This year, Christmas and New Year's Eve will be very different from the others. Travel bans due to coronavirus measures and the limitation on the number of people that can be gathered in homes, leave us away from loved ones.

However, this does not mean that we can not add quality and elegance to our festive tables this year! And the question that arises is one: Should we buy a champagne or a sparkling wine? Before you decide, it's good to know exactly what the differences are.


The champagne

Both are carbonated wines, which contain carbon dioxide bubbles. However, champagne is a designation of origin, as it is a wine that comes from the French region of Campania. This name is directly associated with the long tradition and high quality in winemaking.

Champagnes made by the traditional Campania method, in addition to the initial fermentation process in the tank, also go through a second process, called Methode Champenoise where carbon dioxide is created during secondary fermentation in the bottle. In fact, the more expensive champagnes mature for a long time, in individual bottles, before being opened.


Sparkling wines

The traditional Methode Champenoise method is applied outside France, for example in Italy, the USA, and even in Greece, but in this case the result, even if it is of high quality, can not be described as champagne but is again called "sparkling wine". ».

For example, the Greek Sparkling wines of the Tselepos winery in Arcadia under the label Amalia Brut or Karanikas in Northern Greece, although produced by the traditional method of Campania, should not be called champagnes but sparkling wines.

Respectively we have as we all know Prosecco is a sparkling wine that originates from the Veneto region of northeastern Italy, like many Greek sparkling wines, not produced by the traditional method but what we call the closed tank method.

Prosecco is mainly produced from Prosecco or glera grapes, while its second fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks, with a method known as the Charmat Method.

Of course, in recent years Greek winemakers produce many quality sparkling wines with this method. So, for these holidays, perhaps the best choice would be to choose a bottle of sparkling wine from our place!