When I moved to Europe, I learned that only Champagne can only come from France, but that every region has their own version. In America it's "sparkling wine," in Italy it's "prosecco", in Luxembourg and Germany it's "crement" (said Cray-mohnt.)

Only living here two years, I can already tell the difference between the "mineral-like" champagne and the fuller "sparkling wine". They taste different because they are grown and made differently. That's why I think the author did so well in the blind taste test. It was more an exercise of distinguishing one taste from another.

The real question is: which is better? In my opinion, that's going to be a personal preference. My wife and I prefer the Crement now. It's lighter than American and less "mineral" than Champagne. We'll be bringing a few cases back with us. But for a wine critic, a blind test is more of a palate test, not really a preference test. They are too influenced by tradition, marketing and their studies to be objective.

But I say for us lay people, it is not a bad idea to blind taste test a few different wines - varying in prices and reputation - to see if you really need to lay out the cash for a Latour, or if a no-name under $10 bottle of red will do just as well.