The most famous sparkling wine in the world is Champagne, which is made from legally specified grape varietals grown in the Champagne region of northern France. However, many countries, the United States in particular, use the generic term champagne to indicate any wine with bubbles. But a sparkling wine isn't truly Champagne unless it comes from Champagne.

The Champagne Process
True French Champagne producers are very protective of their heritage and of the terms and words that they believe is theirs. They have gone to great lengths in the past years to prevent non-Champagne producers from using the words Champagne or méthode champenoise in the labeling and marketing on non-Champagne products. Méthode champenoise is the stage in which a mixture of sugar and yeast is blended to wine while it's still in the tank, and then to the Champagne bottle. Each bottle Champagne bottle is then capped with a crown and then stored on their sides. During this time, the sugar and yeast creates fermentation leaving carbon dioxide trapped in the Champagne bottle. The bottles are then stored for up to years at a time, undisturbed, allowing the flavor to develop. The longer the bottles remain in storage, the more thoroughly the carbon dioxide becomes incorporated into the wine, and the more slowly it will be released for the win as bubbles—assuming the bottle is opened correctly and poured into Champagne glasses.

Striving for Perfection
After the aging period, the Champagne bottles are taken from their resting place and inserted into large A-frame racks, call pupites, with the necks of the bottles pointing slightly downward. Many of the yeast cells at this stage are stuck to the inside of the bottle so the bottles must be manually turned over time to gradually coerce the sediments into the neck of the bottle. The final stage is to remove the sediment that is collected in the neck of the bottle and cork the Champagne bottle. The entire process has changed from an all-manual process to almost entirely automatic in many Champagne houses, as the producers continue striving for perfection in creating Champagne.

Champagne Houses
Most Champagne is made and sold by Champagne houses, and by far the most powerful of these is Moet & Chandon, which accounts for almost 25 percent of all export sales. The biggest and most famous houses are known as Grandes Marques or literally big brands. In 1882, three of the major Champagne houses formed the Syndicat des Grandes Marques and within a year, 19 other houses joined. By 1993 it was renamed the Club des Grandes Marques and was reorganized to include members who adhere to certain minimum quality standards.