Wycliff Brut Champagne

[Jerry D Mead]

The difference between champagne, Bordeaux, California, Napa and other place names, is that champagne has become an internationally generic term for sparkling wine.

In the same way that aspirin and linoleum (once both were brand names) lost brand rights due to common usage, so has champagne. And do you expect every Philly Cheesesteak to be shipped in from that Eastern city? Is every Weinerschnitzel made only in Wein (Vienna). And when one is in Paris and served a Cafe Americaine...do we expect it to be imported from the U.S.? And what about French fries?

When you see a sports figure being doused with bubbly...no one says..."Oh look! He's getting a Napa Valley Brut bath." You know what they say, no matter the origin of the wine.