Last-Minute Guide To Sparkling Wine

What: Still haven’t bought the Champagne for tonight’s festivities? It’s not too late. Here are some suggestions for Champagne and other sparkling wine to brighten up your New Year’s Eve.

And if you don’t see this article until 2010, you can still use it as a guide the next time you want to pick up some bubbly. It really is a shame that more people don’t drink sparkling wine more often. It’s great with all kinds of food. You don’t need to wait for a celebration to drink it.

This has been a bad year for real Champagne, and some prices have dropped. Shipment of Champagne to the United States dropped 41.2% from January to August. Because Americans are the second largest consumers of Champagne outside of France that means a lot of those bottles are going unsold.

So if you have to have the real stuff from the Champagne region of France, you’ll be paying less for some of it. Some of the high end wines have maintained their high prices, but you can still get wonderful Champagnes for $30-40.

You can get sparkling wine that is as good as, or nearly as good as Champagne at a fraction of the price. Remember, it can only be called Champagne if it is grown in the Champagne region of France, around Reims, Ay and Epernay. There are very good sparkling wines grown in other areas of France, particularly the Loire Valley, and throughout the world. There is even a very nice sparkling wine grown in, of all places, New Mexico. If the bottle says something like “traditional method” or “methode champanoise” that means the wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, which takes longer and adds to the cost. It’s how real Champagne is made.

So start the new year off right by giving some of these a try. At the end of the list I’ll have some tips on how to open and serve sparkling wine without injuring yourself.

My suggestions:

Cupcake Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay N.V., France, $15-17,
Cupcake Brut Rose Pinot Noir N.V., France, $15-17

Moet & Chandon White Star, France, $35-40. This has been one of my favorites for years, but it has been discontinued. You might still find some. Moet assures its fans that the new Imperial brand is just as good, but I haven’t tasted it yet, so I don’t know.

Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs, Carneros, California, about $20

Duval Leroy Champagne and, especially, the Paris Cuvée – a beautiful sparkler in a lovely bottle

Gruet Blanc de Noir Brut, New Mexico, $14-15 – a wonderful bubbly from Albuquerque

St-Hilaire Blanc de Blancs Brut 2006, Blanquette de Limoux. Languedoc, France, $15. Pleasant sparkler made like Champagne; dry, with a hint of sweetness

Charles de Fère Brut and Dry Rosé - from just outside the Champagne region

Frank Family Champagne Rouge, Blanc de Blanc and Blanc de Noir, California, about $35 each. These are handcrafted wines made in small batches by a top-notch winery. They are difficult to find, but worth the hunt. The Blanc de Blanc is bone dry, made from 100% Napa Valley Chardonnay. The other two have more fruit flavors.

Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut NV, about $10. A bright, refreshing Spanish Cava, at a good price.

Freixenet Cava Cordon Negro Extra Dry, about $10. A refreshing inexpensive Spanish Cava. Nice fruit tastes.

Bossard-Thuaud Vin Mousseux de Qualite NV, France, $17-19. Excellent sparkling wine from the Loire Valley, clean, crisp citrus and mineral flavors.

Biltmore Estate Blanc de Blancs Methode Champenoise Brut 2006, $25. This is one of six sparklers from Biltmore. This and the Blanc de Noir are my favorites.

Barefoot Bubbly, California, under $10. Some of the best cheap bubbly around.

Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, California, $20. Mix of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay produces a crisp taste with a long finish. Their Brut Rose has 85% Pinot Noir. It has a salmon color, creamy taste full of strawberries, cherries and plums. It sells for about $24.

How to serve Champagne:

First chill the wine to 40-45 degrees. You can leave it in the refrigerator, or place it in a wine bucket with ice and water for about 90 minutes.

Next, remove the foil at the top of the bottle.

You will see a wire cage holding the cork down. Hold the cork down with your thumb or palm and untwist the wire holding the cage down. Carefully slip off the cage.

Holding the cork in one hand, slowly twist the bottle until you hear a gentle “woosh,” what the French call the “loving whisper.” (If you’re nervous you can put a clean cloth over the top of the bottle and twist the cork off. The main consideration is not to let the cork go flying out of the bottle. That’s dangerous and can waste some of the sparkling wine.)

Pour the wine into flutes. They show the bubbles better and keep them from evaporating too quickly. Fill the glass about two-thirds full. That usually requires two pours, because the wine will foam up with the first pour.

Sip and enjoy.

If you don’t have enough people to use the whole bottle in one pour, you will need a super seal Champagne stopper. They sell for under $10. If you use it you can easily keep leftover sparkling wine overnight.