Sparkling wine has long been associated with celebration. The ephemeral nature of the jewel-like bubbles seems to suit our ways of marking the passage of time or acknowledging a momentous occasion – and so it has been for several centuries. 

For years people have attributed the quote, “In victory you deserve champagne, in defeat you need it,” to Napoleon Bonaparte, but as far as we can tell, the true author of those words was Winston Churchill. Nonetheless, Napoleon would certainly have agreed, as Champagne purportedly became part of his daily drinking routine after his defeat and exile to the island of St. Helena. 

In the last 20 years, however, wine drinkers worldwide have come to realize just how versatile and delicious sparkling wines can be, and bubbly has begun to appear in all sorts of places, from brunch, to clubs, to cocktails and more. Sparkling wine isn’t just for weddings and New Year’s Eve anymore. 

Sparkling wine has proven to be so compelling in its pleasure that almost every major winemaking region in the world produces one. This means that there’s a whole universe of sparkling wine to explore outside of the well-trodden territories of Champagne and Prosecco. 

Come with me and I’ll lead you to some of the more exciting and unusual bubbling corners of the globe.

Continue reading this article at Coravin.Com

The folks over at Coravin asked me to write an article on sparkling wine in conjunction with their new sparkling wine device, which you can see in the photo up above. I haven’t gotten a chance to use it myself, but I had a lot of fun writing this piece about the sparkling wines that don’t get talked about every day.