Wine Sparkles Best With Food
This article contains two parts. The first is about sparkling wines in general and the second is about sparkling wines from California, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia and France.
We drink more sparkling wine between Thanksgiving and New Year's than the rest of the year combined. That's a shame because sparkling wine (it should only be called Champagne when it comes from the region of the same name in northern France) is a delight any time. It makes the absolute best aperitif. It's great when mixed with orange juice for mimosas with Sunday brunch.
You can also mix sparkling wine (Italian Prosecco was used in the original version created in Harry's Bar in Venice) with peach nectar for a Bellini. I recently made a variation on the Bellini using mango nectar instead of peach. We call it the Gugini.
Sparkling wine can also be drunk throughout the meal. A few months ago, I attended a luncheon at Quilty's restaurant in New York, where the meal was paired with wines from Schramsberg Vineyards and Cellars. Schramsberg, located in the Napa Valley, is one of America's most venerable sparkling wine producers and this luncheon certainly proved it deserves that reputation.
Matching wines and food can be tricky. As with still (ie, without bubbles) wine, a meal with sparkling wines should start with lighter wines, progress to heavier wines, and end with sweetish wines for dessert. The Schramsberg 1997 Brut Rose Vintage Cuvee de Pinot showed amazing fruit and wonderful texture. But I didn't think it was a good match for the warm lobster with oxtail dumplings. It would have been better with the Asian influenced second course, panko-fried quail with blackberry and lemongrass salsa. (Panko is Japanese bread crumbs.)
The 1997 Blanc de Blancs, which was served with the quail, was delicate and fine (though not as good as the Rose). But it didn't have the Rose's generous fruit, which would have matched up better with the salsa. The rich Schramsberg 1993 Reserve Vintage was right on with roasted King Salmon, served with caramelized fennel risotto and sea urchin vinaigrette.
Schramsberg sparkling wines aren't cheap, but they re not expensive when
compared with French Champagnes. The 1997 Blanc de Blancs is $28, about what
you'd pay for a low-to-mid-level non vintage Champagne. The 1997 Brut Rose
is about the same. The 1993 Reserve is $43, less
than what you'd pay for similar French vintages. So stock up and enjoy all
year long!
A final note about Quilty's. Chef Katy Sparks food was some of the best I've had in New York. She has an amazing ability to blend flavors without creating a final product that is unsettling or overbearing. The quail dish was a good example. With many chefs, combining Asian and non-Asian ingredients creates not fusion, as many call it, but confusion. Sparks uses Asian flavors to influence her dishes, not overpower them. The result is food that has complexity and balance, and above all, great taste.
Sparkling Wines from
California, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia & France
All that glitters is not gold and all that sparkles is not Champagne. Despite the American penchant for calling all wine with bubbles Champagne, the only kind of sparkling wine that has a right to call itself Champagne is stuff that comes from the region of the same name in northern France.
Does that mean the only good sparkling wine comes from the Champagne region?
Not at all. Many good sparkling wines come from Italy, Spain, Germany, the
United States, and other areas of France.
California
Several French Champagne houses have California sparkling wine operations. And they’re no weak sisters, either. In fact, many think the non-vintage California wines may be as good as or better than non-vintage French Champagnes, and certainly they are better values at $12 to $18.
As with their French counterparts, the California sparkling wine wineries are in cooler climates (Sonoma and Mendocino counties) and use the same grapes, primarily pinot noir and chardonnay with some pinot meunier. This produces a richer taste than sparkling wines made from grapes in other countries. The richest wines have the highest percentage of red pinot noir. All chardonnay sparklers, called blanc de blanc are the lightest. The 1992 Domaine Carneros Le Reve is an elegant California blanc de blanc from the house of Taittinger. Domaine Chandon’s Blanc de Noir, made from pinot noir, is a consistently good full-flavored sparkling wine from Moet & Chandon. Maybe the best California sparkling wine of all is Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley NV.
