New Year is the time to sparkle

As we all know, sparkling wine is synonymous with celebrations; the popping of the cork, the bubbles constantly racing towards the top of the glass, the lively feeling as you taste it, and historically the brand on the front of the bottle has elicited just as much excitement.

This part of the wine world is one of the most dynamic and changing areas at the moment as Prosecco, Cremant, Cava, Franciacorta, Pet-Nats, grower Champagnes are all gaining a foothold in the market.

To us this is a great thing as they all bring a different, unique expression of sparkling wine as well as offering great value and a wider set of options for our increasingly diverse taste preferences.

Don’t be afraid to step a little outside your comfort zone this New Year’s Eve; there is a plethora of great options to bring in 2018.

Prosecco has been the hottest trend over the last few years. Hailing from the North Eastern of Italy, it is both the name of the wine (as with Champagne), but also the name of the grape (a recent change of the grapes official name to Glera could take a whole article). The appeal stems from its affordability due to the cheaper production method (known as Charmat) and its easier going nature compared to Champagne. It tends towards light bodied, crisp styles with plenty of juicy citrus, apple and pear fruits that are highlighted by slightly higher sugar levels than Champagne.

Pet-Nats may just be the hottest trend right now. On the back of low intervention winemaking this style hails back to the very beginning of sparkling wine. Known as Petillant Naturel or the Ancestral Method this style predated Champagne and the Champagne method in France. These wines barely finish their primary fermentation before being bottled un-fined and unfiltered so the amount of bubbles will vary from wine to wine and they will appear quite cloudy with residual yeast in the bottle too. It makes for quite a wild style of wine at times and more suited to those who are on the natural wine bandwagon.

Some of the grower Champagnes are probably the best sparkling wines being made in the world right now. There is no doubt the Champagne has some of the most unique conditions in the world for viticulture and these wines are made by growers who will usually be making wine from their own single estate or at most a handful of sites that they manage day to day. Their rise has come on the back of some complacency from the big houses who had let their standards slip with little competition over the past few decades. This complacency let the small growers with a focus on high standards from the vineyard all the way to the bottle enter the market and blow wine drinkers away by showing the potential of some great sites being properly cared for and attended to. They are by no means cheap wines, but when comparing their top cuvees to those of big houses, they will often be cheaper and much better wines.

Larmandier-Bernier Vielle Vigne du Levant Millesime 2008 ($250)

Larmandier Bernier is one of my favourite producers. Their wines are all Blanc de Blancs made from Chardonnay and this particular wine comes from the Grand Cru village of Cramant; the vineyard of Levant in particular. This site gets a little more morning sun than most, which in a cool year such as 2008 is when the magic can happen. The site and the cool season made sure of scintillating, intense minerality in the wine. Fill it out with ripe fruit showing intense juicy citrus and stone fruit. Layer on top of that more textural elements of creamy, yeasty, nutty notes as the wine is allowed to go through Malo, spends some time in oak and is left on lees for seven years. This is a complete wine, balanced and seamless from start to finish showing intensity and depth of flavour right across the palate. It’s not cheap, but it was one of the best sparkling wines I tasted this year and in its category/price range does offer relative value.