Holiday Bubbles -- Faire La Fête Crémant de Limoux

Wine writers nag that we should drink bubbles whenever we please, but most of us please to do so during the holidays and for other celebrations. The holidays are upon us, and as Champagne prices have increased without remorse in recent years, it is certainly wise to seek alternatives.

Faire la Fête Brut ($18) is an alternative worthy of your consideration. Like Champagne, it comes from France, but from hillside vineyards in the Southwest near Spain. Like Champagne, the wine is a blend of Chardonnay (70%) and Pinot Noir (10%), but with Chenin Blanc (20%) in the mix rather than Champagne's Pinot Meunier. The wine is made in the same manner as Champagne. In fact, Limoux claims to be the birthplace of sparkling wine because the secondary fermentation, which produces the fizz inside each bottle, was invented there.

The principal differences, then, are climate, soil and price. As for climate, the Southwest is certainly warmer than Champagne, though this Crémant still weighs in at a mere 12% alcohol. As for soil, Limoux claims to have both chalky clay marl (similar to Champagne) as well as limestone soils (similar to Burgundy). Price? Well, good luck finding a Champagne anywhere close to $18/bottle.

One more important difference is taste. No one familiar with sparkling wines who is paying attention would mistake this wine for a Champagne. Not because it is not good, but because it tastes different. Generally I would expect a more full-bodied wine to emerge from a warmer climate, but a good many Champagnes have more weight and body than this. This wine is delicate and pretty. It has hints of yeastiness (think fresh bread), is floral but not perfumey, and has a suggestion of lime/citrus. It is crisp and refreshing, and would serve well anywhere you would use a Champagne--on its own for celebratory sipping, or with appetizers ranging from toasted nuts to caviar.

It may not astonish with its finesse, but I have found still less finesse in Champagnes retailing for triple the price.

Many people present sparkling wine as a gift, and this wine would make a fine one. The packaging is quite attractive, with the pale lavender foil playing brilliantly off the bright green label. And no one will be disappointed with the contents.

At $18, this is a bargain in French sparkling wine. Though different than Champagne, it tastes great, and has more in common with its more expensive cousin than do most wines from Prosecco, Cava, or elsewhere.

Enjoy!

This wine was provided by a marketing agent for the producer.

Karma--more innovative packaging

The latest in our ongoing series on innovative wine packaging is Karma California Brut. We discovered it on a Virgin America flight and given the cool bottle and our naive belief that Virgin would have wine worth drinking  we ordered it up.

Well, at least the bottle was cool. Not much really innovative--it's still glass, and it has a screwcap--but it sure is not traditional sparkling wine packaging. We appreciate that much, at least. Read on if you care to learn more about the wine.

The wine was close to bland, and that is probably good. It does have a slight sweetness (so why call it Brut?) that builds over time, annoyingly. Our overall rating: better than Sofia. Which is not saying much.

The website is surprisingly cool, aside from the autoplay, horrible music. What is up with that?

Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz

We have a great recommendation if you are looking for something different to bring out at Thanksgiving: sparkling Shiraz. Who doesn't like sparkling wine? But when it's red, not white or pink, it's a completely different experience.

We have always been drawn to sparkling Shiraz wines, though in the past they have never quite met our expectations. However, the Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz, $18, is a winner. The tricky part with bubbly red wine is balancing the tannins with the carbonation and the acid. The three together can be very hard on the palate because the carbonation enhances the astringency and bitterness of the wine phenolics. Other sparkling Shiraz we have tried have had an overly bitter finish. The Wyndham Estate, in contrast, is very nicely balanced, with typical Shiraz fruitiness and some orange rind flavors (but not too bitter). The bubbles themselves might be ever so slightly out of whack--the wine goes into the glass with froth more than effervescence, and the sparkle faded more quickly than we would have liked, but this is a minor complaint.

We enjoyed the wine with an Indian-inspired dinner of spicy chickpeas, sauteed broccoli, and coconut rice. The wine worked beautifully with this meal, which would have proved challenging to most wine pairings. This is a great wine for holiday gatherings, and its weight, balance, and flavors allow it to work as an aperitif, with hors d'ouevres, with a meal, or even with dessert.

Please note that we very happily received this wine as a sample.

Disappointment in a can

We could not be more excited about wine in cans. Putting wine in cans is great for convenience, for the environment, and for quality. We've talked about wine in cans before, but to briefly re-cap, cans come in more appropriate sizes, and are lighter and easier to carry than glass bottles. They do not require a cork screw, and there is no cork to possibly affect the wine's taste. And they are easy to smuggle into movie theaters.

Consumers tend to view new packaging types with suspicion, assuming that only inferior wine would be placed in a bag-in-box, TetraPak, or can. It is important to prove such customers wrong by having very good wine in these new packages. If a skeptical consumer musters up the courage to try a canned wine, and the product disappoints, they are unlikely to try wine in a can again.

When we learned of  Barokes' Australian wines in cans, we eagerly requested samples. We received four wines: a Chardonnay, a Shiraz, and  two sparklers. Unfortunately, we did not like any of the wines. Both whites, the Chardonnay and the blanc de blanc sparkler, tasted flat and oxidized. The Shiraz was simple and sweet, and the residual sugar in the wine grew so cloying that we were unable to finish the 250-mL can. The red sparkler, mysteriously called blanc de noirs, was particularly disappointing because we have very much enjoyed sparkling Shiraz in the past. This wine (a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot) had good bubbles and ample tannin but lacked the fruit to match.

We hope Barokes reconsiders their strategy and improves the quality of the wines in their lineup. Meanwhile, keep a lookout for Wild Pelican canned wines, and please let us know if you see or hear of any others.

Sabering!

Sparkling wine is always a pleasure to drink, but did you know it can be a pleasure to open, as well? Oh, sure, everyone loves the "Pop" as the cork is shot across the room (mind the eyes, now). Wouldn't it be more fun to open the bottle with a slash of a big knife?

In this video, devoted friend of the site Lisa Scheff demonstrates a bottle-opening technique called sabering. Get a few practice bottles and you'll be wowing your friends in no time.

By the way, Lisa describes the Chouinard bubbles seen in the video thus:
It was light and simple--just the thing to go with burgers and potato salad." The wine retails for $16.50.

Cheers!