If you ask me, EVERY DAY is a good day to drink Champagne. The official Champagne Bureau in France has designated October 19th as the Global Day of Champagne. It's really a marketing campaign started nine years ago, but if it makes more people stop, sip and savor then I am all for it.

All Champagne is considered a sparkling wine but not all sparkling wine is considered to be champagne. The French bureau says that designation can only be given to the bubbly made in the Champagne region of France. Domestic producers differ. You'll see the champagne name on sparkling wines from various states including Indiana, as Easley Winery makes a softly sweet bubbly called "American Champagne". There are pros and cons to both sides. I will leave the taste test up to you. As you do, here is one of my favorite odes to the elixir.

"Here's to champagne, the drink divine, that takes away our troubles. It's made from a dollars worth of wine and three dollars worth of bubbles."

I was delighted to spy both the pricey and the practical next to each other on a grocery store shelf. No excuse to NOT chill and swill a bottle on the 19th!