Perfect Pairings. Evan Goldstein

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      Most sparkling wine is nonvintage, that is, produced from grapes from more than one year's harvest. The reason for this goes back, like so many traditions in bubbly, to Champagne, where the unpredictable weather forced vintners to save still wines from prior years in case Mother Nature decided to be uncooperative in a given harvest. Still wines from that year's vintage were then blended with some of the older still wines to produce a cuvée (French for wine blend) that conformed to a consistent flavor profile or signature house style. Because these wines contain less than the 95 percent of a single year's grapes that is required for a wine to qualify as a vintage, the resulting wine is labeled a blended nonvintage (or multivintage, as it's now fashionable to say). What matters is that the wine be consistent in taste from year to year. In exceptional years a vintner may choose to capture the vintage's personality in a bottle by declaring a vintage, that is, making a sparkling wine exclusively out of grapes from that year's harvest. These wines are the only sparkling wines that bear a year on the label, and that is the year in which the grapes were picked.

      Besides the country and region of origin, the choice of production method and grapes employed, and the decision to make a nonvintage or vintage wine, sparkling wines also vary in style. Almost all are of the nonvintage brut type. Brut suggests wines that are dry to the palate and blended according to regional grape varieties and specifications; they are frequently a blend of red and white grapes. Some wines, however, have additional information on the label. Blanc de blancs (literally “white of whites”) are made exclusively from white grapes (most often Chardonnay). They are delicate and citrus-flavored with racy acidity and a zesty vibrancy, and they are very light in appearance. Rosé wines are primarily made from red grapes and are either a blush or rosé color. These wines, although most often spicy, rich, and dry, can also be slightly riper or sweeter, in which case they are often labeled “blanc de noirs” (“white of darks”). Blanc de noirs wines are produced almost exclusively in the United States.

      The Rolls-Royce of any given winery is called its prestige cuvée, or tête de cuvée. Included in this category are Möet et Chandon's Dom Perignon and Roederer's Cristal from France; Schrams-berg's J. Schram from California; Bellavista's Gran Cuvée Pas Opere from Italy; and Rimarts' Cava Uvae from Spain. These are always vintage wines and represent the best and most distinctive of what a house can make. While there are also prestige cuvée wines that are rosés and a few blanc de blancs, most are very high-end, classic brut interpretations.

       SPARKLING WINE STYLES AND DOSAGE

      In the méthode champenoise, once the wines are produced, but before they are corked and sold, they spend time resting on their spent yeast deposits (a by-product of the secondary fermentation in the bottle). During this time the wine is said to be en tirage (on its yeast). The amount of tirage time will add personality to the wine as the dead yeasts break down and their amino acids are absorbed into the wine, a process called autolysis. The remaining yeast deposit is removed by a process called disgorging (in French, dégorgement) before the wine is considered finished. In general, the longer the tirage time, the more complex and creamy the wine is, and the smaller and more refined the bubbles are. Some wines are known for their extended tirage times, and the label may make reference to this with terms such as RD or late disgorged.

      Although almost all sparkling wines and Champagnes are made without any aging in wood barrels or casks, some noteworthy exceptions are made with oak-aged still wines. The great Champagne houses of Krug and Bollinger are respected advocates of the judicious use of wood, and their wines are known for the resulting roundness and richness.

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