Oh the holiday season! Everything is festive and bubbly and all the little lights are sparkling in the dark nights. Kind of puts you in the mood for a good sparkling wine, doesn’t it?

The very nature of the season; the celebrations, the parties and the get-togethers, offers many opportunities to break open a bottle of bubbly. But when you’re shopping, you shop your favorite wine shop or grocery store and you’re bombarded with many choices of sparkling wines, each with terminology that you may or may not be familiar with. How do you know what is the right bottle to buy?

The classic definition of a sparkling wine is any wine with a significant amount of carbon dioxide resulting in fizziness. The carbon dioxide can be a result of natural fermentation either in the bottle (Traditional method), in a large tank (Charmat process) or as a result of carbon dioxide injection.

Sparkling wines are typically white or rose but can be red as well, typically being made from the Shiraz grape.

Sparkling wines use terms to indicate their sweetness.

Brut Nature: no added sugar

Extra Brut: 0 – 6 grams per liter

Brut: 0 – 12 grams

Extra Dry: 12 – 17 grams

Dry (Sec): 17 – 32 grams

Demi-Sec: 32 – 50 grams

Doux or Dulce: more than 50 grams

Types of sparkling wine

Champagne is a term that is often used generically for all sparkling wines. The fact is, it is a name that is reserved for those wines that are produced specifically in the Champagne region of France. Traditionally, the grapes used for champagne are chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier and the Traditional method is used for the carbon dioxide. You may have encountered some Californian wines referred to as Champagne. U.S. regulations now ban the term “champagne” on any wines produced outside of Champagne. Since 2006, the “grandfathered labels” can only use the term if it appears next to the appellation, such as “California Champagne.”

Cava is the sparkling wine of Spain, most of which is produced in Catalonia. The traditional grape varieties are macabeu, parellada and xarel·lo but pinot noir and chardonnay can be used as well.

Asti or Asti Spumante, is a sparkling white Italian wine produced in the Piedmont region and made from the Moscato Bianco grape. It is typically low in alcohol and sweet. Asti gains its bubbles from the Charmat process.

Prosecco is another Italian sparkling white wine, but from the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. It is normally made from the Glera grape and usually a dry or extra dry wine.