WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Quasi-Weekly Newsletter-of-Sorts and Announcement for the Friday Tasting here at Carpe Vinum! Last week, due to some online newsletter mailing service weirdness, the newsletter from last week didn’t get cleared until, well, today. But considering sending out two newsletters in one day might just prove to be too confusing (i.e.- just what the heck are we tasting tomorrow?). So for posterity’s sake, the newsletter from last week is posted on the shop’s blogsite at http://www.carpevinumpdx.com. But for the purpose of this week, the tasting tomorrow will be our Sparkletacular 2007! That’s right! It’s seven . . . no wait, eight sparklers served to you tomorrow, and an introduction to eight wines that would be befitting to any holiday celebration! So let’s meet our contenders, shall we?

So just how do they get all those bubbles into those bottles? A question for the ages, to be sure. There are quite a few methods for getting those wines to sparkle. The lo-fi method is to actually carbonate the things artificially, like some of the soft drinks, beers and canned wines out there. Yes, canned wine. To be sipped through a straw. Out of a paper bag on the bus. Okay, okay, that’s not quite fair. Cracking open a can of carbonated wine can be quite fun. Not necessarily tasty, but fun. The more traditional method is to add additional yeast and sweetness to the bottles and put a pretty sturdy cap on there and let fermentation in the bottle do the trick.

Actually, that seems to be the most popular method of doing it. It’s what’s referred to as “Methode Champenoise” or “Methode Traditionelle”. There is some dispute as to who did it first. Bubbles appearing in the wine is technically a flaw in the wine, meaning that the juice was bottled before the fermentation was complete, so winemakers in colder climates had been doing that by accident for centuries. But as far as who started intentionally bottling the wines with the intention of creating bubbles is a hotly contested dispute. Wineries in the Loire have records that they were doing it years before Champagne, but Champagne certainly seems to have perfected the process. Or at least they’ve perfected the marketing of the wines. For an example of this marketing, check out ANY website from producers in Champagne. They are all the most exquisite wine websites on the web. Also, all the animation and scripting on the sites might crash your browser if your bandwidth isn’t quite up to snuff. But that’s another story.

So when I put together a sparkling tasting, I like to do a tour of the world to check out the different styles of bubblies the world has to offer, considering almost every wine-growing region will have their own sparkler. Of course, starting at the top, both by reputation, history and price, we have Champagne. There are very few Champagnes that retail under $40 and quite a few that retail over $200. I guess they have to pay their over-productive webmasters. Also from France is the Cremant from different regions. Usually done in the same methods as Champagne, I find the results are just as pleasant, and the price is even more pleasant. As always, I have to put in my favorite of the bubblies, a Prosecco from Italy and the ever-popular Cava from Spain. Also, we have to look to our own winemakers here in Oregon for some local bubbly. We don’t have many, but they are nice.

Aw, heck. Why not? Just for fun let’s throw in one of Australia’s red sparkling Shiraz. These things had traditionally been terribly expensive but it seems more producers have been making these things and driving the price down. If you’ve not tried one of these things, you really must. Actually, I’d say every one of sparklers is a must. After all it is the Sparklefest!

So Friday, December 14th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Sparklefest 2007!!!
Lucien Albrecht NV Brut Blanc de Blancs, Cremant de Alsace, France
Clemence Guery NV Cremant de Loire, France
Fantinel NV Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
1 + 1 = 3 NV Brut Cava, Spain
Louis Bouillot NV Perle de Aurore, Cremant de Bourgogne Rose’, France

More Sparklies!!!
Argyle 1999 Brut, Knudsen Vineyard, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Nicholas Feuillatte NV Brut Champagne, France

Okay . . . Just One More . . . Red one too!
The Black Chook NV Sparkling Shiraz, Barossa, Australia

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.

Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Procrastinator’s Gift Guide!

M