Pop it up!

To enjoy sparkling wine, get beyond Veuve Clicquot

by David Marglin

THE ENGLISH ARE renowned for drinking a lot of Champagne, so it's not surprising that my favorite quote about the wine is attributed to a famous Englishman, the economist John Maynard Keynes, who said on his deathbed: "If I have one regret in life, it is that I did not drink enough Champagne."

Right now, Keynes wouldn't have many excuses. All over the world, the quality and quantity of excellent sparklers is up, while prices for all but the most prestigious grande marque Champagnes are down. So if, like me, you like bubbles in your wine, there are a number of reasons to celebrate.

To be technical, "Champagne" refers only to sparkling wine made by traditional methods in the Champagne region, northeast of Paris. If the wine doesn't come from that region, then it should simply be called sparkling wine -- although some American wineries do violate this rule.

There are two primary methods of making sparkling wine. The cheap and easy way is to ferment the wine in large sealed tanks. More complicated, and hence more expensive, is the traditional méthode champenoise. In this process, still wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle; over months or even years, pressure builds up, causing the bubbles. The resulting wine is bone dry. Some Champagnes, labeled "brut," or dry, have almost no extra sugar added, while others are sold at varying levels of sweetness. (Americans used to like their Champagne sweet; now it's viewed as sophisticated to like your sparkling wines dry. I prefer a little fruit and less sharpness.)

All the best sparkling wines around the world are now made using the méthode champenoise, and some of those are very good indeed. The Schram family started a sparkling revolution back in 1965 by making excellent sparkling wines in California, under the name Schramsberg. Many of the California sparklers tend to be a bit fruitier than traditional Champagnes, with less-delicate bubbles -- but for under $20 a pop, who's complaining? In France, sparkling wines are made in the Loire valley and Alsace; also, Italy (Moscato D'Asti), Spain (Cava), Australia, and, of course, New York create perfectly imbibable bubblies. Hell, even Russia produces a decent sparkling wine.

Many of these winemakers are using nontraditional grapes to make sparkling wines, breaking new ground instead of trying to imitate Champagne. In the Loire, sparkling wines are made with chenin blanc, which produces a bit more nuttiness. In Australia, sparkling shirazes are now all the rage, blood red and full of deep fruit flavors.

The Champagne business is undeniably prestige-driven, which gives a big advantage to the well-established marques like Veuve Clicquot, Mumm, and Moët & Chandon. ("If it isn't Veuve Clicquot or Moët & Chandon, then most of my customers don't want it," says George Bardos, wine director at Martignetti's.) But many smaller producers in the Champagne regions are mounting their own assault on that fortress. There is now a host of wonderful, practically unknown Champagnes, artisanal wines available for about $30 a bottle. These are sometimes made by cooperatives, such as Nicholas Feuillate, where a large coalition of growers combine their fruit and then sell their finished wine under a single label. Or they can be small houses that produce fewer than a few thousand cases a year (the grande marque Veuve Clicquot, by contrast, makes a whopping 800,000 cases per year). Champagne from these smaller houses wasn't widely imported into the US until recently, but as interest in sparkling wine increases and more and more wine drinkers seek out smaller and less-well-known wines, these little houses are making their marques, so to speak.

I don't know whether the onset of the millennium has anything to do with it, but sparkling-wine production is up everywhere, so there are more affordable choices than ever before. So figure out what you like, and pour away. Now is no time for regrets.

HH Westport RJR Brut Reserve 1994 Massachusetts. Tart, green, as though the grapes are not fully ripe. This flagship wine doesn't live up to Westport's full potential; the bubbles are too few and thin, and apple and citrus notes outstrip the softer flavors I prefer in a sparking wine. Great for mimosas, or if you just want to show people that Massachusetts can make a drinkable wine (and perhaps, in the future, a really great one).

HH¹/2 Pierre Sparr Cremant D'Alsace Brut Reserve. An impressive wine from a region not known for sparklers. Plenty of rich flavors, many of which are almost tropical, like pineapple. The bubbles are a tad harsh, but the acidity is high enough to stand up to a lot of spice. Try this with a jambalaya, or with some spicy shellfish concoction.

HHH¹/2 Peter Rumball Sparkling Shiraz Southeastern Australia. This unusual bubbly is a dark cherry red and tastes like Bing cherries and cranberries, with a full fruity rush. It needs no accompaniment, looks and smells great, and, in general, will turn you on. Da bomb.

HH¹/2 Gruet 1994 Vintage Blanc de Blanc New Mexico. Made from 100 percent chardonnay, this yeasty New Mexican wine is creamy, toasty, and nutty, with a subtle layer of fruit. A curiosity: such nice bubbles from such an odd place. But I'm a believer.

HHH Chartogne-Taillet Brut Merfy Champagne. More delicate bubbles, nice creaminess, a hint of pecan and Granny Smith apples, but fully ripe, sort of like the outside of a hazelnut. Just a buttery champagne.

HHH¹/2 Jacques Beaufort Brut 1990 Champagne. Creamy, lush vanilla, in many ways more like a still wine that only happens to have exquisitely delicate bubbles. The bottle was way hard to open (I had to pull the cork with a screw) but worth the effort, as this rounded wine evokes flavors of pralines.

David Marglin can be reached at wine[a]phx.com.