One reason for the trip to Champagne was to reinforce the writers’ knowledge that Champagne comes only from Champagne.  Many wine makers in other places used to call their wines “champagne,” just as they called red wines “burgundy” and white “chablis” even though none had anything to do with those regions of France, and most didn’t even use any of the same grapes used in their homeland.

This is a sore point for Champagne producers, and they’ve persuaded most of the world to call their own sparkling wines by other names. That’s true, for example, of all of the highest quality U.S. bubbly, but amazingly, more than half of the sparkling wine sold in the United States is labeled “California champagne.”

It’s mostly Tott’s and Andre, two low-end wines, plus the wines of Korbel, including some pretty good wines. Other U.S. producers have educated curious consumers that “sparkling wine” from the U.S. is likely of better quality than “champagne,” but the prickly owner of Korbel, Gary Heck, stands by his grandfathered legal rights and has said, “Consumers in the Midwest think sparkling wine is just wine carbonated like Coca Cola.”

This trip to Champagne came at a challenging time for the wine region. Sales of Champagne, like many premium wines, have been hard hit by the economy’s travails, and sales are off significantly, perhaps 25 percent.

Local producers, however, aren’t bound by U.S. antitrust rules, so their local association has restricted current production.

That’s not unusual. Every year, Champagne producers, like good squirrels, hold back some of their wine for future use, both in case of shortages and to blend the wines for consistency. Most Champagne sold is nonvintage, and for good reason. The Champagne region is close to the northern limit of suitable climate for wine grapes, and some years are better than others, though global warming is definitely occurring there and changing things.

This marginal climate, as well as the region’s chalky soil and growing and winemaking traditions, do make Champagne unique. Excellent sparkling wines from other places, like California, Michigan and New York, can be made with the same grapes and with similar techniques, but they simply don’t taste the same — or have the same cachet.

Ironically, at the same time they’re restricting production, the Champagne region is taking a long-term look at its vineyards. Until this year, sales have been robust and growing, and in anticipation of this condition returning, the region is evaluating potential growing areas in the overall Champagne-Ardenne region to see if some are suitable for growing grapes for Champagne — or if some currently planted might not really be suitable. They’ve conducted such evaluations in the past — always contentious processes;  being excluded or included makes huge difference to the growers, as Champagne is one of the world’s most lucrative wines.