#75 We Taste Ten Sparkling Wines, Some Blind

Feel the Bubbles. Taste the Wine. This Winter's Wine Exploration on Sparklers

The most expensive wine in the lot was the Veuve Clicquot Brut, coming in at $69.97. And the least expensive was the Great Western, at $10.99, made by our friends at the Pleasant Valley Wine Company, US Bonded Winery #1, founded in neighboring Hammondsport, NY in 1860.

We chose wines from as wide a range as possible to get our arms around the “sparkling wine” category. This included wines fermented once, fermented twice, fermented in the bottle, fermented in steel tanks and carbonated in steel tanks. Some had corks with “cages” holding the corks, two had “crown caps” (which you removed with an old-school bottle opener) and one had a screw-top.

Some included the vintage. Some did not. Some identified the grape used to make the wine. Some did not. Some were very dry. Some were not. Some were made here in the Finger Lakes. Some were not. Some still had a little yeast floating in the bottom of the bottle. Others did not. Some could be called “champagne.” Others could not.

Some say “dry.” Some say “Extra Dry (which means it is slightly sweet). Some say “Brut.” Some say “Blanc-de-blanc”. Others say “Pet Nat (and what is that?).

But this was the point of the exercise. What can you learn about sparkling wine when you line them up and taste them.

Here is my take. Wines with bubbles DO deserve their own category. There is no way to ignore the bubbles, whether they are small and plentiful, or larger and less plentiful. But what makes a difference is what you find when you look past the bubbles.

After the primary experience of the bubbles, you have a second chance to examine the wine with what seems like a “cleansed” palate. And the wines can be very, very different.

The wines with yeast still in the bottle, the “pet-nats” are at one end of the spectrum and the traditional method “bruts” are at the other. Were these all well-made and enjoyable to drink. Absolutely. Did I like them all. Definitely.