August 24, 2006

Indeed, of all the products of the vine, the one I would most want to drink under any circumstances is champagne. Champagne is made for celebrating important occasions, of course (or made for celebrating nothing at all), but no other type of wine makes us feel so worthy of celebration ourselves; no other type of wine is capable of projecting so much weight and substance while still feeling balletic, levitating and downright active.

It must be the bubbles.

Those bubbles, without which champagne (or any sparkling wine) would not be itself, are the product of – in a shamelessly brief summation – a second fermentation that takes place after the still wine is made in the regular manner and put in the bottle, with the addition, in this case, with a tiny dose of yeast and sugar. That dosage brings the wine to life again, as it were, and the carbon dioxide that is a product of fermentation creates the bubbles that, thank goodness, remain in the bottle.

Other ways of making sparkling wines exist – short-cuts – but this methode champenoise, the champagne method, is the classic and authentic procedure.

I will follow the custom of calling the product made in France’s Champagne region by that name; sparkling wine made anywhere else, even in other regions of France, I will call sparkling wine.

Schramsberg Crémant Demi-Sec 2003 Flora grapes 68%, chardonnay 27%, gewurztraminer 5% Napa County 95%, Mendocino 5% About $35 Very good+ Flora is a cross of gewurztraminer and semillon, and even having gone through the double fermentation of the classic champagne method, here one smells the characteristic rose petal-lychee-spiced peach elements those grapes may confer. The pale straw-gold sparkling wine – the color of Rapunzel’s hair? – is indeed soft and round and sweet at the entry, with lemon curd, pear and peach flavors, but it quickly takes on a rigorous tone as smoky, toasty yeasty qualities surge forward and part the curtains for the panorama of limestone. Try this with very delicate desserts – spice cake, shortbread cookies, a plain apple tart – or with moderately spicy Asian fare. Visit schramsberg.com

Print Review: Schramsberg Crémant Demi-Sec 2003

Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs 2002 100% chardonnay Napa County 53%, Sonoma 21%, Mendocino 20%, Marin 6% About $33 Excellent Wonderful size and weight, depth and density. The color is Harlow-Monroe platinum blond with an infusion of very pale gold. It’s lush and creamy and expressive – Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mister President” – yet it’s crisp, high-toned and elegant, dry and chalky, seething with limestone, toast and freshly baked bread, citrus and lime peel and spice. The finish is long and fairly austere. Lots of class and character. Visit schramsberg.com

Print Review: Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs 2002

Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs 2003 Pinot noir 85%, chardonnay 15% Napa County 49%, Mendocino 35%, Sonoma 16% About $35 Excellent This is also a blond sparkling wine, but a golden blond, a rich-girl blond, the ideal balance between elegance and austerity. It’s rich and yeasty, offering notes of toasted hazelnuts, lemon curd and ginger, all wrapped in a creamy yet lively package that opens before an onslaught of deeply-embedded mineral qualities. Quite Exciting. Visit schramsberg.com

Print Review: Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs 2003

Schramsberg Brut Rosé 2003 Pinot noir 58%, chardonnay 42% Napa County 47%, Mendocino 33%, Sonoma 19%, Marin 1% About $40 Excellent The color is pale copper-peach, with an undertone of tarnished silver; the tiny bubbles fume upward in a constant, twisting stream. Macerated cherries and strawberries characterize the bouquet, which is also nutty, yeasty and toasty. It’s lush and creamy in the mouth, but leavened with crisp acid and tantalizing spice and lively with citrus, melon and cranberry flavors. The finish is long and minerally and rather austere. A beautifully-made rosé sparkling wine that embodies grace and power. Visit schramsberg.com

Print Review: Schramsberg Brut Rosé 2003