Perhaps you’ve heard of sabering champagne, which is where you take a sharp object, a saber if you have one handy, and tap smartly on the ridge of glass around the neck of the bottle. Hit it right and it will pop off.
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Today we’re going to talk about sparkling wines from France, not all of which are champagne. There are sparkling wines from Limoux in the Languedoc region, from the Loire Valley and from Burgundy. (Which confusingly the French call Bourgogne.) These are often made in the same manner as champagne, that is, the bubbles come...
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To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, it sometimes seems to be impossible for a wine-lover to open his bottle without making some other wine-lover hate or despise him. So around this time of year I’m never too surprised when I see a flurry of “budget bubbly under $10″ stories followed by “OMG, can you believe people drink...
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I get no kick from champagne, sings the lovesick swain in Cole Porter’s jazzy song, but he’s probably in the minority on that. Most of us like the bubbles, and especially bubbles from Champagne, the French wine region that is synonymous with effervescent romance. I learned a lot on my recent trip to Champagne;...
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Vinecdote is on vacation this week. And you know what that means? Chardonnay and lots of it. No. 1 on the list is Cupcake Vineyards Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay. Cupcake is based in Monterey County on the California coast, but this wine is actually from France and is a collaborative effort between Cupcake winemaker...
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A lot of us view bubbles as bipartisan _ there’s French Champagne and then there’s all the rest. But a little exploration can open up whole new worlds of sparkling sensations from German Sekt to Italian Asti and Prosecco to Hungarian Pezsgo. OK, I haven’t actually tried that last but I could not resist...
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The setting: An elegant reception room at the Westin St. Francis 32 stories above Union Square with a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay, Telegraph Hill and the Golden Gate Bridge. The agenda: Tasting bubblies from some of the great houses of the Champagne region of France. The task: Coming back with some...
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It’s the holidays once again which means, at least according to the lady magazine I read in the dentist’s waiting room yesterday, that it’s time to buy that special sequined tank/skirt/sexy sandal that will “carry you through your whirlwind of social events.” Except my whirlwind of social events consists of going to Child One’s “Winter Concert”...
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This handsome property is elegantly styled in the fashion of an 18th-century French chateau. It sits on a slight prominence overlooking the gently rolling vineyards of the Carneros vineyards at the southern tip of the Napa Valley. From the front, the chateau has a staircase worthy of Cinderella _ this is a great...
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