World

Sparkling wine countries

Sparkling wine is made across Europe and in wine countries of the Americas, Africa and Oceania; this section covers 16 of them, from France, Italy and Spain to the United States, South Africa and Australia. The largest volume documented here is Prosecco DOC, with 667 million bottles in 2025.1

Europe

In Europe, appellations set grapes, method and minimum time on the lees.

CountryMain designationsOne documented fact
FranceChampagne, Crémant appellations, ancestral-method winesChampagne: 34,200 ha of vines2
ItalyProsecco, Franciacorta, Trento, Asti, LambruscoTrento DOC (1993): first Italian denomination only for bottle fermentation6
SpainCava, Clàssic Penedès, CorpinnatCava: 190,010,000 bottles sold in 20253
PortugalBairrada, Távora-VarosaBairrada DO espumante: bottle fermentation7
GermanySekt, Sekt b.A., Winzersekt281.5 million litres sold in 20254
AustriaSekt Austria, Reserve, Große Reserve36 months on lees for Große Reserve8
LuxembourgCrémant de Luxembourgrules since 19919
United KingdomEnglish, Welsh and Sussex PDOs69% of 2024 output sparkling5
HungarypezsgőTörley registered in 188210
Russiaигристое вино, российское шампанское300 kPa minimum pressure11
Georgiano national sparkling rules verifiedBagrationi founded 193712

Rest of the world

Outside Europe, rules come from national bodies or producers' associations, and in some countries a place name sets no production rules at all.

CountryMain designationsOne documented fact
United StatesAVAs (geography only)Chandon founded in Napa Valley in 197313
Argentinaespumante under INV rulesResolution C 110/1990 sets no lees minimum14
BrazilVale dos Vinhedos DODO since 2012, traditional method only15
South AfricaCap Classique12 months on lees per the association16
AustraliaTasmania41% of 2026 Tasmanian wine sparkling17

Three ways rules are set

  1. EU appellations. In EU countries a sparkling wine belongs to one of the EU categories and, if it has a PDO, follows a product specification. See EU categories.
  2. National law outside the EU. Russia defines sparkling wine and Russian champagne in Law 468-FZ;11 Argentina's INV regulates espumante;14 the United Kingdom protects its own PDOs.18,19
  3. Place names without method rules, or association rules. US AVAs describe geography only,20 and in South Africa the 12-month figure for Cap Classique is the producers' association's own.16

For a side-by-side view of lees minimums, see ageing minimums.

See also

ArgentinaRegionsAustraliaRegionsAustriaRegionsBrazilRegionsCanadaRegionsChileRegionsCzechiaRegionsFranceRegionsGeorgiaRegionsGermanyRegionsHungaryRegionsItalyRegionsJapanRegionsLuxembourgRegionsMoldovaRegionsNew ZealandRegionsPortugalRegionsRussiaRegionsSloveniaRegionsSouth AfricaRegionsSpainRegionsSwitzerlandRegionsUnited KingdomRegionsUruguayRegionsUnited StatesRegionsFranceRegionsItalyRegionsSpainRegionsGermanyRegionsUnited KingdomRegionsEU categories of sparkling wineMethodsMinimum ageing by appellationMethods

Sources

  1. Consorzio di Tutela della DOC Prosecco. Brochure IT 2025 (figures for 2025) (2026-06)
  2. Comité Champagne. Key figures fact sheet (data 2024) (2025-09)
  3. Consejo Regulador DO Cava. Resumen datos económicos 2025 DO Cava (2026)
  4. Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis). Excise duties: sparkling wine sold in 2025 (2026-03-18)
  5. WineGB Industry Report 2025 (summary page) (2025)
  6. Camera di Commercio di Trento (control body). Disciplinare di produzione DOC Trento (last amended 30.11.2011) (2011-11-30)
  7. Diário da República (via informador.pt). Portaria n.º 212/2014, de 14 de outubro - DO Bairrada (2014-10-14)
  8. Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS). Sektbezeichnungsverordnung, BGBl. II Nr. 30/2022 idF BGBl. II Nr. 191/2023 (consolidated) (2023-06-24)
  9. GOV.UK (Defra). Crémant de Luxembourg: protected food and drink names register (2021-03-10)
  10. Törley (official site). Company history
  11. zakonrf.info (reproduction of law text). Federal Law No. 468-FZ, Article 3 (consolidated, ред. от 29.12.2025) (2025-12-29)
  12. Bagrationi official site
  13. LVMH (parent group official site). Chandon California
  14. Argentina.gob.ar (Boletín Oficial). INV Resolución C 110/1990: normas para elaboración de champagne, vino espumante y cóctel de vino (1990-03-01)
  15. Embrapa Uva e Vinho (Infoteca-e). A viticultura na delimitação da Denominação de Origem Vale dos Vinhedos: cadastro vitícola georreferenciado (cap. 1), Mello & Machado
  16. Cap Classique Producers Association. Cap Classique 50 year celebration: About (2021)
  17. Wine Tasmania. Vintage 2026 report (2026)
  18. GOV.UK (Defra). English: protected food and drink names register (PDO) (2021-03-10)
  19. GOV.UK (Defra). Sussex: protected food and drink names register (PDO) (2022-07-05)
  20. eCFR (U.S. National Archives / TTB). 27 CFR 9.32 Los Carneros

Facts checked on 2026-10-19