Affordable Bubbly

Mark Twain said, “Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right.”

In the US, champagne is thought of as a special occasion drink, which is too bad.  Every day is a good day to have champagne.  Both Napoleon and Winston Churchill are quoted as saying they turned to champagne to celebrate a victory and to console a defeat.  But drinking the real thing, from the Champagne region of France, can be an expensive hobby.  That’s why we were interested in a video clip we found on Yahoo of Josh Wesson, a wine writer and grape guru giving tips on very affordable bubbly made elsewhere.  (If it doesn’t come from Champagne it is referred to as sparkling wine, cava, prosecco, etc., even if méthode champenoise is used.)

Josh’s recommendations will get your Christmas and New Year celebrations off to a great start.  A glass of sparkling wine puts everyone in a festive mood.

His list of five started with Cava from Spain and a recommendation for a brand at $9.00 a bottle.  Prosecco comes from Italy and his recommendation costs a reasonable $12.00.  Australia also makes excellent sparklers with Jacob’s Creek’s bottle costing just $14.00.  Sparkling wines made in other parts of France are referred to as Cremant and he suggested one from Alsace for $17.00.

There are many excellent sparkling wines made in California and it is worth your while to explore this category.  Josh picked one from Roederer Estate, the great French Champagne house that produces a line of sparkling wine in California’s Anderson Valley.  We agree this is great value at $20.00.

The short video taken from his appearance on CBS, went on to discuss glassware.  As fanatics about using the right glass for all and every wine, it is worth taking a look at his tips on the best way to serve sparkling wine. Watch the video clip here.