Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it making it fizzy. The carbon dioxide may result from natural fermentation, either in a bottle, as with the méthode champenoise, in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures involved (as in the Charmat process), or as a result of carbon dioxide injection.

Champagne is the crème de la crème of Sparkling Wines and because of its prestige, many people assume that all sparkling wine is in fact Champagne. Although Sparkling Wine and Champagne are similar in nature, they are not, in fact, the same.