I had the pleasure of attending a Sparkling
Wine and Champagne class put on by Savvy Cellar Wine Bar and Wine Shop, a local
go-to for all things wine. The class was an early Christmas gift from my
husband and I had a great time, despite being one of a few people going solo
for the night. I learned so much about champagne and sparkling wine that I felt
compelled to dispense my knowledge before the night of champagne (New Years’
Eve) commences.
Some food (or wine for thought): many people
believe that sparkling wine is only meant for special occasions but I happen to
belong to the camp of people that believe sparkling wine is good for any day
AND any special occasion! Sparkling wine can be used with many different types
of food and can be served throughout a meal. It is also great by itself either
in the company of others or by you alone as well. There is no wrong time or
occasion to enjoy sparkling wine.
I was able to try seven different sparkling
wines, all of them wonderfully distinct from the other. Being a bit traditional
in my wine choices and an ardent lover of Pinot Noir, I of course prefer
champagne. I love the yeasty, full, creamy flavor of the French beauty. Champagne
is only made from three wine varietals – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, or Pinot
Meunier.
Good champagne can be a bit pricey so I was
so happy to learn of a close cousin of champagne, the sparkling wine from the
region of Champagne, France. There is a delicious and very similar type of wine
to champagne and it’s called Crémant (pronounced cray-mawn). Crémant is simply
any other sparkling wine from France! So it’s still a French sparkling wine with
all its lusciousness, just from a different region of France. At the class, I
had the opportunity to try Crémant d’ Alsace, which is a Crémant from the
region of Alsace, France. It was divine and it only runs about $18-20 for a
bottle. I tried a Rosé variety made from 100% Pinot Noir.
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| The Cremant that I was served at the class |
Sparkling wine is made all over the world and
has many different tastes. As I mentioned earlier, the French sparklers are
creamy and yeasty, with a full mouth feel. New World sparklers (California) are
a bit crisper with higher mineral feel in the mouth. Other sparkling wines that
I tasted were Prosecco from Italy, Espumante Bruto from Portugal, a sparkling
Shiraz from South Africa, and a sparkling Moscato (sweet wine) from Italy. I
purchased a bottle of the Moscato for Ashwin, as he loves the sweet stuff.
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| My personal favorite for New World - Domaine Carneros |
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| Cheese plate and sparkling from Domaine Carneros |
Some sparkling wine tips: Avoid the wines
that have had CO2 added to make the carbonation, as this will result in
horrible headaches. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get a good sparkling
wine. Be adventurous and buy a couple of different types of sparkling wine to
try. Pair it with any type of food and I guarantee it will be great.
Please share what type of sparkling wine you
have chosen for your New Years’ Eve celebration (or any random Monday).
Happy New Year – Cheers!
Nice! I bought Jeff a sparkling wine (proseco) from Italy to enjoy while we waited for midnight. Don't remember it's name, it was on sale at Safeway for $10. It wasn't bad, just too sour towards the end.
ReplyDeleteProsecco is really acidic and tart, but it makes great mimosas. We had a cremant which was fantastic...well I did mostly and Ashwin had his sparkling moscato. :-)
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