Chances are good that sometime over the next month or so someone will put a glass of bubbly in your hand and offer up a “Champagne” toast.
What’s in the glass might be Champagne, or maybe not. No matter, it’s all good. ‘Tis the season, after all. What’s important is the festive spirit inspired by sparkling wines served during the holiday season. It’s a popular tradition to be sure. It is estimated that more than half of all sparkling wine sold in the United States is consumed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
Before you dive in, however, know that sparkling wine is produced in an array of styles.
The easiest and friendliest bubbly is prosecco, produced in northeastern Italy. Most prosecco is made in bulk and is light and fruity as well as friendly to those on a tighter budget. At one time most prosecco was slightly sweet, but in recent years the drier brut style has grown in popularity. Good prosecco ranges in price from $15 to $25. Chloe, Martini & Rossi and La Marca are reliable producers. Prosecco makes a superb aperitif and is good with salty snacks.
Cremant is the name for sparkling wines made in specific regions of France other than Champagne. It tends to be fruity, like prosecco, and easy to drink as well as friendly to the wallet. Excellent cremant is generally made in the brut style. Alsace, Burgundy, Limoux (in the south of France, where the first sparkling wines were made) and the Loire Valley all produce top-notch cremant that ranges in price from $17 to $28. JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset, Pierre Sparr, Lucien Albrecht and Gustave Lorentz are cremant producers you can trust.
Spanish cava would be next in the sparkling wine hierarchy. Though not as widely distributed, nor as popular, in the U.S., cava delivers a drier style and generally more structure than prosecco or cremant. It’s also a bit more expensive, with excellent brands such as Pere Ventura and Anna de Codorniu fetching upwards of $40 a bottle. Princess, in the $20 range, is an excellent alternative at a more attractive price. Cava, like prosecco, is an excellent aperitif but also a good match with steamed shellfish, raw oysters or traditional Spanish tapas.
New World bubbly is yet another notch higher in the pecking order of sparkling wine. Excellent bubblies are made in Argentina, Australia and the United States. With apologies to the very good fizz produced in New York and Washington, the best of these are made in California. These wines are made in the traditional method of Champagne, with the second fermentation (the one that creates the bubbles) in the bottle. They also receive significant aging, though generally not as much as top-notch Champagne.
Schramsberg, located in the Napa Valley, started it all a half-century ago and is still going strong. Roederer Estate in the Anderson Valley is another exceptional producer. Reliable names you can trust include Domaine Carneros by Taittinger, Domaine Chandon, Mumm Napa Valley, Gloria Ferrer, J Vineyards and Iron Horse. All are first-rate and can stand up to the finest Champagne in a blind tasting. Their best bubblies retail for as much as $100 a bottle, but their non-vintage cuvee wines are excellent value in the $25 to $45 range.
California and Washington also produce very good inexpensive bubbly. Those include Korbel and Barefoot Bubbly (California) and Chateau Ste. Michelle (Washington). Prices for these wines range from $9 to $20.
On a par with California’s finest, and perhaps closer to Champagne in style, is the sparkling wine of northern Italy from the Franciacorta and Trento regions. Ca’ del Bosco, Bellavista and Antinori (Franciacorta) and Ferrari (Trento) all produce wines that rival in quality the top bubblies from California and present a serious challenge to Champagne’s position at the top of the quality/prestige pyramid. Their finest wines retail for about $100 and vintage bubblies typically fetch $60 and up.
Champagne, of course, is numero uno. Champagne sets the bar very high. Why else would the default term for all sparkling wine be “Champagne?” The Champenoise chafe at the use of the word Champagne to identify any bubbly other than Champagne that is produced within the official boundaries of Champagne, but it’s a compliment in many ways and an acknowledgement that Champagne is the standard by which all bubblies are judged.
The finest Champagne has a rare combination of firm structure and creamy texture, with complexity and power that is unparalleled. This is due in part to the chalky soils of Champagne, but also to the extensive use of “reserve” wines from exceptional vintages that are used to maintain high quality in off years. You can never go wrong with a bottle of Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Roederer, Taittinger, Charles Heidsieck, Krug, Perrier-Jouet, Billecart-Salmon or Pol Roger, just to name a few. Prices from these producers will range from $50 to more than $300 a bottle.
Follow Robert on Twitter at @wineguru.
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