When one thinks of French products, what comes to mind? Often some defining characteristics of French culture are commodities such as wine, perfume, cheese, and other such items of taste, tradition, culture, and enjoyment. France, with over 57 million hectoliters produced in 2000, by far represents the world’s largest producer of wine and the world’s

A visit to two major sparkling wine producers, one in the Champagne region of France and the other in the Napa Valley of California, highlights the cultural differences between the two countries and reflects the tradition of France versus the innovation, profit, and temporariness of America. Two ‘chateaux’ were selected: the famous Veuve Clicquot champagne in France, and the French owned yet completely American Domaine Carneros by Taittinger in California. Both use the traditional ‘méthode champenoise,’ the method created and perfected by sparkling wine makers in the 19th century in Champagne. However, upon further examination, the processes used by these two winemakers are very different.

First, the history of the wineries and their buildings show very clear differentiation between the American style ‘champagne’ and the true champagne. The Clicquot winery was founded in 1772, and perfected by the widow Nicole Barbe Clicquot Ponsardin. In fact, it was Madame Clicquot who invented the remuage, or riddling process in 1816, which is now the standard process for removing sediments from all sparkling wines. This stands in stark contrast to Domaine Carneros, which was founded by Claude Taittinger, the French champagne maker, who finally completely his California project in 1989. When the Domaine Carneros ‘chateau’ was completed and sparkling wine production began, the building itself consisted of very few rooms for entertaining guests. Rather, three quarters of the building houses a gigantic modern factory, with enormous liquid cooled vats, monstrous riddling machines, cranes, tractors, and aging rooms with crated stacked 10 meters high.

The processes for creating the wines also clash greatly. The first difference clearly apparent in the methods of the two sparkling wine maker

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