Where to Buy Champagne/ Sparkling Wine Salt Lake City UT

A Terrific Bubbly and a Terrific Value

Ferrari Trento DOC (Italy) Brut NV (Palm Bay International, $24):  When I agreed to meet Marcello Lunelli, chief winemaker of the family-owned Ferrari wine house, and taste through his sparkling wines, I had my eyes on the company’s prize wine, the $95 vintage-dated Giulio Ferrari Brut Reserve.  Much to my surprise, the wine that captivated me was the basic, regular non-vintage (NV) Ferrari Brut.  Don’t get me wrong: the 1999 Giulo Ferrari is fantastic, and I rate it higher than the NV Brut.  But the Brut is so utterly enjoyable!

Ferrari is Italy’s largest and best-known classic-method sparkling wine house, making 25 percent of Italy’s entire annual production of bottle-fermented bubbly.  Giulio Ferrari founded the company in 1902 and, influenced by experience in France, he pioneered the planting of Chardonnay in the Trento area.  In 1952, he passed ownership of the company to the Lunelli family.

Ferrari NV Brut is entirely Chardonnay, although until 2000, the wine had contained about five percent Pinot Noir.  A particularity of the climate in which the grapes grow is the day-night temperature variation:  Lunelli remarked that August temps can reach about 93°F during the day and yet drop to 54°F at night.  At harvest the grapes have acidities as high as or higher than those in the Champagne region, and even after the base wines undergo malolactic fermentation the bubblies show real depth, thanks to that high acidity.

What strikes me about the NV Ferrari Brut is its great balance.  The wine is quite dry, with only 7 grams residual sugar, and the balance of acid to alcohol (12.5 percent) to sweetness is perfect.  The wine also has great balance in the relationship of structure to flavor: this is a sparkling wine that is as much about its flavor as it is about texture and bubbles.

The wine’s medium intense aroma is broad rather than penetrating and suggests ripe apples, a slight note of peachiness and a hint of butterscotch.  In the mouth the wine is dry -- dryer than most NV Brut Champagnes -- with a very delicate, well-integrated mousse, some creaminess of texture, and lots of fruity flavor.  The wine’s length across the palate is complete and the finish is long and fruity.  I rarely describe sparkling wines as “round” in the mouth because usually the bubbles create an impression of verticality that runs counter to roundness, but here I am inclined to use that descriptor.

Like all Ferrari wines, this is a DOC-level, classic method bubbly, made via a second fermentation in the bottle.  DOC regulations for Trento sparkling wines require aging for at least 15 months on the lees of the second fermentation, but Ferrari’s NV Brut remains on the lees at least two years before disgorging.  Each bottle states the year that the wine was disgorged (sboccatura)...

An Austrian Star

Schloss Gobelsburg (Austria) Brut Reserve NV (Michael Skurnik Wines, $35):  I first had this bubbly at an informal tasting of Austrian wines, where it stood out to me as a star.  But I don’t put a lot of stock in the impressions that I take away from walk-around wine-tastings, and I decided to taste the wine again -- this time blind, in the company of similar sparkling wines.  It was my favorite.

This wine comes from the acclaimed estate of Schloss Gobelsburg, situated in the Kamptal region of Austria.  (It cannot carry the Kamptal appellation because that designation applies only to still Grüner Veltliners and Rieslings.)  Schloss Gobelsburg dates back to 1171 and is still owned by monks.  Since 1996, however, Eva and Michael Moosbrugger have had a two-generation contract to operate the 86-acre estate and winery for the monks and already have earned it acclaim as one of the finest wineries in Austria.  The winery produces five Grüner Veltliners and four Rieslings from its vineyards in renowned sites such as Heiligenstein, Gaisberg, Lamm and Renner, as well as a few red wines and an Eiswein.  In other words, Schloss Gobelsburg is a normal wine estate, not a sparkling wine specialist -- which makes this Brut Reserve all the more impressive.

When you prepare to taste an Austrian sparkler, you don’t know which grape varieties to expect: they could include aromatic white varieties such as Riesling or Grüner Veltliner or non-aromatic varieties such as Pinot Blanc or Chardonnay, or red grapes such as Pinot Noir or even native Austrian red varieties.  The color of this Brut Reserve, a fairly deep golden yellow, suggested Grüner Veltliner or a red variety, and in fact the wine contains both: 70 percent Grüner Veltliner and 15% Pinot Noir, with 15% Riesling as well. 

