Bubbles!

"Come quickly—I am drinking the stars!"—attributed to Dom Perignon

Usually served at weddings, New Year's Eve and in the occasional mimosa, sparkling wine is unfortunately relegated to "special occasions" in the US. Not so in other countries—Prosecco, Lambrusco and Asti make frequent visits to informal gatherings and the dinner table in Italy, as do Sekt in Germany and Cava in Spain. Refreshing and versatile, sparkling wines from around the world make not only great party wines, but also good everyday wines.

Bubbles
Fermentation is the process by which sugars are converted to alcohol. The sparkle is due to the addition of extra sugar into the bottle (méthode traditionnelle) or in a vat (charmat process) after the first fermentation process. The second fermentation process creates the carbonation.

Sweetness
There are varying degrees of sweetness for sparkling wines, but the four sugar levels terms one should know are Brut, Dry, Sec and Demi-Sec. You'll find "extra" tagged onto these words, but the meanings are as follows:
Brut: bone dry
Dry: the smallest amount of discernable sweetness
Sec: slightly sweet
Demi-Sec: sweet enough to be served as a dessert wine

Color
An oversimplified, but hopefully useful guide to color:
Blanc de Blanc is a sparkling wine made with white grapes (usually Chardonnay).
Blanc de Noirs is a light pink sparkling wine made with red grapes (usually Pinot Noir).
Rosé refers to any “pink” wine. In this case, Rosé can be made with the saignée method, when, after pressing, some wine is bled off after only a short contact with the skins. A sparkling Rosé is a wine that has been through a second fermentation process to create the bubbles.

Opening The Bottle
I've been hit several times by flying sparkling wine corks, so the threat of a wine-related injury is a very real one. The best way to open a sparkling wine bottle is to saber it off, by which a person takes a sharp sword and cuts off the neck of the bottle. This is not an option for most folks, unfortunately—would that we all had swords lying around. The second best method, I've found, is to remove the cage (the wire implement securing the cork), put a dishtowel over the cork, hold the bottle at about ten o’clock, grip the sides of the cork in one hand, with the towel over it, and twist the bottle with the other. The cork should release with a slight pop into the towel, and very little, if any, wine should froth over.

Names
Although many people call all sparkling wines Champagne—this is fallacious and irritating to both Champagne makers and wine enthusiasts. Only wines produced with grapes grown in the particular chalk soil of the Champagne region of France may be called Champagne. "Sparkling wine" is the generic term for all wines with some form of carbonation. Regionally, sparkling wines have different names. Below are some of my favorite sparkling wines, and from whence they come:

Cava, Spain: Cristaline NV Brut Rose, $9. Hailed by eight out of the nine ladies in my book club as "very nice," this is a crisp, refreshing sparkler with notes of strawberry and raspberry and a tiny bit of citrus, with nice clean minerality. A very good bargain and perfect for summer.


Champagne, France: Veuve Clicquot, Yellow Label, Brut, approximately $50. Introduced to me by one of my favorite English professors after thesis presentations, this is an incredibly dry wine, with hard but pleasant minerality--incredibly refreshing. A classic wine and great for celebrations.

Sparkling Wine, Washington, USA—Domaine Ste. Michelle Frizzante, $11. In the future I will probably use the word "girly" often. This is a very girly wine, but also very good. Probably considered Demi-Sec, this wine pairs well with dessert, or if you like sweet wine, on its own. Good for weddings and for your friends who think White Zin is a dry white wine.


Lambrusco, Italy—Riunite, approximately $7. Anyone who has spent some time in Italy or is familiar with Lambrusco is probably horrified that I am listing this wine, but it is easy drinking and sweet. One of the few sparkling reds (aside from sparkling Shiraz, which I have not yet tried), this Lambrusco is inexpensive, girly and rather like soda. There are drier, fuller-bodied Lambruscos, certainly, which I encourage everyone to try when they happen to run across one, but this is a good wine for hanging out with friends and eating pizza.


Prosecco, Italy--Zardetto, NV, approximately $18. A wonderful, crisp sparkler—ever so slightly sweet. I'm told it pairs well with oysters and calamari. I like it with a fresh heirloom tomato, mozzarella and basil salad, lightly dusted with grey sea salt and sprinkled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It is best enjoyed on a patio, preferably overlooking the sea.


Sekt, Germany-- Schloss Biebrich, approximately $4. Wine from Trader Joe's had to come up eventually. This is a very inexpensive bottle, but it does not actually taste like the sparkling equivalent of two-buck-Chuck. It is probably best classified as sec, but not cloying. If you can convince yourself to open a bottle of bubbles on a Tuesday, for no reason, this is the way to go.

Domaine Ste. Michelle has a great website with simple information about sparkling wine.