In the north of Italy lies a region with a sixth of all Italy’s people and a healthy portion of its vines. The region is home to the best sparkling wine produced in Italy as well as some of the funkiest cheeses around—try Tellagio sometime, it’s actually very good. Here they call the Nebbiolo grape Chiavennasca and will sometimes dry them to raisins before making a strong, off-dry red. If you haven’t googled it already, the area in question is the Lombardy region, in north-central Italy, along the Swiss border.

The wine market of Lombardy in inextricably linked to its cultural center—Milan. The wines of the region have historically gone to quench the thirst of the cities citizenry. Over time, the region and the city seem to have worked out a deal were the vineyards grow what the city wants to drink—or perhaps the city just like to drink its local vino. In any case, there’s a lot of sparkling wine coming out of Lombardy as well as some excellent red wine called Valtellina.

Franciacorta is a DOCG wine zone (the highest quality level a region in Italy can receive), which grows grapes exclusively for use in sparkling wine. The region uses the Champagne process to make their wines and even uses the Champagne grapes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir—with a little Pinot Bianco thrown in for local flavor. The wines are aged for 18 months to 30 months for non-vintage and vintage wines, respectively. Franciacorta sparkling wines can be expected to have a little more sugar than Champagne, but they won’t be sweet. Any wine that is produced in the area that isn’t sparkling is called Terre di Franciacorta. Still wines from the region include blends of red Bordeaux grapes and aged Chardonnay in the style of Burgundy.

Outside of Piedmont—the ancestral home of Nebbiolo—the only area to grow the grape is Valtellina in Lombardy. Nebbiolo is famous for making Barolo and Barbaresco in neighboring Piedmont. In Lombardy the grape makes a more delicate wine, with less acid and tannin than the world famous Nebbiolos of Piedmont. Though lighter in style, Valtellina makes excellent red wines capable of aging for up to 10 years. A very unique wine is made here from the Nebbiolo grape, it’s called Sforzato and is made from grapes semi-dried grapes and results in a strong, rich wine, similar to Amarone.

Another region producing wine in Lombardy is the Oltrepò Pavese—literally “across the Po river.” Oltrepò Pavese is responsible for half the wine coming out of Lombardy, but most of it is simple wines that won’t get outside of Italy. The quality wines are made from Pinot Noir, both in sparkling white and still red wines.

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Before the process of fermentation was fully understood, Champagne was called “the devil’s wine.” It earned this reputation for its propensity to explode without warning and cause bodily harm to whomever was around at the moment. The problem turned out to be the cold climate of the Champagne region itself. In the fall, when the wine was fermenting, the temperature often fell below temperatures that yeast would be active at. The wine producers thought the wine had finished fermenting and would bottle it. Only it hadn’t finished the fermentation process—there was still sugar and live yeast in the bottles. Then, when spring rolled around and the wine warmed up, the yeast began its process: eat sugar, exude alcohol and carbon dioxide. This left the wines with gas in the bottles…and caused them to explode without warning.

Thankfully, the Champagne producers got this process under control and eventually devised a complicated system of producing their sparkling wines that removed the yeast from the bottle and left no one injured. The folks in the Champagne district call this process méthode champenoise. The French are a little fussy when it comes to the names of their products, so they’ve fought quite hard to bar anyone outside of Champagne from using the term méthode champenoise. You’ll most likely see “traditional method” or “méthode traditionnelle” on bottles of sparkling wine that use the method, but aren’t Champagne.

The Champagne method starts in basically the same way that all wine production starts: pick ripe grapes, crush them, add yeast to the juice and ferment. In Champagne this initial process yields the base wine, which is blended with other base wines from different years or vineyard, this is the cuvee.

This cuvee is then put into the bottles and a small amount of yeast is added with it along with a little sugar—this called the liqueur de triage. At this point the wine is capped with pry-off caps (like on beer bottles) and put into a cellar to age. Champagne will age for 18 months to 3 years, during this time the yeast consumes the sugar and releases carbon dioxide—the bubbles. The time spent aging with the yeast in the bottle is called “aging on the lees,” and is hallmark of Champagne wines. (Yeast in a bottle is called lees) After the producer ages the wine for a minimum of 15 months, or more, the wine is ready to riddle.

The goal of the riddling process is get the (now dead) yeast cells to the neck of the bottle, so they can be removed. The riddle starts with the wines lying horizontally on special racks. Then, they are ever so slowly tilted upward, a little each day. Over time the yeast cells travel down to the neck of the bottle and the pressure in the bottle keeps them there.

