9 Domestic Sparkling Wines for New Year’s Eve 2009
All Champagne is sparkling wine made through the “Methode Champenoise.” But not all sparkling wine is Champagne.
Wine writer Alan Richman in the December 2005 issue of Bon Appetit magazine bombastically wrote:
Say what you will about California Sparklers - which are to French Champagne what paddlefish eggs are to beluga caviar - they will not transport you to a fantasy world, unless you are enthralled by the Napa Valley wine train. Sparkling wines that are not Champagne structurally lack finesse, enologically they lack bouquet, and sentimentally they lack ostentation.
I hate to disagree with a James Beard award winning writer, but Alan, YOU ARE WRONG.
Domestic bubbly has reached amazing heights and achieved complex flavors and textures. These wines are world-class while still somehow maintaining their own sense of terroir. Some are even fantastic values.
Here are my Top 9 sparkling wine suggestions for your 2009 New Year’s Eve celebration.
