointed. I started using freshly
grated Parmesan a few years ago when I discovered that there was simply no
comparison to that bland product in a can. Around here chunks of Parmesan
cheese are pretty pricey, though they go a long way. Someone suggested that I
try the Parmesan produced by a local producer, so I gave it a shot. It was
about half the price of the real McCoy, but it just wasn't the same.

We have several local wineries that make sparkling wines, several of them own
by French families. One in particular sent two of their sons to France to
learn the proper method of making Champagne. They allowed the secondary
fermentation, kept the bottles inverted, superfroze the necks to pop out the
yeasty sediment and all that. They make a pretty good Champagne style wine,
and it sells for about half the price of the decent French Champagne here.
It's not bad, but it just isn't Champagne.