"It has to be French to be called Champagne." Even those who don't drink wine have heard this. If that were the end of it, though, we could safely assume that if it's bubbly and French, it's Champagne.

Of course, that's not the case: There are plenty of French sparkling wines that come from other parts of the country. The Champenois do not grant them the rights to use their regional name; these wines are instead called Cremant de…Some Other Part of France.

Cremant d'Alsace, for example. A strip of land along the German border (in fact, it was part of Germany on more than one occasion during the 19th and 20th centuries), Alsace is one of France's smaller wine regions, and produces mostly white wine. It shares a few things in common with Champagne, most notably a cool climate, which is important in growing grapes with the high acid levels needed for making quality sparkling wine.

Both regions permit the planting and use of the chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot gris and pinot blanc grapes, but there are very, very few plantings of the latter two in Champagne. They flourish in Alsace however, and Pinot Blanc is the most commonly used grape for the region's sparkling wines. Riesling and Auxerrois can also make their way into the blend of a Cremant d'Alsace. The Binner Cremant d'Alsace 2004, for example, uses an unusual blend of Riesling, pinot gris and Auxerrois.

And it's delicious. It's a medium-bodied and quite aromatic wine, with notes of pear, quince and vanilla. It's also only $26 (good luck finding a comparably priced Champagne).

More than 500 producers make sparkling wine in Alsace, and almost one-fifth of the region's grapes become bubbly each vintage; but finding these wines will take a little effort. Total production of Cremant d'Alsace equals just 10% of Champagne's (or the equivalent of what Moët & Chandon produces each year, alone). In addition, only a small portion of the Cremant d'Alsace produced is exported; much is consumed locally, and a meal in Strasbourg or Colmar begins with a glass of Cremant almost by default (Muscat being the acceptable alternative).

The winemaking method in Alsace follows the same method as that of Champagne. But some of the specifics vary slightly--some to Alsace's advantage. To make a rosé bubbly there, for example, such as Lucien Albrecht's Rosé ($15), the wine can only be made by carefully bleeding pink juice from pinot noir grapes. A rosé Champagne can be made by blending some still red wine into a white base--which some consider cheating, and isn’t permitted in any other rosés across Europe, sparkling or still.

To be clear, Cremant d'Alsace isn't an exact duplicate of or substitute for Champagne. Typically a Cremant d'Alsace will be lighter than a Champagne, and it will likely have a distinct, baking-spice note. Weightier versions, with a significant touch of pinot gris in the blend, often have a honeyed aroma.

But the most important difference is that a Cremant d'Alsace can be had for less than $20. Perhaps that's why the people of Alsace find it so important to start the meal with a glass; it wouldn't be sensible not to.