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 Everywhere around the world people will be celebrating the new year in
a way that includes a glass of bubbly. Sparkling wine has the great
ability to pair with almost any food and any event. When you are not
sure which wine to serve with dinner, reach for the sparkling wine and
you cannot go wrong. The wine grapes most commonly used in the
production of sparkling wine are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and/or Pinot
Meunier. I'm using the term "sparkling wine" and not Champagne because
all wine that has bubbles can be called sparkling wine, but not all
sparkling wine can be called Champagne. Almost all sparkling wine is
nonvintage, where multiple vintages are blended together to form a
house style wine.
To create wine that sparkles, a second fermentation
takes place in the bottle triggered by the addition of yeast and sugar.
The bottles then go through the process of riddling, where the bottles
are periodically turned, and disgorgement, where the dead yeast cells
are expelled before the bottles are topped off. This is called the
traditional method. You are left with a bottle of sparkling wine. I've
had the great opportunity to taste many of the following sparkling
wines in a recent wine class taught by Dr. Vino.
Here are my recommendations, which I hope will help you in choosing an excellent bottle of bubbly.
 Champagne
For
the so-called real thing, here is a bottle of Champagne. This
Chartogne-Taillet St. Anne brut is fresh and well balanced with the
aromas of brioche. It is 50% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot
Meunier. Brut is a term that means the wine contains less than 15 grams
of sugar per liter. Other common terms include extra dry, which is
slightly drier than brut; brut zéro, which is the driest; and sec or
demi-sec, which is sweet and semi-sweet respectively. This wine is of
interest because the estate is family run and the wine is produced on
site. Typically small estates sell their grapes to négociants (wine
merchants) who produce and bottle the wine for sale under their own
name.
 American Sparkling Wine
More
and more Champagne houses from France are opening vineyards in
California. This Roederer Estate Brut, from the House of Louis Roderer
in France, which also produces the rapper-favorite Cristal, is made in
the Anderson Valley. It is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Crisp
with the flavors of pear and nuts, this sparkling wine is just as good
as the real thing. You might even call it American Champagne, a name
that many American sparkling-wine producers are still allowed to use.
 Crémant
Sparkling
wine that is made outside of the Champagne region in France is called
Crémant. Some of the regions that specialize in crémant include Alsace,
Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Limoux. This Louis Bouillot Crémant de
Bourgogne brut rosé is a wonderful specimen of crémant and rosé with a
beautiful salmon color, raspberry aromas, and a dry finish. It is 65%
Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay, grape varieties most common to Burgundy.
Rosé is created by allowing the dark skins of the Pinot Noir grape to
come in contact with the juice for a short period of time after
pressing.
 Cava
The
Spanish name for sparkling wine is Cava, grown in areas around Spain
but mainly in the Penedès region in Catalonia. Originally called
Xampany before the European Union ruled that only sparkling wine from
the Champagne region of France could be called Champagne, Spanish
sparkling wine was rebranded Cava after the tradition of storing the
wine in caves. A prime example of an excellent Cava is this Juvé &
Camps brut rosé made from Pinot Noir grapes. It features aromas of
strawberry along with a crisp acidity and lively bite. It is one of my
favorites.
 Prosecco
Italian
sparkling wines include Asti, made from the Moscato Bianco grape in the
Piedmont region and Prosecco, made from the grape of the same name in
the Veneto region. Prosecco was popularized by Harry Cipriani of
Harry's Bar in Venice, where the Bellini cocktail was created using the
sparkling wine and white-peach purée. This Vincenzo Toffoli, as many
Prosecco wines, is characterized by crispness and aromas of apple and
pear. Prosecco is more often dry than sweet and is either fully
sparkling (spumante) or semi-sparkling (frizzante).
Joseph Erdos is a New York–based writer and editor, but
above all a gastronomer and oenophile. He shares his passion for food
on his blog, Gastronomer's Guide , which features unique recipes and restaurant reviews among many other musings on the all-encompassing topic of food.
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