Not all good pizza is Italian, and not all great bubbly wine is Champagne. Here’s the rest of the world’s take on enlivened libations…

The french may have done well in their attempt to appropriate fashion, photography and fried potatoes as their own, but no one said they had a lock on bubbles—not that they haven’t tried. Look at most menus and you’ll note that “Champagne” is the only sparkling wine on offer. What a shame. Spain, Italy, the good ol’ U.S. of A. and a few others all offer festive pours fit for celebrating any top occasion, whether it’s a wedding, Presidential inauguration or even an 80th birthday.

To earn the C-word, the bubbly must come from the Champagne region of France. To be an authentic sparkling party in a bottle, the drink need only consist of a few blended wines fermented a second time. Thick bottles trap the CO2 released during the second fermentation and, as the French would say, voilà! Bubbly fun, whatever you want to call it. While France has a few non-Champagne sparklers of its own (Cremant and Blanquette come to mind, the latter of which predates Champagne proper), we think it’s high time to take a look at effervescent potions not acquainted with rude waiters and blurry art. Here are a few of our favourites:

Cava

“Olé!” Or at least that’s what we like to shout when we uncork this Spanish version of a bottled fiesta. Primarily produced in Catalonia using Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo grapes, the word “Cava” literally means “cave” and originally stems from a Greek word referring to fine, or cellared, wine. In Spain, Cavas are popular at baptisms (the newborn even gets a taste, when the pacifier is dipped in the wine), but they’re also appropriate for pretty much any festive occasion.

We certainly enjoyed the Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad from Penedès. Retailing for near $25 per bottle, this may be the best value in sparkling wine ever.

Excellent, mellow and perfumed, the wine has available depth. Its presentation is exquisite, in a hand-blown bottle with a crest and metal base. We can’t understand the low price but we’re not complaining. Quite simply, superb, all things considered.

Freixenet makes some of the most available Cavas distributed in the U.S., with their Elyssia Gran Cuvée Brut a modern expression of the genre. Adding Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to the traditional mix, you’ll find nuts, citrus, honey and melon all lifting the spicy finish to a pleasant result for less than $20.

Their black-bottled and self-titled product is available almost everywhere for less than $10—don’t let your guests sneer; this is the Champagne equivalent of a decent table wine.

While Cava is really best known for its value for money—solid bubbles at solid prices—there is also a top end in the category. Not well known and not readily available it is still worth seeking out Cavas from producers Gramona and Sumarroca whose ranges compare favorably with top end Champagnes, but again at more realistic ($30-60) price levels.

Another prestigious Cava label is Raventos i Blanc. We happily sampled a bottle of their Blanc Elisabet. The winery was founded in 1986 by Josep-Maria Raventos, a member of the Codorníu family (the name on one of the world’s biggest selling Cavas) without irony on the principal of only by being small can you guarantee the highest quality. Today the wines orginate from approximately 300 acres of vineyards with a high percentage of chalk in the soil (like Champagne) and are the only Cavas that are both estate grown and estate bottled. The stature of the wines can be measured by the fact that they are available in 3 star Michelin restaurants, such as Arzak, and indeed in the world’s greatest restaurant, El Bulli. We found the Elisabet surprisingly dark in color and showing a soft opulent nose of cream and honey, although quite dry. Once in the mouth it really shows itself as a big wine with plenty of fruit and minerals and with a classic clean Cava lemon finish. At $40 a bottle we are not alone when we rate it higher than certain $100 Champagne brands.

Prosecco

To say that the Italians know how to party may be the greatest understatement of all time. Accordingly, there’s no way the bel paese was going to let France dictate the bottled terms of their festivities. Ciao Prosecco. Traditionally made of the white grape grown in Veneto known by the same name as the wine it creates, this beauty not only complements the Sunday Bellini, it makes a fine pour any day of the week.

We like Ruggeri’s Quartese Prosecco, which adds a slight green tint to its golden apple and floral taste.

Great with fish and shellfish, it also works as an aperitif for less than $25. Che bella. There’s also the San Fermo Prosecco Brut from Bellenda. Made from Prosecco grapes grown on the hills of Conegliano, this massive bouquet of an aperitif also works with seafood. Best served chilled, smooth and easy for less than $20.

American Sparkling

Korbel. Need we say more? Perhaps, because there are a few domestic producers of excellent sparkly. But Korbel has something on all of them: It’s what new presidents drink after they’re sworn in. No kidding! Despite a rather bold suggestion of its French origins in the moniker, a version of Korbel’s Natural Cuvée has been the inaugural drink of choice since Ronald Reagan took the oath in 1985. Barack Obama himself supped this American sparkler after assuming office, and it’s no wonder.  The wine is a perfect expression of dry bubbly beauty—and at near $15 a bottle, you could fill all the glasses in the room and still have enough to bail out an auto company.

If you’re a true non-political patriot, Schramsberg is the way to go. “America’s First House of Sparkling Wine,” Robert Louis Stevenson himself sampled and praised offerings from this 19th century vineyard. We like the J.Schram Brut Rosé at near $90, the best expression of the best selections from the family’s 80 cool-climate vineyard sites aged for seven years in their historic caves (following secondary fermentation). Next to the family’s J.Schram label, this may be the best bubbly America has to offer.

Other

Bubbles pop around the world, as evidenced by sparkling variations from Australia, Austria and Russia. The land down under rises to the occasion with Jansz Tasmania’s Premium NV Cuvée at approximately $20 per bottle. A mix of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, this handcrafted pour offers a bit more bite than its contemporary equivalents. Also, as unique as they come, Australia’s Shingleback Vineyard offers McLaren Vale Black Bubbles Sparkling Shiraz, fantastically interesting at $25 per bottle.

Further afield than the above offerings, look for Sekt from Austria and Germany, an incredibly refreshing bubbly often made from dry Riesling, popularized in recent years. It can also involve Chardonnay and Pinot in almost every way it comes—Blanc, Gris and Noir.

England offers a few effervescent options from Nyetimber, Chapel Down and Ridgeview, though the Brits won’t readily admit it for some reason and it’s not easy to find. In contrast, the Russians are proud to

tout Shampanskoe, which actually has a great tradition. Roederer’s sweet and famous “Cristal” Champagne was created as a gift to Czar Alexander II (other Champagnes bound for Russia also tended to leave more sugar in the bottle).  When Communism fell and Russia’s economy went with it, Cristal was out of reach for most Sovietskoe. Enter Shamponskoe, a Russian domestic product that offered a fantastically approachable and imminently celebratory option for Eastern Bloc revelers. Surviving today, brands such as Stolychny and Odessa Sparkling Wines offer a unique and vibrant product born of a rather drab and flat history. If nothing else, Shampanskoe shows that while Russian troops couldn’t hold Reims and Epernay after chasing Napoleon west in the early 1800s, they at least came home with a translatable treasure.

Champagne or no, the vast array of available bubbly libations provethat on any tongue and in any language, a bit of fizz can bring a smile.