Notice that I did not say "sparkling wine" but "champagne," which comes from that eponymous region 100 miles east of Paris.

There are great sparkling wines from every corner of the planet up to and including, get this, New Mexico, the home of Gruet Vineyards. In 1947, aliens landed in Roswell, N.M., and founded the first winery to produce sparkling wine in the New World using traditional chardonnay and pinot noir grapes.

Not really. The Gruet wines are great but they are not champagne, and that is my point. I hate to be a chauvinist, but French wines have a certain elusive quality that sparking wines produced anywhere else do not have.

Champagne can be confusing to buy. Here are some facts that might help you pick out what you want.

All champagne is made up of three grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meuniere. If the wine is called blanc de blanc, it is all chardonnay and will usually be drier and more acidic. If it is called blanc de noir, it is all pinot noir, slightly pink and will be full-bodied and richer.

Rose champagne is not like American pink wine; it's not the stuff that did not make it into the good bottles. It's the great stuff they held back to make into their best bottles.

If you like your champagne very dry, then you need to look for the word brut. The degree of sweetness descends from extra sec or extra dry, sec, demi-sec to the sweetest, doux.

As long as you are looking at the label, look for the words "methode champagnoise." This means that the wine was fermented in the same bottle that you are holding and treated very carefully. It also means it was not made in a gigantic vat like a Mattel toy car from Beijing.

Most champagne is blended from grapes that are picked over several vintages to ensure a consistent style. In the years the producers perceive as exceptional, they will produce a vintage champagne that is apt to have a more distinct personality, might age a little longer and, unfortunately, be more expensive.

Remember, I warned you at the beginning of the article that this might get costly. Those bottles will have a year on the label.

Most champagne houses produce a "tete de cuvee" meaning "top of the production" wines. Dom Perignon and Cristal, rapper Jay-Z's favorite, are the best know examples.

If you can find an employer as generous as I have, or a good neighbor like my buddy David up the street, you might get a chance to try these wines. And with one sip, you will be convinced what all the fuss is about.

Short of that, most stores in town carry Louis Roederer Brut, an excellent nonvintage champagne that will make you a believer.

• John DeCherney can be contacted at wine@acsalaska.net.