Category Archives: Holiday

Consumers are smartening up and getting more kicks from champagne bargains

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“I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all,
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you”
— Cole Porter

With all due respect, Cole, an increasing number of us do indeed get a kick from champagne. Or for that matter, from sparkling wines in general.

Particularly around that time of year when the confetti starts flying, the noise makers start making noise and New York’s Times Square holds its collective breath for the New Year’s ball to drop.

As this recent USA TODAY article proclaims: “Bubbles are back.”

Not since the buying frenzy of 1999, when people bought champagne in bulk to ring in the millennium, have U.S. champagne and sparkling wine sales been so high. Volume for 2007 is expected to hit 900 million glasses, up 4% over 2006, says the 2007 Impact Annual Wine Study.

Among the things driving the rise in sales is heightened consumer education about price, flavors and food pairings, according to the article.

So I thought I’d do my pre-holiday bit and bubble up a little know-how that could come in handy as you consider what sparkling wine to select.

A good place to start is this tempting list of bubblies — “from bone-dry and austere to very fruity to sweet” — brought to us by the San Francisco Chronicle. (Affordability alert: This NV Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut, from one of California’s several French-owned sparkling wine producers, rings up at only $23 but earned three stars.)

Speaking of affordability (or at least, relative affordability), Mike Steinberger at Slate reviews non-vintage champagne offerings, which unlike their vintage cousins are typically blended from wines from different years. Steinberger also cites the Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut, calling it “arguably the best-value bubbly on the market.”

At Food & Wine, Ray Isle continues the non-vintage thread with five of his favorites to look for this holiday season.

If you really can’t get enough of the stuff, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg at The Washington Post offer some decadently tantalizing instructions on how to have A Sparkling Toast for Every Course.

Concluding our educational focus:

Happy New Year!

Need help picking a Thanksgiving wine? These top experts make it easy

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You haven’t yet decided what Thanksgiving wine to serve. Or you’re unsure about the selections you’ve made. And time is short.

The anxiety!

At The Washington Post, wine writers Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg know full well the pressures we’re under choosing wines for this annual feast.

“Even avid wine lovers can be struck with a temporary case of oenophobia — fear of wine — around Thanksgiving,” they say, with the wisdom of being award-winning wine authors. “The prospect of choosing a bottle that will please all of your guests and complement all of your dishes can perplex the most confident holiday host.”

But don’t despair. There’s a rich bounty of tips and picks across the Web, just waiting to be harvested.

Page and Dornenburg, for example, serve up a batch of ideas “to help calm any oenophobic tendencies.”

Among their several selections, a couple that caught my eye were the Australian sparkling Shiraz “bursting with berries and bubbles” and the Napa Valley Merlot that’s sure to come alive “with impressive blackberry and tart cherry flavors.”

Meanwhile, at epicurious, Natalie MacLean follows up on her earlier suggestions for Thanksgiving pairings with a list of “10 Top Thanksgiving Wines,” ranging from a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a German Riesling to a French Pinot Noir and an Italian Valpolicella.

All chosen because they’re “generous, juicy, fruit-forward wines that will both moisten the turkey and complement many of the side dishes on the table.”

Several full Thanksgiving menus accompany wine selections at Bon Appétit, leaving little guesswork about what goes along with everything from a country-style menu to a vegetarian feast.

For example, the Prosper Maufoux 2005 Beaujolais, Burgundy, a “food-friendly” wine boasting “plum and cherry flavors” seems a nicely priced country crowd-pleaser at $12.

Even Martha Stewart has some advice — a pocketbook-pleasing tidbit from bygone years: “Mid-priced is best. It’s not necessary to splurge on wine for Thanksgiving. That’s because the traditional menu has a lot of sweet elements, such as cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes, that aren’t flattering to complex and subtle wine. A well-made wine with more straightforward character will likely taste better.”

And the best advice of all comes from Page and Dornenburg: “After all is said and done, don’t sweat it. Thanksgiving ultimately is not about the wine, but about being grateful for the love of those you’re with.”

Let’s drink to that.

‘Turkey wine’ and other Thanksgiving wine bargains to the rescue

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Good news and bad news about Thanksgiving.

The good news: such a wide variety of delicious things to eat. 

The bad: such a wide variety of delicious things to eat — which can make pairing the right wine enough to give you mental indigestion.

But don’t despair.

Wine tasters around the nation are graciously coming to the rescue (tough work, but somebody’s got to do it).

Like white?

If you’re thinking of going with a white, for example, an eclectic  cast of tasters in Nashville — including reps of wine distributors, a wine collector, a sommelier and food columnist — came up with a tasty bunch of recommendations while chowing down with turkey, dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce to assure mouth-watering harmony.

Some of their selections fit nicely within the Wine News Review fairly frugal affordability index, or at least the holiday version of it.

Among their selections, Gewürztraminer, aka “turkey wine” because it goes so well with the main dish. One stood out:

2006 Covey Run ($8.99) — serves up a “delightful aroma of cooked cling peaches, white pepper and floral notes.” It was the tasters’ favorite: “The wine withstood competing tastes and was not as sweet as the others.”

Second was a 2006 Columbia Winery Cellarmaster’s Riesling ($13.99) — tasters agreed that its “fruit and perfume ‘rocked’ with the multi-flavored meal.”

Versatile Pinot

Stacy Slinkard, wine guide at About.com, offers a list of 10 Thanksgiving wine suggestions, nine of which are $10 or under.

Her number one recommendation is a California Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay 2005, ($10), finding it a “delicious compilation of fruit and smoke, full-bodied and balanced.”

She also cites a few reds, including another Californian, a Rex Goliath Pinot Noir, ($9), which she finds supple and versatile enough “to go with everything from hors d’oeuvres to the main dish.”

To start off the festivities with some bubbly cheer, she suggests a Korbel Champagne Brut ($10), “a champagne stand by that is perfect for party goers.”

Don’t worry, be happy

While acknowledging the banquet-sized range of flavors to be found on a Thanksgiving table, Peter M. Gianotti at Long Island’s Newsday, takes a don’t-worry-be-happy approach: ” … drink what you like, whether it’s apple cider, brown ale or bourbon.”

But if wine is your Thanksgiving drink of choice, he recommends a diverse collection of whites and reds, including a nicely priced, “berry-driven” 2006 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir ($14).

Speaking of nicely priced, he suggests a couple Italian Proseccos for the celebratory sparkling wine selection: La Vendemmia ($10), Lunetta ($13).

Of course, there are many other wine tasters standing graciously by to take the wine anxiety out of Thanksgiving. Stay tuned to Wine News Review in coming days for more of their suggestions.

Tip: Print out this list, and for that matter the lists from the links above, when you head to your local wine shop. If none is available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar, and similarly priced.