My inbox is overflowing these days with wine suggestions for Valentine’s Day — everything from Argentinian Malbec to moscato from Piedmont to sparkling shiraz from Australia. If it’s red or sweet or has bubbles, it must have been crafted expressly for this one day of the year when romance is in the air. No?
Actually, I have fairly simple tastes for Valentine’s Day. Simple as in straightforward, and perhaps a bit old-fashioned. I like fizz for me and my valentine. Good fizz.
Now, there are two types of good fizz in my humble opinion. There is Champagne, or its new world equivalent. And there is the kinda sweet, kinda frothy fizz that the Italians have perfected in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.
Champagne we all know, or wish we knew. It is so delicious, so sophisticated, so elegant that after every sip we vow to drink more of the stuff in the future. Yet it seems to come out only for weddings, New Year’s Eve and, of course, Valentine’s Day.
It’s so expensive, you say? That may be, but the new world equivalents are purchased and consumed for exactly the same reasons even though they are often half the price and sometimes just as good.
So now that you know the path to my heart is paved with fine bubbles, you only need the names of a few favorite Champagnes to make my V Day: I will not turn up my nose at anything from Pol Roger, to my palate the personification of elegance in Champagne; either the Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve or Blanc des Millenaires would likely inspire multiple cartwheels; and if you are feeling flush, I can always muscle through a bottle of Gosset, Taittinger or Dom (any Dom, Perignon or Ruinart, will do).
The best of our domestic bubblies also have been known to stoke the passions. Domaine Carneros by Taittinger, either the prestige cuvee, Le Reve Blanc de Blancs, or the superb brut rose, Cuvee de la Pompadour, are among the finest sparkling wines made outside of France’s Champagne district; Iron Horse, Gloria Ferrer and J, all from Sonoma County, can dazzle as well; and the Napa Valley’s Schramsberg is the towering pioneer of sparkling wine in America.
What I won’t do with any of these bubblies, however, is to buy into the big lie of every Valentine’s Day I can remember: The blissful pairing of Champagne and chocolate. Sorry, it just doesn’t work.
With chocolate, I turn to the other good fizz. That would be the frothy, slightly sweet, low-alcohol Brachetto d’Acqui from Italy. The luscious raspberry and strawberry flavors may well be the perfect pairing with chocolate, and these wines are sweet enough that they won’t clash with a slice of chocolate cake or a truffle.
Rosa Regale is my brachetto of choice, and probably the easiest to find, but I must admit I’ve never had a bad brachetto.
Now you may still opt for a merlot or a Malbec, and you should indeed drink what you like on the big day. As for me, I am sticking with the bubbly, for it is truly the wine of woo.
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