Set theTable: Cheap Caviar and Champagne

20.05.12

I hate caviar and champagne gives me a headache.

Bummer. Because those “luxury� goods are becoming as pedestrian (or almost) as salmon and beer. A few years ago I even took a trip to the Champagne region of France, about 90 miles east of Paris, to teach myself both to like the drink of kings and to understand its mystique . Alas, to no avail.

But the point is that with the demand for champagne soaring because of a recent taste for the bubbly wine  from new markets like China and India, its production has escaped even the strictest national and international regulations designed to protect the “appellation d’origine controlee.� (Protected Designation of Origin) . These rules accord only the Champagne region the right to call champagne champagne.

Producers from other countries not covered by the international treaties, including the United States, are competing to fulfill the new and rising Asian thirst. To that, add “sparkling winesâ€� made using the champagne method but called other names like  Cremant from other French regions, Germany and Luxembourg, Cavas from Spain, and Spumante from Italy  — all of which are less expensive and many considered by experts as comparable to good champagne.

Source: Forbes