The bottles are now ready for the final steps. First the neck of the bottle is frozen, which freezes the wine in the neck—this wine contains the yeast cells that need to be removed. Then the cap is taken off, the pressure of the wine shoots the ice-yeast plug from the neck of the wine. This process is called disgorging (dégorgement in French). The final step is the dosage; this must be completed quickly because the sparkling wine is now open and losing pressure. The dosage is a mixture of small amount of sugar and other secret ingredients that is added to the wine. Then the bottle is closed with a Champagne cork and a wire cage, and the Champagne process is complete.

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Carneros exists in its own little world. It’s the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) to be defined by climate—instead of political lines in the sand. It straddles the two most famous AVAs in the United States—Napa and Sonoma—with a portion of the appellation lying in each, and the ability to name it’s wines as Carneros or Napa/Sonoma, depending where the grapes are from. It’s the only area in the U.S. that is recognized internationally as a powerhouse of sparkling wine production. Carneros, or Los Carneros if you want, is a very special corner of the wine world, and it lies just across the bay from San Francisco.

The dominant climatic force in Carneros is the San Pablo Bay, an offshoot of the larger San Francisco Bay. This oceanic influence brings down temperatures and brings in strong winds, which consistently hit the vineyards of Carneros. The area was chosen by the great Louis M. Martini in the 1940’s because of the relative coolness of the climate—this is California after all, not Wisconsin, so the coolness is relative. Still the area showed promise for growing grapes that fare well in cool weather, namely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

After some success in the 70’s with varietal, still versions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the world began to form an idea. The idea went like this: cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay make some pretty good sparkling wine in Champagne…so, let’s make a sparkling wine in the style of Champagne in Carneros! And so began the veritable gold rush of the 80’s for good land in Carneros by the big Champagne (and Cava) producers.

The wines of Carneros are marked by a certain touch of old-world charm, mixed in with the fruit forward flavor profiles—they’re California wines after all. The Chardonnays tend to have significantly more acid and less of the creamy, roundness of most California Chardonnay. This style can be excellent on its own, but often finds its way into a blend of Chardonnays from either Napa or Sonoma. The clean acidity and brightness help to balance the fattier style of Chardonnay from warmer parts of the appellations. Carneros Pinot is noted for having a lighter body with more earthy aromas than most California examples of the grape.

The sparkling wine from Carneros is considered some of the best of the new world. The wines display excellent structure and acidity, with intense aroma and bright, clear flavors. Some of the best sparkling producers in the area are: Domaine Chandon, Domaine Carneros, Gloria Ferrer and Codorníu Napa. Sparkling wine from Carneros has the potential to age well, though most bottles follow the Champagne example and are blends of several years, so there won’t be a vintage year on the label.

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Champagne, I love you, you’re wonderful and I’ll see you on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. Prosecco is for the everyday celebration. You should have sparkling wine at least once a week. At least. Prosecco fills that niche with grace and charm.

So what if it isn’t wafting complex toasted brioche and apricot aromas like the great sophisticated Champagne it is inevitably compared to? It’s not supposed to be Champagne. Yes, they both have bubbles and are usually white…and that’s about where we can stop comparing them. Decent Champagne starts at $30 a bottle, but good Prosecco can be had for $12 a bottle.

You may know Prosecco from the Bellini, that wonderful fizzy peach cocktail. Prosecco can be an aperitif, or a table wine to go with an easy Wednesday night dinner. Prosecco is hip and in-the-know. Prosecco says “I like bubbles, and I don’t care if it’s not from France, I’m going to drink what I want.”

Prosecco hails from the Veneto region in Italy, roughly a third of the way down, on the western side. It’s a pretty land with gently rolling hills. The wine is protected by the Prosecco DOC and by a new DOCG for Prosecco di Valdobbiadene. Just look for the little pink ribbon on the top of the bottle and you’re good to go.

Prosecco is that rarest of rare old world wines that makes sense to the American labeling mindset: Prosecco wine is made from Prosecco grapes. It’s that easy. You just don’t find ‘em like that in Europe. (Of course the Italians caught on that us Americans were having an easy time understanding their labels, so they went ahead and changed the name of the grape to Glera)

Prosecco may not have the reputation that Champagne has earned, but it still should be a go-to bubbly for quality, fun and value.

