Sparkling Wine or Champagne?

12/29/2012 (Updated 10:43:54 PM)

Planning on popping some champagne this New Years Eve? Well it may not be champagne...
 
Wine experts tell us that champagne is technically sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. American wineries have used the name champagne even though it is just sparkling wine.  At Vestal wine & liquors, a bottle of Krystal champagne costs nearly $300, while the most popular domestic champagne-- Korbel-- costs just under $15.

"You add an extra shot of unfermented grape juice to the champagne after it's been fermented into wine, and then they put the cap on it and do the secondary fermentation which produces the carbonation," said Bill O'Connell, a wine expert at Vestal Wine & Liquor.

O'Connell says the difference in taste is based on where the wine is made and which grapes are used.



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