You could buy Champagne, or for like half the price you could buy Crémant, made the same way from the same grapes grown just outside the Champagne region.

To almost anyone, they taste indistinguishable, and I've declared that subtlety bends toward classism. So why does Champagne command such a premium?

Branding, of course. In centuries past, Champagne became associated with royalty, a popular image for the emerging middle class. However, in the American spirit like early Webster promoting purpose over tradition, why would we pay more for association with such an anti-egalitarian concept as centuries-old royalty? Long live 22-buck Crémant!