Why is French champagne celebrated for it's excellence?

Because it's fermented in the bottle and vintage dated.

Technically there is nothing stopping anyone from calling anything by any name except for ephemeral "laws".

If I have a bottle of California Sparkling Wine and I call it "champagne" and you understood what I meant, then the proof is in the effectiveness of the communication.

I suppose it depends if you are a connotative or denotative linguist.

It's like calling every cigar "Havana" or "Cuban" even if they aren't from Cuba. At best, you merely lose the information provided by "Cuban" or "Havana" now, at worst you're misleading people.

America didn't ratify the treaty of versailles so Paul Masson could get away with calling their sparkling wine Champagne

I found some cheap Paul Masson wines in my parents basement. Yet it's a sampler pack. They're more like jars than bottles. One of them looks really wonky. Not sure if they keep like those in bottles.

Well that's true, it depends on the importance of the specific characteristics of the object.
And lets assume that for the topic of conversation those characteristics are vital to the discussion.
Fair enough, you've convinced me.

>I suppose it depends if you are a connotative or denotative linguist.

Subtle antagonism.

MWWAAAH

>Technically there is nothing stopping anyone from calling anything by any name except for ephemeral "laws".
Or something called "logic," don't know if you ever heard of it.

spumante > champagne