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Don’t you love that moment when you take the first sip of a wine you haven’t tried before, expectations zero, and no matter who you’re talking to or what else is going on in the room—you stop, you look at the glass, you sort of “hm!” inside. That’s a damn good wine.
That doesn’t happen very often to me with sparkling wines. I have theories why this should be. Is it my palate? Do the bubbles themselves interfere with my ability to discern the depth, complexity, finish and balance I associate with great wines? I don’t think so. I can vividly recall some Champagnes (and sparklers from California, the Loire, Australia even) that offered wave after wave of biscuity, fruity, spicy flavor, changing from sip to sip, and then lasting forever. Exhilaration greeted each sip, followed by appreciation.
Is it snobbery? That no sparkling wines measure up to my exacting standards? I can assure you it’s not. I’m quite happy with a simple Prosecco or somewhat more complex Cava, but great, memorable drinking experiences, they’re not.
Is it happenstance? I haven’t been exposed to enough great sparkling wines? Or most sinister of all: is it possible that there just aren’t that many great, deep, complex sparkling wines?
I was inspired to ponder this when I read for about the hundredth time a wine reviewer or essayist assert that a particular sparkling wine is as much a wine as it is a sparkling wine. This phrase, or a variation of it, appears often. I thought maybe they were in my camp. I’m not alone! Great sparkling wines are as rare as votes for Nader!
I discussed this with Wine Enthusiast’s European editor, Roger Voss, who has made this distinction often in his reviews. He pointed out that representatives of Champagne themselves will say, as a way of praise, that a Champagne is more than just bubbles, it’s a great wine. But what they mean, and what Roger means when he uses the phrase, is that a great sparkling wine more than just pop-the-cork celebratory, it is something to be taken as seriously as a fine white Burgundy or other great wine. (I prefer the way Roger expresses it: “How much more pleasure we can get from appreciating them as vinous works of art than something to be sprayed over the crowd around you.”)
Some Champagnes (and other sparklers) are just…bubbles, says Roger. There is nothing wrong with that, but treating all Champagne as just bubbles takes away much of true pleasure to be got from savoring a Champagne as you would a fine wine.
But that’s only true for truly great wines.
What do you think? How many great, memorable sparkling wines have you had? Is it difficult to judge greatness through the froth and tickle?
Filed under: Connoisseurship, Opinions and Commentary, Varietals, Winemaking
6 Comments
December 6th, 2008 at 1:46:39 PM
Isn’t it fun when you are surprised by any wine? sparkling or not! Maybe bubbles leave me flat sometimes because I don’t enjoy them often enough. I’m wondering how many reds I had to go through to get my favorites. Maybe sparking is the same way….we just need to enjoy them more routinely, (not just those “special” occasions) to find the best bubbles. By the way, my favorites are J and Iron Horse. Any suggestions on others I should try?
December 8th, 2008 at 11:17:00 AM
Tim, I am stunned to say the least! You don’t appreciate sparkling wine? Sacre Bleu! Dom Perignon is spinning in his tombe. Maybe it is something in your constitution. To me a great sparkling wine is a masterpiece of terroir plus the vintner’s art. Maybe I’m just a victim of the marketing hype that the Champenois perfected, but every time I taste a good one, I feel happy, like celebrating. A great sparkling wine can take the blues out of an ordinary day and make it feel like a holiday. Kathy, some other California sparkling wines I really enjoy are from Schramsberg and Roederer Estate.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:31:18 PM
Tim & Steve, I was stunned too. As I was reading this blog on e-mail (it comes in anonymous), I kept saying to myself as I read, “This can’t be Steve’s post! This can’t be Roger’s post!” But I have to agree with Steve here — and I think it’s so important right now, considering the gloom-and-doom stories blanketing the national media: “I feel happy, like celebrating. A great sparkling wine can take the blues out of an ordinary day and make it feel like a holiday. ” I drink a bottle of bubbly at least once a week, because I like turning an ordinary night into a special one. Who cares if we’re eating pizza with store-bought crust. It makes me happy. We all need a little bit of that sunshine in our lives right now.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:01:59 PM
One of the local sparkling wine producers gives 40% off “inter-winery” for magnums of their Reserve (seven years on yeast for about $35 a mag!) Needless to say, this household keeps a mag going in the fridge all of December and into the New Year. There are a lot of bargains in wine, but nothing to compare with what you get for your money in sparkling wine from Roederer, Mumm, Chandon, and D. Carneros.
It’s easy to forget the days when the best California sparkling wine was Thompson Seedless with carbonation. A lot of the great California Pinot Noir we drink today was originally planted to supply the sparkling wine explosion that occurred in the ’70′s and early ’80′s. I can’t say the French have really taught us anything about red or white wine making, but you cannot overstate their influence in sparkling wine.
I remember having lunch with Chandon’s Edmond Maudiere and his newly hired Napa Champagne maker in 1974 at the Chutney Kitchen. The president of a major Napa Valley winery walked up to our table and I introduced him to the two men telling him about their budding sparkling wine project. The “old school” wine executive got testy and dismissed the Frenchman and young Chilean saying, ” The ‘Champagne’ business in the U.S. is a drink-it- and-piss-it business. All that is important is that it has fizz.” But over the next decade Chandon brought a new term into the lexicon of the wine business. It was the words “on allocation.”
December 10th, 2008 at 3:54:32 PM
I wish I would have had the chance to spray around top-shelf bubbles just once when I was with the Yankees (those division and league championship wins don’t count). And now I’ve been bought out, probably to play out my career in someplace bad like Oakland. But when I’m with my boys out West hanging by the pier, sippping really f#$%ing good Champagne, I like Salon Le Mesnil, Duval-Leroy Femme and Pol Roger “Lord Winston” Churchill. If these leave you flat, Mr. Moriarty, you need to put some air in your tires and get pumped up, like I once did. Ever read the Mitchell Report?
December 24th, 2008 at 5:37:28 PM
Tim Moriarty’s experience is exactly like mine except he undoubtedly has had more exposure to base an opinion on. I just never have been able to get anything more than an “agreeable quaff” experience from the bubbly – sweeter ones are downright disagreeable. And there it stands. But someone gave me a ’88 Dom Perignon which stands chilled & ready for new year’s; if that doesn’t float my boat, I guess it’s unfloatable. OTOH, as an example, a recent ’03 Dom. Serene Oregon P. Noir Yamhill & a ’05 Ch du Pape (on different evenings!) were truely memorable. So we’ll see in a few days if the Dom can provide an epiphany, but “pearls cast before swine” is probably more likely.