It's Time to Sparkle!

Contributed by Katy Budge, freelance writer

With the holidays upon us, it’s time to break out the bubbly! After all, nothing says "festive" like a glass of bubbly, and Champagnes and sparkling wines are also great matches with foods as varied as oysters-on-the-half-shell or roast duckling.

When looking for a Champagne or sparkling wine, you’ll apply the same principles as still wine tasting: look for a wine that’s well-balanced with flavor profiles you enjoy. A sip of bubbly should have a pleasant amount of fizziness, or "mousse", but not so much that your mouth feels like that commercial for scrubbing bubbles. The overall taste should have a kiss of fruit, be clean and refreshing, and offer a pleasant aftertaste. Yes, these are general principles – to find your own specific favorite, your mission is to go forth and taste!

So what exactly is the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine? Well, for starters, Champagne is a sparkling wine, but the reverse is not necessarily so.

To be legally called a Champagne, the wine must come from a specific region in France. Sparkling wines from other areas are normally made in the time-honored French way –referred to as méthode traditionelle, méthode classique, méthode Champenoise, or their English equivalents, traditional method, etc. – but they cannot call themselves "champagne." (Spanish sparkling wines will usually be labeled "cava.")

Bubbly is typically made from Chardonnay and/or Pinot Noir grapes, but producers often use other varieties to round out the flavor profiles. For example, the Laetitia Brut Cuvée from Arroyo Grande (on California’s Central Coast) is blended with a bit of Pinot Blanc, a combination which – though it’s a bit floral and creamy for a traditional brut – makes for a delightfully rich sparkling wine.

By "brut," I’m not talking about a thug of a wine. Brut is one of the classifications of sparkling wine that refers to its sugar content, and typically refers to a "dry wine," or one that has very little residual sugar. By extension, "extra brut," means a wine with almost no sweetness, and "demi-sec" refers to a wine that’s medium-dry, or slightly sweet.

Champagnes and sparklings are also further classified as to color and varietal with the terms "blanc de blancs," "blanc de noirs," and "rosés." The first translates as "white of whites," and refers to sparkling wine made only from white varietals, such as Chardonnay. The second, "white of blacks," means that dark-skinned grapes such as Pinot Noir are used, and typically these wines have a lovely light salmon color thanks to their initial contact with the skins. (Mumm Napa is a great example of this type of wine.) The rosé classification means the color spectrum has been pushed even further, with an extreme example being the dark red Hardy’s Sparkling Shiraz (Syrah) from Australia.

Some people believe you should always have a bottle of sparkling wine in your refrigerator "just in case" an occasion for celebration occurs. Now, who can argue with that? Besides, with a bottle of chilled bubbly at the ready, you just might find more reasons to pop the cork, especially with the holidays upon us!

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Katy Budge is a long-time resident of California's Central Coast, and has over 20 years experience writing about wine, food, and travel. She is editorial coordinator/contributor for a San Luis Obispo County wine magazine, writes a weekly food column in the local Knight-Ridder newspaper, and also contributes wine- and food-related articles to several other publications.