OK, New Year’s Eve is coming. It’s inevitable. Tradition demands something bubbly to toast with at midnight. But what to get? There are a lot of fancy foil-wrapped, wire-caged bottles out there, and DAMN some of them are really expensive! Me, I’ll be drinking French. Champagne, the real deal. My house bubbly is Nicholas Feuillatte Brut. What if you don’t have a “house bubbly?” (You really should, you know.) And what if you don’t want to pop for around $30 a bottle for the French stuff? I gotcha covered. Here are three California sparklers that will fit the bill for $15 and under. All are Non Vintage Bruts that come from a specific area, not generic Californians.
The wines:
Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut NV, $14.99 @ Trader Joe’s
Piper Sonoma Select Cuvée Brut NV, $12.99 @ Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut NV, $9.99 @ Trader Joe’s
Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut NV — 12.5% Alc — $14.99 @ Trader Joe’s
COLOR — Medium gold, with a good head of mousse and medium-vigorous bubbles. Some are a bit big, while others are nice and fine.
NOSE — Nice green apples, bread dough and a bit of something like Bosch pear skin.
TASTE — Granny Smith apples, Bosch pears a touch of almond and bread.
FINISH — Bright and zippy that turns a bit creamy. Medium bodied with a persistent taste of apples and dough.
RATE — 4 Stars. This sparkler always delivers a very nice glass of bubbles. I liked it better back when it was $9.99. I think this wine gets forgotten. The most elegant and “French” of all three.
Piper Sonoma Select Cuvée Brut NV — 13.5% Alc — $12.99 @ Trader Joe’s
COLOR — Pale gold, not much mousse, and sparse, medium-size bubbles
NOSE — Floral Bread dough with red pears & apples and a bit of white peach.
TASTE — Medium rich with slightly creamy red pears, apples and a light touch of yeast.
FINISH — Medium length, with creamy acidity, tasting of red apples.
RATE — 3.5 Stars. The 13.5% Alc shows in the wine’s richness. It’s less “French”, but still has some finesse. At $12.99, this is a really good buy.
Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut NV — 12.5% Alc — $9.99 @ Trader Joe’s
COLOR — Pale to medium gold, little mousse, and lazy, medium-sized bubbles
NOSE — Golden Delicious apples with slight bread dough
TASTE — Creamy apples and Bartlett pears, with a touch of fruit skin
FINISH — Creamy medium bodied, with light acidity and medium length. Nothing green or ugly. Would like more verve on the finish.
RATE — 3 Stars. While it doesn’t have the great bubbles and head of the Gloria, this sparkler has a richness and depth to its fruit that makes it really appealing. But, there’s something thick and clumsy about it that lands it in third to the others. Still it’s ridiculously good at $9.99!!
I’ll tell you right now, you stock your NYE party with any of these sparklers, and your guests will be happy! They beat the absolute shit out of Korbel, Cooks, Frexinet and Andre. In fact, with this trio on the shelves, there’s no reason not to serve decent bubbly, no matter how big your NYE bash is. Pop a few of these, and you may find your guests drinking bubbly all night, not just at 12am.
If you’re willing to spend a bit more, here are some wines I’d rate higher than the tasting trio: Scharffenberger, Shramsburg Roderer Estate (in France they make Crystal) and Iron Horse — all priced somewhere from $16 to just under $30.
Cheers!
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