WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Carpe Vinum Newsletter and Tasting Announcement Thing! This week we’re celebrating! What are we celebrating? Sparkling wine! It’s the 3rd Annual Celebratory Sparkler Spectacular! These bodacious bubblies are a celebration within themselves; a veritable party-in-a-bottle! Just the simple opening of the bottle sounds and feels like a celebration, and is probably why it’s been used for celebration purposes for centuries. Weddings! New Year’s Eve! NASCAR victories! And even the celebration of the morning following an evening of celebrating too much (mixed with orange juice). There’s no doubt that sparklers are the favorites of many. So let’s take a look at our effervescent friends.

Through all of wine history, everywhere wine was made, some batches would have a bubbly character due to a fermentation within the bottle, usually caused by the bottling of a wine that had not fully fermented. The gasses produced by fermentation within the bottle would be reabsorbed into the liquid, only to be released once the wine was opened. This is the true origin of all sparkling wines: Basically, it’s an accident someone found the idea to improve upon. This sparkling characteristic has been refined by methods to enhance the effervescence by adding more sugars and more yeasts just before bottling. (Of course, it’s not quite THAT simple. But, hey. We don’t have all day, right?)

Although the French wines of Limoux claim to be the first makers of a Brut sparkling wine, we can definitely say that the Champagne district was the first to perfect it. Even so, every winemaking country has a bubbly of their own, some made with different grapes and different methods, and others paying homage to the original. The true Champagne, to which some people will accept no substitute, can be some of the most expensive in the world, with few retailing under the $40 price range, and many over $100.

So for a tasting of bubblies, I find it best to do a tour of the worldwide styles of sparklers. It gives a great cross-section of the styles, yet remains within the financial realm of possibility. Personally I like many of these better than that of the origninal Champagne, anyway. . .but still, the tasting wouldn’t be complete without a true Champagne. So I’ve devised a special spot for just that. It’s the perfect research for what gets popped at your celebration in the coming weeks! Enjoy!

So Friday, December 2nd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Bubblies Around the World!
Trevisiol 2003 Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
Rene Mure NV Cremant d’Alsace, Alsace, France
Gruet NV Brut, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pascual Toso NV Brut, Mendoza, Argentina
Codorniu NV Cuvee Raventos, Cava, Spain

Even More Bubbles From Around the World (But a bit more close by)!!
Elk Cove 1999 Brut, Willamette Valley, Oregon
J Vineyards 1999 Sparkling Brut, Sonoma, California

And One More! A True Champagne!
Heidsieck & Co. Monopole NV Blue Top, Champagne, France

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours, and $5 for a taste of the “True Champagne”

Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

Plus, if I’m feeling adventurous, I might saber a bottle for y’all. You know. . .where you knock off the entire top of a bottle with a sword. . .it’s neat!

Next Friday tasting is Spanish Wines!

M