Our third meeting was held last night at Ali’s home in Rockville, Maryland. The theme was Sparkling Wines (or if you want to go by her typo, it was ‘sparking wines’ which would have been very interesting indeed!)
Allison brought a non vintage bottle of Marcel Martin Crémant de Loire Tête de Cuvée Brut (Loire Valley, France)
Rebecca brought a non vintage bottle of L. Mawby Talismøn, (Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan)
Cameron brought a bottle of 2007 Francis Coppola / Niebaum-Coppola Sofia Blanc de Blancs (California)
Martha Jane brought a non vintage bottle of Jacobs Creek Sparkling Rose, (Australia)
Jenn brought a non vintage bottle of The Black Chook Shiraz Sparkling (South Australia)
Elena brought a bottle of 2002 Cray Brut Montlouis
Maggie brought a non vintage bottle of Villa Jolanda Prosecco di Valdobbiadene (Veneto, Italy)
Michelle brought a non vintage bottle of Bebe Asti Frizante Prosecco (Italy)
Angela brought a non vintage bottle of Zardetto Prosecco di Conegliano Brut (Veneto, Italy).
It was an educational night. We tasted several styles of sparkling wine (however interestingly enough we did not have a true champagne) and were able to compare several from the same region.
Below are some interesting facts discussed during the course of the night:
Smaller bubbles mean more total bubbles, which help release the wine’s flavor in the mouth.
A sparkling wine that is labeled “Natural” is drier than “Brut”, which is drier than “Extra Dry.”
Most sparking wine is non-vintage, which allows the winemaker to blend older wine with the new, to achieve a consistent flavor style.
Michigan makes excellent sparkling wine.
The traditional way of making sparkling wine involved secondary fermentation in the bottle.
Italians call their sparkling wine Spumante, and Prosecco is made in both fully sparkling (spumante) and lightly sparkling (frizzante) styles.
Sekt is the German designation for sparkling wine.
The Spanish call their sparkling wines Cava.
While most sparkling wine is produced from Chardonnay and Pinot noir, an Australian speciality is Sparkling Shiraz.
Sparkling wine is a common aperitif, a beverage before a meal.
The foam produced by thousands of bubbles in a sparkling wine is called the mousse.
AOC stands for Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, the top rung of the French wine quality system.
DOC/DOCG stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata/e Garantita. This is the Italian wine quality system.
Our next meeting will be held by Martha Jane, and her theme is wine from films, tv and music. The date and location are coming soon so be on the lookout for the e-vite!
And as always, if I have made an error, please let me know and I will correct it as soon as possible. Thanks everyone for coming out to suburbia for an evening!
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