What is the difference between Champagne and other sparkling wine?

1 May 2024

Many of us enjoy a glass of sparkling wine, especially for a special occasion. But what is the difference between Champagne, sparkling wine made by the traditional method and much cheaper sparkling wines, such as Prosecco?

Not surprisingly, there are a number of differences between them.
All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne, even though there are people who will use the word ‘Champagne’ as a generic term to describe sparkling wine, especially when they are celebrating!

The really key thing about Champagne is that legally it can only be produced in the Champagne region of France, which is about 80 miles north-east of Paris. Sparkling wine produced outside this region will probably still be very good, but it cannot be called Champagne.

Champagne can legally be made from just three varieties of grape grown in this region – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. And it must be aged for a minimum of 18 months. Some Champagnes are aged in the bottle for up to 10 years before they are sold.

a row of vines in a vineyard with a blue sky in the background

The bubbles in Champagne come from the secondary fermentation process. The primary fermentation process converts the juice from the grapes to still wine. The still wine is then put into bottles, with a combination of sugar and yeast. That is where the magic happens, and the secondary fermentation process occurs. Carbonisation develops under high pressure, giving Champagne its characteristic fine, persistent bubbles.

Small bubbles are a sign of a high-quality wine. The best quality sparkling wines, including Champagne, will have a constant path of bubbles travelling from the bottom of the glass to the top.

A vintage Champagne is one where all the grapes were from one harvest. It will have the date it was made on the bottle. A non-vintage Champagne will have NV on the bottle and is made from grapes harvested over more than one year. Being non-vintage doesn’t mean it won’t taste as good!

A big difference between Champagne and the other sparkling wines is of course the price. Champagne is more expensive because the production process is more labour intensive. But it is also viewed as a luxury product, meaning people are willing to pay more for it.

Prosecco isn’t ‘cheap Champagne’. It is an entirely different wine, made in a different way. But, like Champagne, it is made in a specific geographical area – Veneto in the Valdobbiadene region of Italy. Although the growing popularity of Prosecco means this area has expanded significantly in recent years!

Prosecco is made with 80% Glera grapes. It is much lighter and sweeter than Champagne.

several bottles of three choirs wine are lined up on a table

The other big difference between Champagne and Prosecco is the way in which it is made. Prosecco is made using a more affordable method, called the tank method. The still wine is put in a large, stainless steel tank to ferment. The sugar and yeast are added to the tank, which causes the liquid to carbonate, so the wine is already sparkling when it is bottled.

Unlike Champagne, Prosecco is designed to consume young – not to ferment in the bottle for years. It has lighter, frothier bubbles, which don’t last as long as Champagne bubbles.

Other regions have their own sparkling wines, which all share some differences and some similarities with both Champagne and Prosecco.

Champagne isn’t the only French sparkling wine. Sparkling wine made outside the Champagne region is Cremant. Cremant uses the same production method as Champagne – sometimes called the ‘method champenoise’. Cremant’s secondary fermentation also takes place in the bottle, although it typically has less atmospheric pressure, so its bubbles lack the pop of Champagne.

Even though it uses the same process, Cremant is cheaper because it is made outside the Champagne region. Unlike Champagne, it is made from a much wider range of grapes, including Semillon, Sauvignon, Pinot Gris and Chenin Blanc.

Spain’s Cava is made in many different styles. It goes through the same production process as Champagne, but uses a wider variety of grapes, including Macabeo, Chardonnay, Trepat, Monastrell and Pinot Noir.

Sekt is the sparling wine of Austria and Germany. Like Prosecco, it is made using the tank method. And like Cava, it is made from a big range of grapes, including Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Elbling and Pinot Noir.

Is it possible to make English sparkling wine? It is! Here at Three Choirs Vineyard, we have our Classic Cuvee, which is a traditional bottle fermented English sparkling wine. Fermented at 16°c in stainless steel tanks, it is everything you would expect of a superior sparkling wine.

There are plenty of differences and plenty of similarities between Champagne, Prosecco and other sparkling wines. The good news is that the range gives wine drinkers a lot of choice, so you can choose the right wine for the particular occasion or your budget at the time. 

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Martin, the winemaker, stood in the winery at Three Choirs inspecting a glass of wine

Meet our Winemaker

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Martin Fowke is Three Choirs Vineyard’s winemaker. Now aged 62, he has been with us for over 40 years, having joined in 1984. He studied agriculture and horticulture at the Royal Agricultural College (now Royal Agricultural University) in Cirencester and went to Three Choirs for some work experience. Martin said he ‘fell into’ the industry. He met a girl, who he has now been happily married to for many years. Her father ran an apple and blackcurrant farm and planted a vineyard in 1973. Three Choirs Vineyard was born… He joined when the company was in its infancy and worked his way up quickly. Martin joked: “I was the only one who knew how to use a computer!” He left Three Choirs briefly in the 1980s to go travelling. On his travels, he went to the wine making regions of Australia, New Zealand and California and picked up some tips along the way. On his return to Gloucestershire in 1989, Martin took over the winemaking side of the business. Martin said: “I wasn’t officially trained, there wasn’t the training that is available to young people these days. I worked with my father in law and learned on the job. I had some very good teachers.” Our winemaker loves his job and says he has never looked back since those early days. English winemaking can be more challenging than in other parts of the world, but Martin’s experience means he’s seen it all before and can adapt and change as needed. He said: “Compared to the rest of the world, the English climate is traditionally less reliable. We have different challenges every year, which gives us the opportunity to do different things every year, and the grapes allow us to make lots of different wines. “Now England is considered a bona fide wine producing country. Climate change means we get more consistency with the weather and therefore the grapes and the wine. “Compared to the rest of the England, Three Choirs Vineyard has mild weather, with protection from the Welsh mountains, Cotswold hills and Malvern hills. We get good sunlight and relatively low rainfall. It’s ideal for vines!” Being a relatively small vineyard, Martin enjoys the opportunity to experiment, alongside producing the high quality wines our customers love. “We have a responsibility to produce consistent wines, but the beauty of what we do here is I also have the latitude to be able to experiment. We’re always trying new things and different things. “Our latest success is an orange wine. This is produced in different parts of the world, but not in England. “We’re always looking to change and develop. People’s tastes don’t stay still, and the market doesn’t stay still, so we’re always evolving.” Of all the wines we produce, does Martin have a favourite? “They’re like children – it’s impossible to choose just one! I’m proud of most of them. The newer wines that come on are always interesting. But the ones I hang my hat on are Bacchus and Siegerrebe.” After more than 40 years of winemaking in the Gloucestershire countryside, is Martin ready to move on? “I’ve got a very good team here, who make my life easier. We’ve got a good succession in place, but I don’t plan on retiring any time soon!”
A bunch of black grapes hanging from a grape vine in the summer sun

