A sommelier's tips for buying champagne

Life's big celebrations -- weddings, graduations, and, of course, New Year's Eve -- will probably always call for crisp champagne.

But Geoffrey Fallon, sommelier at the restaurant Les Zygomates in Boston, says champagne need not be saved just for toast-worthy occasions. You can easily pair sparkling wine with everyday food -- from spicy Asian flavors to deviled eggs to French fries with mayonnaise, one of his favorites.

''People are starting to drink champagne more than just as a celebratory beverage," says Fallon, 33, who shared his insights into the bubbly libation on a recent visit to the restaurant where he has worked for five years.

As with most wines, origins are important. To properly be called ''champagne," the wine must come from the Champagne region of France. Many countries produce their own sparkling wines, such as Spanish cava and Italian prosecco. There are domestic sparkling varieties from wineries such as Gruet in New Mexico and Westport Rivers in Massachusetts, and some French champagne producers also have operations in the United States.

If you're picking up a bottle or two for this weekend's festivities, know your price range when you head into the store. Champagne generally starts around $30 to $35 a bottle. If you're on a tighter budget, cava, prosecco, and other sparkling wines, which can fall in the $10 to $15 range, are your best alternatives.

What makes champagne different may not be obvious to the untrained palette -- it has to do with things like climate, soil, and growing season, as well as the way the wine is aged, which produces what Fallon calls a bready flavor. He recommends other sparkling wines -- he says he tends to buy cava himself -- but believes the extra money for a bottle of champagne is worth it.

''You get what you pay for," he says.

The less expensive champagnes are usually nonvintage, meaning they are made from a blend of juices from several years. Vintage champagnes are more rare and more expensive, but Fallon says houses like Mumm, Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger, and Laurent Perrier make consistent nonvintage wines each year. Those bottles will generally sell for $35 to $50, he says.

It apparently is an investment that many Americans are willing to make. The Adams Beverage Group, which conducts market research on the alcoholic beverage industry, reports that Americans consumed $2.8 billion worth of champagne and sparkling wine in 2003, or nearly one bottle per drinking adult.

Fallon, who says his home is stocked with various wines no more than about $16 in price, likes to shop at the Wine and Cheese Cask in Somerville, which sells an array of champagnes and sparkling wines. He hosts weekly wine tastings at Les Zygomates, including a recent ''Champagne Shootout" where guests were asked to taste several sparkling wines and determine which one was not actually champagne.

The most expensive champagne on Fallon's wine list at the restaurant is a $300 Krug ros. The most popular with customers is the familiar Veuve Clicquot.

''They know the name; they're comfortable with it," he says.

Emily Shartin can be reached at eshartin@globe.com.