Posts Tagged ‘sparkling wine’

What’s a Prosecco? Italian Sparkling Wine vs. French Champagne

Nino Franco Rustico Prosecco
A new word for the New Year, just don't call it cheap Champagne. But, whether you know what Prosecco is or not, chances are very good you'll have some New Year's Eve. Prosecco is generally a dry Italian sparkling wine made from the grape variety Glera which is grown in the Veneto region of Italy. Up until the 1960s, Prosecco sparkling wine was basically rather sweet and barely distinguishable from the Asti Spumante wine produced in Piedmont. Since then, production techniques have improved, leading to the higher quality dry wines produced today. Prosecco and Italian Sparkling Wine Cont'd

A Toast to Peace

schramsberg
Schramsberg Vineyards in the Napa Valley makes sparkling wine that many believe is the rival of French Champagne. It has been served at White House dinners, and famously in 1972 President Richard Nixon took Schramsberg's Blanc de Blancs to China for the "Toast to Peace" dinner with Premier Zhou Enlai. Unfortunately for everyone, the winery is now embroiled in a family feud that threatens to tear apart the wine dynasty. Considering the winery's historic connection to China, from its caves, which were hand-dug by Chinese immigrant laborers in 1880, to President Nixon in 1972, perhaps the Chinese can send some wine to help settle the dispute (and I don't mean sake). Labeled by some as the "new Chile" China is the sixth largest wine-producing country in the world.

Nothing Says Trash Like Paris Hilton’s Champagne in a Can

Well, actually it's Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine. Last year, Paris helped launch Rich Prosecco at a "mega-party" in the Austrian Alps, and now she's featured in its advertising campaign wearing nothing but a coat of gold paint (no golden shower jokes please people). Italian winemakers certainly are not amused, much like France and Champagne, Italians claim the right to the name Prosecco. To add insult to injury, Rich Prosecco will be packaged in a can and mixed with fruit juice. What about the young, hip crowd the company is marketing to? A poll conducted at popsugar.com shows that out of almost 3,000 people, 77 percent think Prosecco in a can is about as tacky as Paris herself.

Tiny Bubbles… In My Wine…

dom_perignon
OK, let's turn Don Ho off (great New Years Eve party tune by the way). Tiny bubbles may make Don happy, but they make oenophiles pretty giddy too. An old adage about Champagne is, the smaller the bubbles, the finer the wine. The tiniest bubbles are the result of long aging, as well as the temperature of the aging cellar. The cooler the wine, the smaller the bubbles. Generally, really tiny bubbles are found in Champagnes known as prestige cuvees. A prestige cuvee is a wine manufacturer's best wine, and it is always given a special name. Dom Perignon, for example, is the prestige cuvee of Moet and Chandon. Click here for further discussion of wine temperature.