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Perhaps no other wine in the world has been able to cultivate an image quite as well as Champagne. The houses of Champagne spent the 19^th and 20^th centuries making their wine as synonymous with upward mobility, the affordable luxury product. They affectively tied their sparkling wines with moments of celebration in the minds of the world’s consumers. In a stroke of genius, they specifically advertised to women. In an age when this was uncommon, it reaped rewards in brand loyalty that last to this day.

It should come then, as no surprise that the Champagne producers of France feel a great need to protect this valuable brand. There are literally international treaties that the French have negotiated to stop anyone, anywhere outside of the bounds of the Champagne AOC from calling their sparkling wine product “Champagne.”

True Champagne comes from the Champagne region, located in north-central France. The vineyards lie near to the city of Paris and are one of the most northerly outposts of grapes in the world. The grapes used to produce Champagne are actually quite familiar to most wine consumers: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with a little of the obscure Pinot Meunier thrown in.

Champagne is usually a white wine, but Pinot Noir is a red grape…no? Well, yes, it is, but in Champagne production the Pinot Noir grapes are crushed very lightly and removed from the skins quickly so that no color leaches into the juice. Most Champagne is a blend of the three grapes, however a bottle labeled Blanc de Noirs will be made exclusively from Pinot Noir and Meunier and a bottle labeled Blanc de Blancs is made from only Chardonnay.

Champagne today is always a sparkling wine, though it was a still red at one point in time. The geography and climate of the area sparkling wine production the best choice for growers in the area. The cooler climate gives the grapes a high dose of acid and lower sugar content. The high acid is beneficial to balance the texture of the bubbles in the wine. Champagne is made by the process invented in the Champagne area called méthode champenoise. While the process is repeated throughout the world to produce sparkling wines, the name is protected and cannot be used on labels of wines that are not Champagne.

Champagne is produced in several levels of sweetness, from driest to sweetest: Brut zero, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Sec, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux. Most Champagne is a non-vintage wine. This is different than most still wines, and is why there is generally not a vintage on the label of Champagne. The Champagne houses blend their wines, using wines from several years to arrive at a “house style.” This process is designed to ensure that you’re favorite bottle of Champagne will taste the same, year-to-year.

Imagine if Coca-Cola or Budweiser tasted different every year…that consistency is what the Champagne houses are aiming for. Every few years though, there is an excellent vintage and the Champagne will be made from only that year’s wine. These special wines are called vintage Champagne and are aged for longer, then released with a vintage date on the label.

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Phylloxera devastated the south of Spain in the late 1800’s, which meant that the existing vineyards had to be ripped out and replanted. A stroke of fate happened when the red grapes of pre-Phylloxera vineyards were re-planted with white grapes. A second stroke of luck happened when Josep Raventós traveled to Champagne.

He realized that all the newly planted white grapes in his vineyards could be used to make a Spanish sparkling wine, in the style of Champagne. His company Codorníu still produces sparkling wine to this day, though they no longer call it Spanish Champagne, today the world knows his creation as Cava.

Cava literally means “cave” in Spanish and refers to the cool caves where the wines were stored and aged before the advent of refrigeration. Though Cava can technically be made in six areas of Spain, the vast majority of production happens in the region of Penedès, near Barcelona. In order to be labeled as Cava, the sparkling wines must be made in the traditional Champagne method—méthode champenoise. This process creates a wine that undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Any wine that is produced with the bulk, forced carbonation process called charmat must be labeled as “Spanish Sparkling Wine.”

The grapes that go into Cava dictate much of it’s flavor profile and style. The main grapes used in the production of Cava are: Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo, along with some Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which have been planted recently to appease international palettes. The Macabeo is fairly neutral and will usually make up the bulk of the blend. Parellada is the second most widely used grape. It is generally thought of as the best in quality, with apple and mineral notes a crisp finish. Some Cava is now produced and labeled as varietal Parellada. The Xarel-lo grape is indigenous to the area and produces wines with a strong character—which some people find less than pleasant—and is only used in small amounts for blending.

Cava has a texture similar to most sparkling wines, with tight, well-formed bubbles and crisp acidity. The wine can be produced in styles ranging from totally dry to very sweet, in that order they are: brut (nature), brut extra dry, sec or seco, semisec or semiseco, dolsec and finally dolce.