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Here at Three Choirs Vineyard, we are committed to being as sustainable as possible. However, the vineyard isn’t organic. We do believe it’s not possible to be fully organic in this country, but we do limit our use of pesticides to the absolute minimum. We probably use about a quarter of what we are legally allowed to use. One way we reduce our use of pesticides is by using foliar feeds made from seaweed extracts. Foliar feeds feed the vine directly through the leaf, allowing the vines to absorb essential elements quickly. The theory behind using these feeds is that, if we keep the vines healthy and strong, they will be better able to defend themselves from disease. In the UK, the biggest risk to vines isn’t from insects, it is from mildew. Mildew can slow down the growth of the vines and reduce both the quantity and quality of the grapes. It can also weaken the plants and make them more vulnerable to disease or insects. Grapes like cold weather in winter and warm, dry weather in the summer. But in this country, we have a lot damp, warm weather, which causes mildew to thrive. If we have a year like we had in 2024, there can be a lot of disease, which impacts our harvest. We don’t have any irrigation in the vineyard, so our water consumption is probably lower than you would expect for a business like ours. In fact, we don’t have a huge amount of water available, so we do have to be careful not to use too much. We use water sprays and pressure to clean out our tanks, which clean effectively using a lot less water than other cleaning methods. Glass production and transport uses a lot of energy. This can have a really negative impact on the wine industry’s sustainability, so it is important to us to use the lightest weight glass we can for our bottles. Thomas Shaw, managing director, said: “The problem is there’s a consumer reaction to the weight of a bottle. People pick up a light wine bottle and think it’s cheap, whereas we pick up a light bottle and say, ‘Isn’t that amazing?’” Although the bottles for sparkling wine are always thicker and heavier – they have to be to take the pressure of the secondary fermentation which takes place in the bottle and causes the bubbles.
A statue on top of a hill with a view of a city.

Exploring the Three Counties: Day trips from our vineyard

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There is nothing better than relaxing at our vineyard with a leisurely walk among the vines, a delicious lunch at our brasserie and a fun wine tasting session. But that’s not all there is to do here! Three Choirs Vineyard makes a great base to explore the Three Counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire. We’re located between Newent and Dymock in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, close to the borders of both Herefordshire and Worcestershire. If you enjoy walks in the countryside, you’ve come to the right place! The Malvern Hills are a half hour drive away and provide lots of walks of varying lengths with some fantastic views on a clear day. Or if you prefer your walks to be a bit flatter, there are plenty of options in the Forest of Dean. The circular 4.5-mile Sculpture Trail walk is perfect for working up an appetite. Or try the Cannop Ponds walk – just two miles and no stiles, talking in the ponds, a Forest Freemine and an unusual monument. Mallards Pike is one of the most scenic spots in the Forest of Dean and offers a variety of walking routes, as well as Go Ape for the most adventurous. You can also hire bikes at Pedalabikeaway Cycle Centre in Cannop Valley – the only mountain bike hire location in the Forest of Dean with direct access to all the mountain bike trails in the forest. Or for a more relaxing alternative, Dean Forest Railway runs steam trains on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sunday on a nine mile, 90-minute round trip with five stations along the way. We’re just 11 miles from Gloucester, with its historic cathedral and docks, as well as outlet shopping at Gloucester Quays and the new Gloucester Food Dock, with an array of independent local food and drink businesses offering something for everyone. And if you’re a rugby fan – why not catch a game at the legendary Kingsholm? Or stay on the A40 just a bit longer and head for Regency Cheltenham for shopping or its famous festivals – Jazz in May, Science in June, Music in July and Literature in October. And don’t forget racing at Cheltenham Racecourse if you enjoy a bit of a flutter! Closer to the vineyard, but only happening once a year is the Kempley Daffodil Weekend. Taking place in the middle of March, the weekend offers visitors daffodil teas, bacon butties, guided walks, the daff-and-ride bus and the main event of a glorious carpet of wild daffodils. And Dymock’s annual Daffodil Weekend and Spring Fayre takes place at a similar time (but not the same weekend) at Dymock parish hall. There is also the circular ‘Daffodil Way’ footpath covering around eight miles. The daffodils can be seen from the roads between Newent and Dymock in the spring and local maps showing the daffodil fields can be picked up from Kempley village hall. If you don’t mind a slightly longer drive, Hay-on-Wye is world renowned for books and bookshops, occupies a unique position on the border between England and Wales, and is a beautiful place to explore. The world famous, annual Hay Festival takes place at the end of May every year.
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