Oh, those irrestable lovely bubbles! Icon of joy!

Of course, sparkling wine isn't just champagne, and if it were, even champagne has quite a bit of diversity in style.

There are obviously many types of bubbly. Since sparkling wines were first introduced in the mid 1500's, several processes have been developed and each results in a sub-style of sparkling wine. The major production methods are the traditional and the tank methods, and apart from champagne, only produced in the champagne region in France, sparkling wines include Cava, Crémant, Lambrusco, Sekt, Franciacorta and the large range of bubbles from anywhere in the world. What do they have in common?

People tend to think its elite. When the French regent, Philip, Duke of Orléans, adopted champagne, it became a feature of his lavish parties. The hedonistic image of champagne continued into the 20th century as Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe, famously...