But you don’t have to have French parentage to make good value sparkling wine in California. Also look for Korbel, S. Anderson, Gloria Ferrer, Iron Horse, Jepson, and Scharffenberger (now owned by Moet). And beyond California, there is Washington state, particularly Domaine St. Michelle Brut from the wine juggernaut Chateau St. Michelle and Gruet Brut New Mexico NV (yes, New Mexico).
Spain
Spain is the largest consumer of sparkling wine in the world and it’s hard to beat producers such as Freixenet, Codorniu, and Paul Cheneau on price, which is rarely more than $10. Spanish sparkling wine, called "cava" after the word for cellar, is made in Penedes in northeast Spain. Cavas are made in the French style, called "metodo classico," a reformation of "methode champenoise," a French term now illegal under European Community rules unless the wine comes from Champagne. "Metodo classico" means that the second fermentation—which produces the bubbles—takes place in the bottle. Traditionally, cavas were made from native grapes such as macabeo, parellada, and xarello, but more wineries are switching over to chardonnay to achieve a more universal—and thus less distinctive—taste. Spanish cavas are generally light, crisp and very refreshing, but not terribly interesting, though there are some exceptions such as Fleur de Nuit and SeguraViudas.
Italy
In Italy the name of the game is prosecco, a sparkling wine made from the grape of the same name in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. The best proseccos such as Rustico by Nino Franco and Venegazzù Prosecco Brut di Valdobbiadene nv from count piero loredan gasparini don’t cost much more than $12 and are bone dry with light citrus flavors and a faint nip of bitter almond on the finish, which is typical of Italian white wines.
The key to prosecco is freshness. If you see dust on the bottles, head elsewhere. Freshness is also the key to moscato d’Asti, a sweet sparkler made in Piedmont in northeastern Italy that’s about the same price as prosecco. Thorough chilling will mitigate some of that sweetness, but even without it, the best moscato d’Astis are never cloying. They’re great with brunch, perhaps on Christmas or New Year’s morning since they are quite low in alcohol. But don’t overlook them as an aperitif. Producers to look for are Vietti and Rivetti.
Germany
German sparkling wines, called Sekt, are engaging alternatives to traditional Champagnes. They can be made of pinot blanc but more often are made with riesling and generally range in price from $12 to $18. Most have bracing acidity. Deinhard Lila Brut NV is a widely available example. More obscure, but worth seeking out is Schumann-Nagler Cuvee Rheingau Riesling, a Sekt trocken, meaning very dry.
Australia
One would think Australia too hot for sparkling wines. Yet Aussie winemakers do some amazing things, particularly in the case of Seaview Brut Sparkling Wine (about $10). You won’t confuse this with Champagne. But this blend of pinot noir, muscadelle, chenin blanc, and semillon is a fine quaff.
France
Now we come full circle back to France for sparkling wines that aren’t Champagne, meaning they come from everywhere but that specific place. In the Loire Valley, sparkling Vouvray is made from chenin blanc grapes, typically when the grapes are not ripe enough to make still (non sparkling) wine. Because only riesling has more acidity than chenin blanc, these wines are refreshing but with more creamy mouthfeel than the German sparklers. Foreau Brut is about $18.
The Jura and Savoie in eastern France produce a lot of lesser known sparkling wines. One of the better ones is Brut Dargent. Cremant d’Alsace is a sparkling wine from Alsace usually made of combinations of pinot noir, pinot blanc, and pinot gris. Because they are very high in acidity, they are crisp and very refreshing. Lucien Albrecht (about $15) is a good name to remember.
Regardless of where your sparkling wine comes from, it should have a clean aroma, though not a varietal character since most are blends. Citrus notes are almost always positive and the tinier the bubbles the better. They give the mouth a creamy feel rather than a foamy one created by larger bubbles. Most of all, good sparkling wines should leave the mouth refreshed and ready for another bite of food—or another sip of wine.