Bubbles

Happy 2018 everyone! Did you have some sort of bubbles to celebrate the New Year? Did you have champagne, you know the actual French stuff from the Champagne region of France, or did you have sparkling wine from somewhere else and just call it champagne because saying “sparkling wine” takes too much time and just seems like a stupid waste of time? Or maybe you were being smart with your pocketbook and decided to have delicious but less expensive prosecco or cava. Whatever you had, in my opinion, you made a great choice. The more I learn about wine the more I hear that some sort of sparkling wine is a great choice for just about any meal, and I completely agree. You don’t really even need to know what the difference between the various types of sparkling wine is but just a little knowledge goes a long way so here is a simple little primer on sparkling wine. Keep in mind this is a very basic introduction, but it should be enough to get you started.

I’m going to start with champagne because it is still probably the best known of the sparklers. Champagne is made using the traditional method of production. It means that there are two fermentations. A still wine (you know, your general bottle of chardonnay, for example) is made and that is where the first fermentation occurs. The maker will then blend the still wine to achieve a certain style. Once the blending is done, a second fermentation takes place in the bottle and this is what gives the wine its sparkle. This second fermentation also contributes to the yeasty flavor you get in champagne because the wine sits on the yeast (known as the lees) and the yeast breaks down and gives off the bready, toasty flavor. Eventually, the yeast is removed from the bottle and the bottle is corked and the cage is added to help the cork remain in place despite the extreme pressure in the bottle.

Champagne is not the only sparkling wine made using the traditional method. Cava, from Spain, is also made this way, but different grapes are used. Cava is often less expensive and is a terrific alternative to the more expensive champagne. There might be some yeastiness, but cava generally is ready to drink as soon as it is released from the winery and there is usually not as much aging as you would find with champagne.

Next we have prosecco, the Italian version of sparkling wine. Prosecco is not produced using the traditional method, however, it is produced by the tank method. There is a second fermentation in the tank method but because the wine is not left on the lees, this sparkling wine does not have the characteristic yeastiness found in champagne, and to a lesser extent in cava. Basically, in the tank method, the still wine is fermented in a tank, then yeast is added to the tank and the second fermentation takes place in the tank. The wine is then filtered to remove the yeast. Prosecco is primarily made in Northeastern Italy.

One last point to keep in mind when purchasing sparkling wines is the level of residual sugar in the wine that makes it either sweet or dry. If you prefer to have very little sweetness, go for a BRUT NATURE sparkling wine. If you prefer a little more sweetness, look for EXTRA BRUT. Next in line is BRUT (this is the most produced style so easiest to find), then EXTRA-SEC, followed by SEC, then DEMI-SEC, each getting progressively sweeter.

There are a number of good American made sparkling wines as well, so look around for those when you are out looking for some bubbles. When I last checked Korbel was the best selling sparkling wine in the US. It comes out of California and costs around $12 or so, per bottle. One of my favorite sparkling wines is made by Domaine Ste. Michelle out of Washington state. It isn’t available throughout the US but it is becoming more widespread, so hopefully you can try it out sometime.

Do you like sparkling wine?? Do you save it for special occasions or drink it just anytime? The way I look at it is that anytime I have bubbles it’s a special occasion!