It is the National Prosecco Week so naturally, Prosecco DOC is the Please the Palate pick of the week.
Prosecco is not the name of the wine or a grape but an area. Prosecco comes from two regions in the northeast of Italy – Veneto-Fruili and Venezia-Giulia. The Prosecco DOC was establisted in 2012 and there are nine provinces where Prosecco can be made – Traviso, Pordenone, Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Venezia, Padova, Vicenza, Belluno. Read More
The world of sparkling wines is vast and the king of sparkling wine is Champagne. When I sat down for a seminar at Pebble Beach Food & Wine, the glasses in front of me looked like Champagne and had some of the same mineral, citrus and brioche aromas. But, in fact, it was not Champagne in front of me. Nor was it Italian sparkling wine or California sparkling wine. It was, in fact, British sparkling wine, a category that I had been hearing about but had not had the opportunity to taste, until now. British Bubbles are a very exciting category which I wrote about in the Napa Valley Register, which you can read here, and I look forward to continuing to explore British Bubbles in the future.
I took a look at the glasses on the table. The liquid was a pale gold with a stream of small bubbles. The nose ranged from mineral and citrus to apple and brioche notes.
A simple guess was that Champagne was in front of me. But it was not. I had eight glasses of British Bubbles in front of me as I sat down for a seminar at Pebble Beach Food & Wine titled “Oysters, Pearls and British Bubbles” led by Champagne-lover Kim Beto, Sommelier Tim Smith, an American living in England, Master Sommelier Joe Spellman and English-born Master Sommelier Laura Rhys. Kim recalled a few years ago when Chef Gary Danko first asked him about English bubbles. He had no answer then but today, make no mistake that British Bubbles is a serious category of wine.
There is never an excuse needed to drink bubbles. And, while you might think of Champagne or Prosecco when it comes to bubbles, do not forget about Cava. I am not talking about the cheap brands in the supermarket. I am talking about beautifully made, classic-method Cava from Codorniu, the brand credited with creating Cava, as I wrote about in a recent column in the Napa Valley Register and am sharing here.
Champagne has been thought to be invented by Benedictine monk Dom Perignon in 1693, but sparkling wine was invented in 1531 by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire in Languedoc, France. Sparkling wine was made in Italy for the first time in 1865 by Carlo Gancia. And in 1872, the Codorníu family created cava in Spain. Cava may not be the sparkling wine that comes to mind if you are thinking of opening a bottle of bubbles. But, after tasting the Codorníu cavas, perhaps it should be.
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