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It seems like everyone does red wine clubs 99% of the time. Most of us wine lovers are all about the red wine. But what about a gift for someone that isn’t crazy about wine? Or what about getting your wine lover friend something a little different? I think in both of these cases a Sparkling Wine Club is a great alternative.  Who doesn’t like opening a bottle of bubbly and celebrating with friends? Even when you have nothing to celebrate, just by opening a bottle of champagne you everything suddenly feels a little merrier. There a couple sparkling wine clubs I’d recommend. First is the Cellars Sparkling Wine Club. They actually do a combination of true Champagne from France and some California + Australian sparking wine… which in my opinion can be just as enjoyable as actual ‘champagne’. If you’re looking for a California only sparkling wine club option I would recommend the Schramsbery Sparkling Wine Club. They are known for the sparkling wine and have been making it since around 1965. If anyone is looking for a 100% champagne wine club you may be out of luck. I have yet to find one. There must be one out there somewhere… so if you find one please let me know.

Cheers,
Wine Club Insider

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Wine Club Insider back with you!

I am going to apologize in advance: We’re hosting a 1300 person event with 24 different sessions over 10 days coming up in early June, and as things get closer, I may be a bit sporadic on my postings… I will do what I can to keep current, and will promise to make up any that I miss afterwards.

This is one of the biggest events we have ever done, and it’s rapidly turning into a 25 hour/day project!

Anyway, I hope you all had a marvelous Mother’s Day! We certainly did around here. My own mom passed away very young from cancer, but my wife not only has her mom, she also has a 96 year old grandmother (Omi) and a 93 year old grandmother, both in excellent health (well, excellent for 93 and 96… I’d settle for being that healthy at that age!) so we had a full table of moms.., my wife and I are also expecting our own first child within the next couple of weeks, so she almost counted in the motherhood department this year.

Being a chef, one of the greatest joys is being able to cook for the family, especially one that enjoys good food, as ours does, so I get the pleasant task of doing the family holiday meals, of which Mother’s Day ranks right up there.

Here’s what we did to keep body and soul together for Mother’s Day; our family are big fish eaters, so I based the meal around some wonderful halibut fillets I found, and went from there.

Appetizers:   Cold smoked sockeye salmon (yes, I smoked it myself) with minced egg, herbed cream cheese and home made croutons, accompanied by a nice cheese tray with Havarti, smoked Gouda, aged cheddar and Berliner, an excellent, aged Irish white cheese.

For our first beverage I made one of our signature champagne cocktails, using Whidbey’s Loganberry Liqueur, and then pouring the champagne in so slowly that the liqueur (which is a rich, deep purple) stays on the bottom. Add a raspberry into the drink and straddle a strawberry on the rim, and you have one attractive drink that tastes good, too!

Salad:  We had a spinach salad topped with strawberries, raspberries, diced pears, candied walnuts, feta, and a hot bacon raspberry vinagreitte dressing, served with warm soft rolls. I served a delightful Argentinian wine called “Chumeia,” which is an off-dry, almost effervescent blend of Torrontes and Chenin Blanc that offset the salad very nicely.

For the main course, I seasoned the halibut with sea salt and thyme, sauteed them in olive oil, and served them up over a bit of cooked spinach in a nice three pepper sauce. We also had some pan fried new red baby potatoes and some crisp asparagus, and I topped the halibut with a sauteed giant prawn.

Our two wines were the single vineyard Ironstone “Rosato de Sangiovese,” a bone dry sangio blush that everyone loved, to some surprise. Since our family are mainly red wine drinkers, I also opened a bottle of the 2004 Isenhower “Red Paintbrush.” I ‘ve mentioned this beauty before, and likely will again, as this merlot based blend is an awesome wine, and is drinking perfectly right now.

A quick note on food and wine pairings:  The days of “white with fish, red with meat” are long gone, my friends. Experiment with all sorts of pairings, and you’ll be surprised with what you find that works well. Also, basically, it comes down to “drink what you like,” though that is NOT an excuse to not try new and different wines, even if they’re white, and you’re a “red wine drinker,” or vice versa!

For dessert, I created something new in the spring time vein, and was pleased with how it came out…

I sliced up an Angel food cake loaf, and then French-toasted the slices in egg, powdered sugar and more of the Whidbey’s liqueur. Yummm. Yes, it tasted as good as it sounds. I covered the slices with a bit of strawberry whipped cream, fresh strawbs, and for a touch of flavor and color, I added a splash of Rhubarb and strawberry coulis I whipped up the night before. It was, I must say, excellent. The grandparents were almost licking their plates! We served it with a bottle of Golddigger Cellars 2002 Late Harvest Sauv Blanc for the crowning touch.

