This weekend I tried 12 different sparkling wines. I know it sounds like I am what my friend would call a booze hound, But I am working to expand my palette and I was told by a sommelier that the only way to have a broader palette is to try more wine and then talk through all the sensations and get really comfortable with each trait and so that is my mission.

I never want to be the person who sits around spewing out crazy amounts of info (kinda like Cliff Claven, on the show Cheers). But I would like to take a sip and say, wow, this Pinot is from Willamette Valley or this Cab is from Rutherford. That might be kinda cool.
So I had 2 Champagnes, 4 Cava’s, 3 Prosecco’s, 2 Sparklings from US and 1 Sekt.

So as I tasted I learned a ton. Champagne has to be made in Champagne France and can be a blend of up to three grapes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meiuner. Prosecco is from Italy and is made from Prosecco grapes. Cava is from Spain and is made of 3 grapes also, Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-Lo. And the US sparklings I tried where from early harvest Chardonnay (They pick the grapes for Sparkling a little underripe to get the acid levels they want in the finished product). The Sekt from German is short for a massively long word meaning quality sparkling wine. The Sekt I had was made of Riesling.

To break it down on how I tried them, I started with the driest first. Brut is the driest, Extra Brut in a little less dry then, Sec, Demi-Sec and the Deux being the one with the most perceived sweetness. I am not sure I could actually taste any sweetness in any of the wines until I tried the Sekt and really it was not really sweet. But that is the scale from dry to sweet.

I was tasting with 4 friends so each one of us has a different threshold when it comes to dry and sweet and after just taking a first look at the champagne I was drawn to the millions of bubbles and the almost clear slightly golden color. It just looked so perfect, so I tried Henriot’ first. Beautiful mouth feel and the bubbles were like pop rocks in my mouth. That was going to be hard to beat for me! Next was the familiar label of Veuve Clicqout, I but this stuff all the time. It works so well with food and it is just says Let’s celebrate! Of the two champagnes, I liked the Henriot’ but my pals liked the Vevue!

I will not bore you with my tasting notes on everything, but we had a ball trying the wines and trying different foods with them. Biggest surprise for me was the Sekt was not sweet like I expected and it paired beautifully with BBQ ribs. I had the grill going doing this whole process so we were trying everything with anything. Nothing worked with potato salad FYI. Anyway, I learned a little and had some fun, that is all I am about right now. Happy Monday everyone!