December 19, 2006

Barefoot Bubbly Has Champagne Dreams

While we like the occasional sip of the bubbly, we don't lose a lot of sleep at night wondering about the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine. In fact, we thought we pretty much had it dialed - Champagne is from France and sparkling wine is from anywhere else.

But Kevin from The Scotch Blog has posted a story on his side gig Drink Shoot about Barefoot Bubbly, a "California Champagne," that has opened our eyes. In the words of Jennifer Wall, the winemaker at Barefoot Cellars:

We are legally allowed to use the term “Champagne” in the United States – as long as it is used in conjunction with the region that the grapes originated from. For example – if the wine grapes were grown in California, we can legally say “California Champagne” – that’s the agreement that The United States came up with France so that there was no confusion with the consumer.

So it turns out you can make Champagne in the states, and apparently the Barefoot Bubbly is some fine-tasting California bubbly. Read the whole Barefoot Bubbly story at Drink Shoot.

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Comments

hi - Ms. Wall probably isn't aware because she probably hasn't had to deal with a new label approval recently, but that is the old rule. The new rule went into effect last March as an advisory, and should be a requirement soon. Old brands are grandfathered in - as long as they make no changes to the brand or "fanciful" names, they can keep using the prohibited word. Here's a couple of boring references:

http://www.ttb.gov/industry_circulars/ic2006_01.html

http://www.ttb.gov/wine/itd_qas.shtml

Posted by: eljefe at December 21, 2006 3:12 PM

Oh, wow. I can't believe the French caved (heh) in on that little detail. California Champagne? I might go for it if it were Domaine Carneros. But Barefoot? Wow.

Posted by: Sean at December 25, 2006 8:01 PM