A close friend suggested that champagne and June weddings would be a great topic for a column and then within a matter of days, I volunteered to provide the bubbly for a toast at my niece’s wedding scheduled for the last weekend of June. So I began the arduous process of trying to locate an affordable, yet delicious, champagne to pour for about 100 people. Before I start, not every bubbly can be called champagne. Over the years, there have been a variety of laws and treaties worldwide that protect the name “champagne” from being used on any bottle not produced in the Champagne region of France. Hence, in the United States the most common designation is “sparkling wine” and worldwide, there are a plethora of names for sparkling wines in different wine producing countries — such as Prosecco, Cava and Spumante. So what is the difference between champagne and sparkling wine? Nothing really other than where the grapes are grown and the wine produced. Several hours east of Paris lies the Champagne region, which is the birthplace of sparkling wine. Legend has it that a monk named Dom Pérignon missed the mark while making wine for his Abbey in the early 1700s. One winter, he mistakenly bottled and corked the wine prior to the completion of the fermentation process. Fermentation remained dormant during the winter months, but when spring arrived and the bottles warmed up fermentation resumed and trapped carbon dioxide in the bottles which caused them to explode. After opening a bottle and taking a drink, Dom supposedly stated “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!” Whether or not this quote attributed ever took place will never be known — but Dom Pérignon’s name lives to this day and is synonymous with great champagne. When a sparkling wine is listed as NV, it is a non-vintage wine — meaning that it was produced by blending grapes from different vintages. Usually, non-vintage wines taste very similar year in and year out. In addition, when a label states “Blanc de Noir” or “Blanc de Blanc” it means either white from dark (made with Pinot Noir grapes) or white from white (typically made with Chardonnay grapes). Although Pinot Noir is a red grape varietal, its juice is clear. I started with the La Marca Extra Dry Prosecco NV, made in Italy. I found this wine to be very crisp, yet somewhat creamy and delicate, with citrus flavors most notably lemon. This Prosecco costs $12 a bottle and was a Wine Spectator top 100 wine of the year in 2007. Next was the Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir NV, which has a very faint light pink hue. This Blanc de Noir tasted creamy and lush, with an aroma of red berries and hints of vanilla. This wine is made in Sonoma County and retails for approximately $14 a bottle. Then the Roederer Anderson Valley Brut NV which retails for $18 a bottle. It tasted very crisp and was somewhat spicy upfront. I thought this wine was full bodied, similar to the style of a typical French champagne. This wine hails the Mendocino wine region of California. Last I tasted the Moët & Chandon Imperial NV — a wine made by one of the most famous champagne houses in France (they also produce Dom Pérignon). This is traditionally the best-selling champagne in the United States, retailing around $34 a bottle. The color appears to have a light yellow hue and the wine has flavors of honey with the texture of the skin from a ripe peach. Now let’s remember that a champagne flute is much smaller than a wine glass and in my experience, the average pour for a toast is about 1-1/2 ounces. There are approximately 25.4 ounces in a 750 ml bottle so that translates to about 15 to 16 glasses per bottle — so for 100 people, seven bottles should do the job (or so I hope)! Jim Rawe, a family attorney in Bradenton, is an avid collector of fine wines. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at jimrawe@gmail.com.
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