It’s been broken over the bows of ships, dumped on the heads of sports teams, sprayed over crowds in Victory Lane and used to fill bathtubs in Las Vegas—all of that a tremendous waste, as far as we’re concerned. When it comes to champagne, the best path for the bubbly is from the bottle to your glass, then down the hatch. Repeat until you’re smiling like a fool.

The bubbles in champagne that tickle the throat and which make the libation such a perfect complement to celebration can, believe it or not, be faked. Well, not faked exactly, but they can be rushed. And in the case of champagne, very, very good things come to those who wait. Allow us to explain.

In the most simplistic sense, champagne is made in two steps: (1) You make several wines and blend them; (2) You ferment the resulting blended wine a second time and make champagne.

Forgetting the complex process of making the first batch of wine, it is during the second fermentation that carbon dioxide is created. Not being allowed to escape the thick, strong bottles in which the secondary fermentation takes place, the CO2 dissolves into the wine, hence the bubbles in champagne. Bottles are stored bottoms-up then turned and tapped over a period of years, which puts the sediment in the neck. Eventually, the necks (full of sediment) are dipped in freezing brine, which creates a frozen sediment plug. When the bottle caps are removed, the frozen plugs fly out (known as “dégorgement”). What’s left in the bottle is given a small dose of sweetish wine (the “dosage”) then sealed with a cork, wire cage and foil, sold, and hopefully not wasted in a Vegas bathtub.

As for faking the bubbles, some companies create bubbles in a separate steel tank and inject them into bottles of wine. While there’s nothing exactly wrong with enjoying a bottle of this kind of thing, it is not champagne. Furthermore, as many former college freshmen can attest, this sort of bubbly can yield a most tremendous hangover.

What’s in a Name?

Not all champagnes are from France (but all Champagnes are) and not all sparkling wines are cheap, headache-inducing swill. In fact, many sparkling wines are high quality libations created using the same methods used to make champagne. However, not being from the Champagne region of France, they’re referred to by other names. This includes many French and California sparkling wines, as well as Italian Proseccos, the Spanish Cavas and even the occasional “California champagne” (note the lowercase “c,” allowed as long as the bubbles occur naturally and are not injected into the bottle). Of course, to get the capital “C” the Champagne must come from the Champagne region of France. California vintners wouldn’t appreciate a Chilean “Napa” cabernet sauvignon, right? Nuff said.

Which Bottle?

Kristin Traylor and Matt Earhart love champagne, and they want you to love it, too. The couple has recently opened Pop Champagne & Dessert Bar in Pasadena, Ca., and in addition to providing invaluable information for this article they’re currently offering more than 100 champagnes (many by the glass) in hopes that champagne newcomers will let the bubbles open their minds.

“Everybody kind of has the misconception that all champagne is the same,” says Matt. “Actually, it’s one of the most complex wines that’s out there in terms of range of styles.”

Kristin agrees, and says that while a champagne’s appeal is often of the “you get what you pay for” variety, you don’t have to break the bank or be able to speak French to enjoy a bottle of bubbly. As she puts it, “It’s fun, it’s sexy and you don’t have to know a lot about wine to appreciate champagne.” Sounds good to us.

On the next page, a few suggestions from Kristin and Matt on corks to pop this holiday season—all of them with a capital “C.”