Champagne 101

Champagnes from Dry to Sweet

• Brut: dry, less than 1.5% sugar
• Extra Sec: extra dry, 1.2 to 2% sugar
• Sec: medium sweet, 1.7 to 3.5% sugar
• Demi-Sec: sweet, 3.3 to 5% sugar (Served as a dessert champagne)
• Doux: very sweet, over 5% sugar (Served as a dessert champagne)

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Other Wines with Bubbles

Sparkling wines made by the same process can't be called Champagne unless they're made in their namesake French region.

Chardonnay and pinot noir grapes are the main varieties used to make Champagne, and they're grown all over the world; many regions produce fine sparkling wines that are somewhat less expensive and more widely available than French Champagne.

Italian Prosecco and Asti, Spanish Cava and German Sekt are all delicious varieties of sparkling wine.

Lindemans South Africa Merlot 2005

This wine shows a bright cherry red color and has nice "legs" after a good swirl in the glass. The nose offers blueberries and soft leather with a little vanilla hiding in the background. Taste gives plum, raspberries and some dark chocolate notes riding on the characteristic merlot softness and round mouth feel. Very good to drink. Tasty.

Invite the Crown Royal Family for the holidays

Crown Royal is proud to announce the latest members of the family. You know the original Crown Royal, the everyday luxury, and you probably know the Crown Royal Special Reserve in the gold box. But have you met the two new Royal family members?

Crown Royal Cask 16 is the very newest edition, in striking black tubes and black bags. A selection of Crown Royal's finest whiskeys, aged in cognac casks. This gives it a terrific fruity overtone with a nose of vanilla, spice and fruit.

Crown Royal XR Extra Rare is a limited release, in a sumptuous red box and lovely red inner bag. Crown Royal is bottling the last of the rare whiskeys from the old Waterloo Distillery, that has burned down, blended with the finest of the current stock. No more Waterloo whiskeys can be distilled, and once they are gone, there will be no more. We receive very limited shipments of Crown Royal XR. If you want to own one of these historic bottlings, don't wait too long!