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Tiny bubbles play a big role in holiday celebrations, and there’s a world of sparkling wine waiting to be explored. Not only is the classic French Champagne a good choice, but other countries around the globe also produce delicious offerings. Keep in mind sparkling wine is also good for more than effervescing with a toast at the stroke of the New Year—it’s a perfect apéritif and pairs well with a wide range of food.
How is it made?
In a nutshell, fermentation converts sugar into alcohol and carbonic gas—if the gas is set free, you’re left with still wine, and if the gas is captured, you get sparkling wine. A second fermentation in a sealed container will capture the bubbles. The labor-intensive French Champagne method known as “methode champenoise” produces the finest sparkling wine—a secondary bubble-causing fermentation takes place inside each bottle in which it is sold. This makes for desirable tiny, delicate bubbles and is generally more expensive. More economically priced sparkling wine uses the bulk “charmat” method, whereby first and second fermentations take place in tanks and then the wine is bottled under pressure.
Champagne
All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne. True Champagne comes only from the region of the same name in France about 90 miles northeast of Paris, and most sparkling wine producers elsewhere respect French tradition by not using the term on their labels. Champagne is usually a blend of three grapes—two red (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) and one white (Chardonnay). This classic blend produces a wine that has a good balance of sugar and acidity, and styles can range from light and fresh to toasty and yeasty, or from dry to sweet. Quality Champagne is produced using the traditional “methode champenoise.”
Label Language
Many sparkling wines will bear the names of traditional French style categories so you can tell whether it is dry or sweet:
- Brut—the most common type—is very dry.
- Extra dry, ironically, is slightly sweeter.
- Sec is medium sweet, demi-sec is sweet, and doux is very sweet. (Demi-sec and doux are best as dessert wines or on their own.)
American Bubbly and Beyond
A number of French Champagne houses have taken up residence in New World countries. Their California sparkling wines are most often a blend of the same red and white grapes used for their French cousins. The warmer climate tends to produce a rich-tasting and typically fruitier option, often available at a more affordable price. There are also some U.S. producers not affiliated with the Champagne houses who create fine fizz in California and Washington state. South of the equator, winemakers in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina produce sparkling wines of note. Often made with unique blends of such grapes as Pinot Noir, Muscadelle, Chenin Blanc, and Sémillon, they can be surprisingly sippable sparklers.
Italian Prosecco and Asti
Italy’s Prosecco is a sparkling wine made with the white grape Glera, which was known as Prosecco until 2009, when an official grape name change took place to protect the geographic wine name “Prosecco.” This dry wine has light citrus and apple flavors and is either lightly sparkling, “frizzante,” or fully sparkling, known as “spumante.” Another Italian sparkler, Asti, is a sweeter option made from the Muscat grape. Wine labeled Moscato d’Asti is a medium-dry sparkler with fewer bubbles.
Spanish Cava
Spain’s sparkler, Cava, is also made using the traditional French method, which they call “metodo tradicional.” Priced more affordably than Champagne, its distinctive fresh, light, and earthy fruit flavors typically come from a blend of indigenous white grapes—Macabeo, Xarel-Lo, and Parellada—though red grapes such as Monastrell and Garnacha find their way into rosé versions. There has also been an increasing use of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the mix.
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Fizz and Food
No matter what continent it comes from, a bit of bubbly is a delicious companion with foods ranging from cheddar to chocolate. Just keep the different styles in mind to best complement a particular food’s flavors, and you can serve it with every course.
Appetizing Thoughts: For the appetizer course—or a sparkling wine and appetizer party—cheese is always a good match. Colby, Edam, and Gouda are tasty choices. Try sharply flavored cheeses such as chèvre with stronger sparklers, cheddar with bright styles, and Brie with light and fruity styles. Sweet orange flavors in light Italian spumante pair well with the slightly nutty flavor of Swiss cheese. Stuffed mushrooms are delicious with bubbly. Try oysters and shrimp—but avoid lemon or vinegar with the oysters and the heavy red sauce often served with shrimp.
The Main Course: Seafood makes a great companion to sparkling wine. Try grilled lobster with olive oil or scallops with a little ginger. Turkey and chicken make tasty fizz companions, and lamb and ham pair nicely with a rosé sparkler. Rosé sparkling wine can also be a nice complement to food prepared with ginger, nutmeg, saffron, cumin, curry, and coriander. Sparkling wines even pair well with egg dishes to make for a festive holiday brunch.
Sweet Treats: Serve the sweeter sparklers with sweets. If you serve the dry styles, your guests may be left with a bad taste in their mouths—a flat, metallic one. Strawberries and Champagne are always a delicious combination. Almond flavored holiday cookies and fruit tarts are tasty matches with spumante. Rosé sparklers, even when dry, often have intense fruit flavors that pair well with medium-sweet desserts such as fruit tarts, apple pie with cinnamon, dark chocolate, and cookies.
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Sip on This:
On average, there are 250 million bubbles in a bottle of sparkling wine.
–Source: Moët & Chandon