The wine’s aroma of toast, caramel, butter and a bit of vanilla suggests a big, rich bubbly that has spent some time in oak and is progressing nicely along its development curve.  On the palate, the wine is very dry (residual sugar is only 8 grams per liter), full-bodied and flavorful, with firm acidity and lively but delicate bubbles.  The complex flavors include mushroom, toast, honey, caramel, ripe citrus fruit and bruised apples, and they continue into a very long, rich finish.  The wine’s texture is rather creamy, but it is also crisp because of the enlivening acidity.  This is a wine of character and yet of nuance.

Terry Theise, who represents this winery as well as numerous Champagne growers, says that when he serves this Brut Reserve to others blind, they believe it is Champagne.  Although the grape varieties are very different, I can understand the association of this wine with Champagne.  The winemaking aspects of the wine’s taste (and Champagne is so much about its winemaking) are similar to many Champagnes, such a...

Champagne for the Dinner Table

If you really love Champagne -- and judging by its sales lately, that includes a lot of us -- you might opt to drink this luscious beverage throughout dinner, or at least with your first course.  This is especially true if you're having fish, seafood, white pastas, vegetables, or spicy Asian dishes.  Frankly, I enjoy Champagne with almost everything except red meat or tomato-based dishes.  But not every Champagne is made in the style that complements typical dinner fare.

Richard Geoffroy, head winemaker of Dom Pérignon, loves to serve his excellent Champagne with sushi and other types of Asian cuisine.  But as good as DP is, its style is too delicate and refined for heartier dinner courses.  The light, elegant house style of many Champagnes, such as Laurent-Perrier,  Perrier-Jouët, Pommery, Piper-Heidsieck, Bruno Paillard, Jacquesson, Nicolas Feuillatte, and Mumm, to name a few, makes them ideal to serve with apéritifs or with party foods.

Over the years, through trial and error, I've compiled a list of full-bodied, powerful Champagnes that work best for me at the dinner table.  Many of these Champagnes have the body and style of still wines; for me, they typically are very Burgundian, but with bubbles.

Almost all of my full-bodied favorites have something else in common: they possess great longevity, and are often at their best with at least 10, and sometimes 20 or more years of age.  As you might expect, many -- but not all -- full-bodied Champagnes are Pinot-dominated (both Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier); and yet quite a few Blanc de Blancs (100 percent Chardonnay) Champagnes, especially those from the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs, are quite powerful and long-lived.

In some cases, all Champagnes of some houses are made in the full-bodied style; other houses produce only one or two full-bodied Champagnes.  I indicate this info in my list below:

• Bollinger:  All of Bollinger's Champagnes are full-bodied and dry.  These include their non-vintage Special Cuvée, Vintage Grand Année, R.D. Extra Brut, Rosé, and their rare Blanc de Noirs, Vieilles Vignes Françaises.  The Grand Année is particularly long-lived.
• Krug:  All of Krug's Champagnes, including their Blanc de Blancs, are full-bodied, dry, and especially long-lived.  These are the Krug Grande Cuvée, Vintage Krug, Clos du Mesnil (Blanc de Blancs), and Rosé.
• Veuve Clicquot:  The second-largest Champagne house (after Moët & Chandon), all of Veuve Clicquot's Champagnes are made in the full-bodied style, but not as powerful or as dry as Bollinger's or Krug's Champagnes.  Like Bollinger and Krug, Clicquot's Champagnes are Pinot-dominated (all three houses use both Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier).  Of Veuve Clicquot's huge line, my favorites are its Vintage Reserve Gold Label, La Grande Dame, and La Grande Dame Rosé.  The Vint...

Full-Bodied Dinner Champagnes

Many people like Champagne, but only a few of us, I have observed, actually enjoy Champagne throughout dinner.  I love to have Champagne with dinner, and have found that it really complements most of the foods that I enjoy.  Granted, if you're having steak, roast beef, lamb, venison, etc., or any dish with acidic ingredients such as tomatoes or tomato sauce, your better choice with dinner would be a bottle of red wine. 

Apart from those cases, I recommend Champagne with all kinds of fish and seafood; with pasta--other than tomato-based--and risotto, especially risotto with mushrooms; with most poultry dishes, including game birds; with most vegetable dishes; and even with white or pink meat dishes (more on that later).  But full-bodied Champagnes are a better choice to accompany these foods than lighter ones--the one exception being that a lighter-bodied Champagne might do well with a light fish entrée.

