By Stuart Stein •
December 18, 2008
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.
By Stuart Stein •
July 25, 2008
Diego Velasquez, Los Borrachos (The Feast of Bacchus)
“In the beginning, Bacchus created white wine. He saw that it was good and awarded it a score of 90 points. On the second day, Bacchus created red wine and, finding it even tastier, gave it 99 points. (Actually, it deserved 100 points, but in that epoch only wines made in heaven were allowed perfect scores.) On the third day, the god made rosé and saw that it was pink. He started laughing.”
Ben Giliberti, The Washington Post, Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Let’s face it, rosé wines have somewhat of a bad rep. No wonder, if you have only tried “blush” wines, usually low in alcohol and semi-sweet, or mass produced, so-called “white” Zinfandels. In the U.S., pink wine has most often been regarded as sweet, overproduced and unsophisticated. Which for the most part, it is.
Let’s flip the coin. European consumers drink dry rosé wine regularly and in some parts of France, even more rosé than white wine. Why - rosé epitomizes summer. Rosés are all about pleasure - girls in short summer dresses and guys in tight muscle shirts.
