Common name for a quality sparkling wine, especially in German-speaking countries. According to EU regulations, these must have a carbon dioxide pressure of at least 3 bar. There are many country-specific names for the sparkling beverage, but only two of them are protected by origin. These are Champagne for products produced exclusively in the Champagne region of France and Cava in Spain. Other non-proprietary names are Crémant (in France outside Champagne) and Spumante (in Italy), which are also used in other countries. Sparkling or sparkling wines of lower quality are called semi-sparkling wine, which also has many country-specific names. A list of all designations can be found in the keyword sparkling wine.
Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi