’Tis the Season for Sparkling Wines

If you love the holiday season, you probably also toast a time or two with your favorite sparkling wines. Not that sparkling wine is just for the holiday season, quite the contrary. It is so easy to pair with foods, and is a great spirit lifter after a long and less than perfect day at work, or any time of the week.

I adore sparkling wines and drink them often. As I realized the number of great ones produced along the Wine Road has grown exponentially, I decided it was time to take a closer look at who makes what. I discovered several delicious sparkling wines made from grapes other than the traditional Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I love sparklings made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but found it was so much fun, and educational, to explore sparklings made from other grape varieties.

 

Sparkling Lover’s Dream

Amista Vineyards has embraced sparkling wines, and makes several via the traditional French méthode champenoise, mostly from grapes other than Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Their Brut Rosé Sparkling Tres is a GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre), and so delicious. The tasting notes describe this wine as “playful,” which is the perfect adjective for this festive sparkling.

There are also single varietal offerings of Sparkling Grenache, Sparkling Syrah and Sparkling Mataró (the Spanish name for Mourvèdre). Amista’s Extra Brut “Fusión” Sparkling Wine is another delicious blend worth checking out — mostly Chardonnay, it also has Syrah and Grenache in the blend.

 

The Sparkling Trio

At Colagrossi Wines, Craig Colagrossi loves sparkling wines so much, he’s created two sparkling wines with Italian varietals and one from a Rhône varietal. All are produced using the charmat methode, and each is lovely and bone dry.

The Rosé di Sangiovese Sparkling Wine is loaded with aromas and flavors of strawberry and watermelon. The more powerful than delicate, Sparkling Barbera is ladened with dark berries and pairs perfectly with steak and sautéed mushrooms, or aged cheeses. The Rhône sparkling is the Rosé of Grenache, which offers a delicious creamy palate with lovely hint of brioche.

 

A Beautiful Blend

DaVero Farms and Winery offers a fun and festive sparkling option with their Frizzante. This 50/50 blend of Rosé of Barbera and Moscato is refreshing with a slight sweetness that is balanced by the crisp acidity and delicate effervescence. The Moscato contributes vibrant aromas of peach, apricot and orange blossom, while the Barbera provides juicy red berries, tart cherry and a hint of spice.

 

Embracing Chenin Blanc

Leo Steen Wines winemaker Leo Hansen clearly loves Chenin Blanc, and he has converted me to the beauty of this varietal when it’s grown and produced the “right” way. To add a fourth Chenin Blanc to his lineup in 2024, Leo produced Bubbles of Steen Sparkling Chenin Blanc in 2022 and released it earlier this year. Be adventurous and try this delightful sparkling wine. It’s a perfect sipper for an appetizer course with shellfish, sushi, cured meats or truffle potato chips!

 

Rhône Sparkling Blended with Russian Heritage

Mounts Family Winery’s Verah Sparkling Svet is a knockout! They currently have two vintages available. The 2013 is a blend of 50% Grenache Noir, 30% Grenache Blanc and 20% Picpoul Blanc. The 2014 is 100% Grenache Blanc. Both are stellar and worth seeking out.

The label depicts a Matryoshka doll (Russian nested doll) in honor of Lana (Svetlana) Mounts’ Russian family roots. Verah, the name used on the Mounts Rhône blend lineup of wines, was Lana’s maternal Russian grandmother’s name (spelled Vera), and was also the name of her husband David’s maternal Italian grandmother. The flowers on the label were drawn by Lana and David’s daughter Emily before she was a teenager. Emily is now a college student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I love that this is a real hands-on family winery.

 

An Aussie Flair to Sparkling

Williamson Wines owners emigrated from Australia and brought the best of Aussie sparkling traditions with them. Of the four méthode champenoise sparklings Williamson produces, two fit my category of non-traditional varietals, but the winery takes it a step further by making red sparklings. Bliss Sparkling is made from Shiraz (aka Syrah), while Bubbles Sparkling is the only sparkling Malbec I’ve come across. If you’ve never tried a sparkling red wine, I recommend you visit Williamson Wines. You might discover a full-bodied red wine with bubbles is just what you’ve been missing!

 

More Sparkling Wines

There are many more sparkling wines along the Wine Road, and the website gives you a full list of sparkling producers. Also on this page, there is an excellent brief tutorial of sparkling wines.

Now it’s time to get out there are try them.

Happy Holidays & Happy Sipping, too!