Sparkling Wine for the New Year

There’s nothing as festive as the pop of a champagne cork.  But with the average price of good, non-vintage (grapes from many different years) champagne at more than $40 and the price of good vintage (grapes from the same harvest year) champagne much more, there’s not much reason for popping the cork.  After all, why would you want to celebrate the fact that buying the champagne took all your lunch money for a week?  And if you did spend that much, you certainly don’t want to pop the cork because when you do, lots of precious liquid will go with it!

You see, true champagne comes from the Champagne region of France.  It’s a small area with very labor-intensive methods.  As a result, Champagne is expensive to make and expensive to buy.  But it’s also wonderful.  At its best, it’s yeasty and tangy and full of tiny little bubbles that pop in your glass and in your mouth.  Many have tried to imitate it, but no one has succeeded in duplicating it.

Fortunately for those of us with Champagne tastes and beer budgets, many wonderful sparkling wine alternatives are now available in the United States.  In recent years, a number of American wine makers (many of whom are really Champagne makers who saw an opportunity in the United States) have learned to make terrific bubblies for a lot less money than their French counterparts.  They are certainly different, but I think they are just as interesting and often just as good.

It all started in the late 19^th Century, when the three Korbel brothers (who were all immigrants from Bohemia – the modern day Czech Republic) bought land in Sonoma County in Northern California.  Although they planted a variety of crops, their production of wine was by far the most successful of their ventures.  They quickly figured out that the climate of their region was very similar to the climate of Champagne.  Employing traditional Champagne methods (méthode champenoise, which refers to the complex and labor-intensive process by which true Champagne is made) they began producing award-winning sparkling wine.  (France – and most serious wine lovers – forbids the use of the word “champagne” to describe any wine made outside of the Champagne region.)

But American sparkling wine didn’t really compete on a world-class level until several Champagne houses bought land in Northern California and began experimenting in the 1970s.  The first of these is one of my favorite sparkling wines today.  Moet & Chandon purchased land in California’s wine country and established what is now known as Domaine Chandon.  The Domaine Chandon Brut California Classic NV is an excellent wine that is fairly consistent from year to year.  It is available locally for about $18. 

Shortly after Chandon, a number of other French wineries followed suit.  After a few years of trial and error, they began producing sparkling wines of exceptional quality and value from California.  Some of my favorites include Mumm Napa (the Brut Prestige NV just got top honors from the Wine Spectator magazine as the “Top Value” in sparkling wines and it can be found locally for about $19 – for a big event, I think it’s well worth the money!); Domaine Chandon; Piper Sonoma; and Roederer Estate.

This level of competition from the French was just what the American winemakers needed to challenge them.  They too began making world-class sparkling wines.  Some of these are an even better bargain than their French-American neighbors.  Perhaps the easiest to find of these is Domaine Ste Michelle of Washington State.  The last time I conducted a tasting of Champagne and sparkling wines, the Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut finished among the top three of ten wines for all of the tasters.  Although my favorite is the “Brut,” which is a fairly dry (i.e., not sweet) wine, Domaine Ste. Michelle makes at least three other types so there’s something for every preference.  The Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Blanc (which literally means white from white, signifying that the wine is white and made from white grapes) is crisp and a little spicy; the Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Noirs (white wine made from red grapes) has just a hint of sugar to it; and the Domaine Ste. Michelle Extra Dry (which contrarily means that it’s a relatively sweet wine) is thick and creamy with a toasty finish.  I have found all but the blanc de noirs at our local grocery stores for as low as $10.49.  (As a side note, Korbel isn’t a bad choice, but it’s about the same price as the much better Domaine Ste. Michelle.)

Now I recognize that even $10 is a little much for some to spend on one bottle of wine.  But when it comes to sparkling wine, spending a little more is well worth it.  Although you can find a $4 or $5 bottle of sparkling wine (think Cook’s or Tott’s), those wines are not even in the same league as the others I have described here.  The key is that instead of using the méthode champenoise, these winemakers use a much quicker, simpler process that is cheaper and less labor-intensive.  And, as with sewing or cooking or just about anything else, you usually reap what you sow.  In the case of Cook’s or Tott’s, this means simple, uninteresting and sometimes downright awful wines.  If you’re not sure, check the bottle – if it doesn’t say “méthode champenoise,” it’s probably not very good.  (Yes, if you make orange juice-heavy mimosas, you can probably get away with the Cook’s.  Please, just hide the bottle from me!)

So, go ahead and spend two days’ worth of lunch money and get yourself a bottle $10-$15 sparkling wine.  When you celebrate the New Year, you can also celebrate the fact that you have both a delicious wine and enough money for lunch for more than half the week!