So, let's pop the cork, shall we?
This has been my go-to bubbly this year. It's affordable. It's cheap in the grocery stores AND the "budget pick" for by-the-glass bubbly at The Metropolitan Grill - so you know it's good. It's light, off-dry, and nearly colorless. Crisp, blessedly free of any sour acidity, and great with pretty much ALL food. Goofy label aside, it's a great pick in the $10-15 range.
I had a "scales falling from my eyes" moment when I first sipped this. Historically, I'd avoided anything under the Schramsberg label because they tended to be SO CHARDONNAY HEAVY - I couldn't handle my bubbles oaked. And then, while in Sonoma, sitting with my mom in our favorite, quaint little hotel lounge (watching retirees slow dance to the fine vocal stylings of an equally old local crooner in hawaiian print) I took a gamble and tried a (generously poured) glass of Schramsberg's rose. It was an eye opener. DELICIOUS. Gone were the buttery chardonnay notes, the lemony bite, the coat-your-throat oak - this wine is primarily local Carneros pinot noir - smooth and whisper-sweet with delicate, soft, super-fine bubbles: EXCELLENT. And while I'll still steer clear of their classic Brut, this rose was one of the best I've tasted.
#8 - Sofia Coppola Blanc de Blancs
It's the "wine-in-a-can." The Four Loko of sparkling wine. The socialite's Red Bull accoutrement. Yes, the bottles come wrapped in pink celophane. It's obscene. But it's also one of the most unusual, distinct sparkling wines I've tasted all year. VERY distinct notes of ginger. Yep, ginger. It's unusual, but surprisingly tasty. A sip pans out with hints of apricot, peach and vanilla. The bubbles aren't as delicate as I like, and as it warms toward room temperature it takes on a decidedly more bitter flavor, but -- for being a wine you can buy in a can and sip with a straw (yes. straw.) it's actually uniquely flavorful. Yummy, even. Memorable.
So, I'm a prosecco fan. It's affordable, RELIABLE (I've NEVER had a bad glass of prosecco) and -- in this case -- comes in a lovely bottle. I bought it, initially, simply because I liked the bottle. The ice blue label and silver foil looked stately (yes, I judge wines by their "cover." If it's sitting on my dinner table or taking up space in a wine rack, may as well look pretty while it's there). I was thrilled to discover this wine has been picked up by major grocery chains in the last year or so (after a holiday debut at World Market several Christmases ago) and is right at that perfect "not cheap, not guilty" price point that moves a lot of cases. Between $15-20, it's a sparkling treat without breaking the bank. Like most prosecco, it's clean, bright, a lovely pale wheat shade and finishes very well - light on the palate, pairs well with food (which may well be Prosecco's crowning glory).
This one was set up to be a favorite if only because I tasted my first sip on the Domaine Carneros patio on a warm, sunny Monday afternoon in October. I was miles from home, miles from work, and surrounded with bottles of sparkling wine, caviar, and cheese. We ordered up a bottle of DC's Rose out of habit, and sampled a few glasses of their limited release Demi-Sec toward the end of our afternoon. It's perfect. It's sweet. It's mellow, it's a beautifully warm, blush color and has just enough body to hold up against caviar. I keep reminding myself to add a bottle of this to my monthly wine club order - it's good enough to pay for shipping, which is saying a lot for me.
This one probably makes the list as much by virtue of having been sipped on another patio while watching the sun set over the Napa valley as much as the deliciousness of the bubbly itself. HOWEVER - it is delicious. Hint of muscat means it's SLIGHTLY sweet. Not cloyingly sweet or syrupy, just fragrant and satisfying and subtle. It seems only to appear in some grocery stores around the holidays, but it clocks in at less than $20 and manages to feel like a vacation in a bottle.
So, the local store OVER-ordered this Rose around New Year - apparently they forgot the economic climate means people reach for Korbel come holiday party time before they grab for the pink Vueve. Lucky for me - they were clearing it out at half the normal $70 price tag. That's right - $34 for Vueve Rose. So clearly, this made the list of favorites by sheer CHEAP! virtue. My sister and I stocked up. And it was -- of course -- perfect. I've heard some people "who know" refer to this as a "heavier" rose, and its comparably-priced contemporaries (Perrier Jouet or Krug, for instance) as lighter, less filling options, but I've always found this one rather flawless. No acidic bite. Just perfect. Especially at half off.
In a taste test between California's Iron Horse and France's Piper-Heidsiek, California won - like the Schramsberg Rose, this one surprised me with its unexpected mildness. I hadn't paid much attention to Iron Horse when I'd visited California wine country in the past (and, truthfully, another visit came and went this year and I didn't make it to their tasting room -- yet again), but after tasting it for the first time alongside some sashimi, this was an unassuming and yummy choice - one of the better bubblies I tasted this year.
I, theoretically, prefer the pinot of a blanc de noirs to the chardonnay/pinot blanc blend of it's paler companion, but Le Reve is, quite simply, one of the BEST bottles of bubbly I've ever tasted. Ever. It's the only wine I deign to pay wine club shipping fees to have delivered to the office every month (fine - that and the fact that you can't buy it in stores up here). Definite vanilla flavors. The 2004 and 2005 are both uniquely tasty in their own right, I'm aching to try their Le Reve Rose....maybe a Christmas present for myself?
I like pink, I guess. And, actually, while I said these were in "no particular order," this was definitely my favorite of the year. Definitely. By a long shot. Ordered a bottle of it "accidentally" during happy hour at The Met, didn't have the heart to send it back since -- really -- though it's twice the price of it's Brut counterpart, I was definitely down to taste it. It was (much like Vueve Rose, I suppose), pretty perfect. Never mind that I was celebrating a major life milestone at that happy hour anyway (so treating myself to something marked up by 200% didn't seem like such a huge crime), it would have been great at any price. Everything a rose should be: flavorful - like sunshine in a bottle. Absolutely perfect.
Ta-Da!
2010 List #1. Later this week (fine, I'm probably lying - later next week) I'll tackle my least favorite red carpet looks of the year. Yippee! Blake Lively, I'm looking at you.
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