Before I name the full-bodied Champagnes that I suggest to accompany dinner, I must mention something that will probably annoy many readers:  You can really only appreciate good Champagne, especially full-bodied, complex Champagnes, in large, wider glasses, such as the tulip-shaped glass, or even a good white wine glass.  Flutes, which I know many of you own--or even worse, the so-called trumpet-shaped glasses--are truly poor glasses for Champagne, especially complex, full-bodied Champagnes.  Neither glass allows any room for the development of aromas.  I own some flutes, but only use them for inexpensive sparkling wines; their only merit is that they do a decent job keeping your bubbly cold.  Other than that, they're not worth a damn.

I had dinner a short time ago in a New York City restaurant with Ghislain de Montgolfier, head of the family-owned Champagne Bollinger (Ghislain is a great-nephew of the indomitable Lily Bollinger).  I was there to taste all of Bollinger's current releases.  But the restaurant had only flutes (a problem in most restaurants)!  Montgolfier stated unequivocally that Bollinger (a very full-bodied Champagne) would not be poured into flutes, and asked for white wine glasses.  In a stroke of brilliance, the sommelier recommended glasses that the restaurant uses for Burgundy and Barolo; the glasses were not the typically apple-shaped, wide Burgundy type, but more trapezoidal.  All of the Champagnes showed beautifully (review notes on this week's WRO Reviews page)!  And, by the way, the sommelier kept the Champagnes perfectly cold (but not ice cold) throughout the dinner, which was a big plus.  

Now on to my full-bodied, dinner Champagne recommendations:  I've composed a group of eight Champagne Houses, plus three Grower-Champagnes.  Of the eight houses, only three make all of their Champagnes in the full-bodied style:

• Bollinger
• Krug
• Salon (makes only one Champ...

Holiday Champagne & Sparkling Guide for Dummies

Producers of Champagne and other sparkling wines love the month of December!  And why not?  Some of them sell as much as half of their annual production in this one month.  Family get-togethers during the Holidays, office parties, annual bonuses and New Year's Eve all combine to push annual sales solidly into the black.  The Champagne region in particular has been experiencing a boom in sales during the last several years.

The great thing about bubbly wine is that there's something for everyone at every price and quality level.  If you don't like dry bubblies or sparkling wines that are too acidic, no problem.  Plenty of off-dry to sweet sparkling wines are available, many of which have lower acidity.  The André line, made by Gallo, comes in all colors, flavors and levels of sweetness, and will cost you about $5.00 a bottle.

Its main competitor at this price level is Cook's, made by the Canandaiga Wine Company of New York State. Gallo also produces slightly more upscale bubblies, such as Tott's and Ballatore Gran Spumante, for $2 or $3 more.  I think that Ballatore, with its clean, floral Muscat flavors, is a particularly good buy at this price level.  

Most inexpensive (under $8) bubblies are produced by the Charmat (closed tank) method, in which the carbon dioxide, the natural by-product of fermenting wine, is trapped in a closed tank and is absorbed by the wine. This method enables producers to process large quantities of sparkling wine, a far less costly method than used in Champagne -- or in most wine regions producing over $8 bubblies -- where the carbon dioxide is actually trapped in the very same bottle that you are buying.

The grape varieties used in sparkling wines employing the Charmat method are often far less expensive than Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the two varieties you find in most of the better-quality bubblies, including Champagne.

Prosecco and Asti

In the $8 to $25 retail range, a prodigious amount of sparkling wine is produced throughout the world, most of which is made by the classic Champagne method.  Two sparkling exceptions in Italy, Prosecco and Asti/Moscato d'Asti, do use the closed tank method.  Thanks to its popularity in Italian restaurants, sales for Prosecco -- the dry sparkling wine that goes particularly well with Italian antipasti -- are booming.  Most Proseccos retail in the $12 to $20 price range.  Prosecco, made from the grape variety of the same name, hails from the Veneto region of Northeast Italy; some leading brands include Adami, Astoria, Canevel, Casalnova, Mionetto, Nino Franco, Valdo, Zardetto, Zefiro and Zonin. 

Asti (formerly called Asti Spumante) and Moscato d'Asti, its slightly less effervescent cousin, are both made from the Moscato (Muscat) grape variety in the area around the town of Asti in Piedmont, Italy.  Asti, with its wonderful aromas and...