Well, that was it for us. I’d love to hear what you all do for traditions, or what you did for meals to bless our moms… let me know, and I can hopefully post some of the best ones.

Until next time,

Cheers!

WIne Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back with you!

It appears my predictions of the final demise of old man winter were a bit pre-mature, and did nothing but stir him up, as went from a nice mid 70′s on Monday-Tuesday, to the current conditions, which include a temp of 35, blustery wind, and an inch of new snow (!) on the ground. I apologize, and will keep my mouth shut from now on. Is it just me, or is anyone else looking forward to the shift into summer mode?

Have you noticed if your wine tastes change as the weather gets warmer? I continue to like reds anytime, but I do find I drink more whites and roses in the warmer weather… anyone else?

All Whining (as opposed to “wineing,” which never goes out of style!) aside, I have a nice site to recommend to you.

I was cruising the Web yesterday, and came across a new-to-me site called Bottlenotes at www.bottlenotes.com. At first I was struck by the “cleanliness” of the site… crisp, bright colors, easy to navigate, but as I puttered around, I was impressed with the wide variety of information they offered; they had everything from comprehensive tasting notes and reviews, easily navigable by price, varietal, winery etc, as well as access to their own podcasts featuring such notables as Jack Cakebread, Pete Mondavi jr., etc.

They have a nice feature called “Winecylopedia,” which is a pretty extensive collection of wine info, and they also have “The Daily Sip,” which is, as they describe it, like a cross between “Daily Candy,” and “US Weekly” for the wine industry.

Aside from all of these little perks, they also offer some really fun wine clubs, and their “hook,” so to speak, is that they will completely customize your wine club to your tastes, budget, schedule etc.

They have 9 offerings, including the Explorer’s Wine Club, which is pretty much the standard “get started for $25″ club, and they also have the obligatory Intermediate wine club (The perhaps less than originally named “Connoisseurs Club”) and a high end offering called ”Limited Addictions” (nice name!) wine club, which features pretty high end, rare products such as Gaja, Pavie etc.

From there, they start to get cool, though…

They have a seasonal wine club, which is also customizeable, so you can choose Rhone in the spring, Napa cabs in the fall, etc.

Perhaps the coolest wine clubs they offer are the smallest…

They have a “Jet Setters,” which is a  tour of the world’s wines, they have a “Dinner party in a box” club, which provides all the wines for before, during and after a dinner party (a neat idea, really!), “Pop,” a champagne and sparkling club, a Kosher club for those looking for something beyond Manischewitz (who knew?), and a new Sake club, with some premium sakes on the menu.

All in all, a pretty nice stop on the web, and I’d recommend you check them out for the extras, as well as the interesting wine clubs.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back with you!

I think, finally, that yes, spring has arrived, as we hit temperatures in the 60s for the first time in what seems like a year, and that means the spring barrel tastings will be happening soon… ummm!

Also today I had a chance to stop in at a relatively new wine shop in Post Falls, Idaho named “Enoteca.” You can visit them at www.corkjoy.com, but just know that they have  terrific selection of wines and craft beers, as well as an awesome wine club. I spent quite a bit of time with Russell, the owner, and was impressed by his knowledge and his enthusiasm.

While there, I was perusing the sparkling wine selection, thinking of my favorite sparkling wine – Schramsberg’s “J Schram” – and when I got home tonight, voila, in my inbox was an email from Schramsberg telling me about their newest offering; a Cabernet Sauvignon named “JD.”

Now, this isn’t a complete departure from bubbly wines, as they make one of my all-time favorite wines, the J. Davies Cab.

Anyhoo, they’ve gone back and made J. a little brother:

“The genesis of jd came about as Hugh Davies and Sean Thompson were re-tasting the barrels of wines remaining after the final blend of 2006 J. Davies. These additional wines were really delicious but did not fit into the style of the first label. When growing grapes on a site as exceptional as our estate Diamond Mountain District historic vineyards, the overall quality is very high, and until the final blending, all wines are treated with the same care. The winemakers started began blending trials, not wanting to part with such great base wines. It is in the process of blending, where winemakers express their creativity and artistry. The results of the blending trials were so compelling that they decided to bottle a small quantity of a second wine. From now on, for each vintage, jd will be released in the spring and J. Davies in the fall. ”

The cool thing is that it’s going to sell for only $40/bottle, and with only 300 cases produced, you’re getting a pretty special wine here.

Check it out!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

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