A toast on New Year's Eve is great, but we wanted more. A
couple of years ago, we resolved to add more sparkle to our lives and
toast a "new start" every month.
We love sparkling wines and raise a flute of Cava, Prosecco, an American sparkler, Cremant or Champagne the first of each month. Most of these are big-value, low-cost selections.That means the bottle we choose to welcome a New Year (and in this case a new decade) has to be special. While this has been the kind of year that many of us can't wait to leave behind, it's also been a year when we've had unexpected reasons to rejoice. So, join us in giving yourself permission to splurge, even if just a bit.
Instead of going out on New Year's Eve- and spending some hefty cash -we're going to stay put with a great bottle of sparkling wine. And, as we sip our winning selection we'll think about the fun we've had during the past few months – at tastings, talking to wine makers, and consulting with wine merchants– to find the bottles that sit at the bottom of our wine rack as the finalists for New Year's Eve 2009. We have some outstanding candidates, but you'll have to wait until next year to hear about the winner.
Choosing your Wine to Welcome 2010
Our sparkling resolution means that we've tasted bottles of bubbles priced from $7 to $150 over the past few years.
- We've sipped Spanish Cavas, French Cremants and California Barefoot Bubbly from Trader Joe's.
- Enjoyed American sparklers like Gruet Blanc de Noirs from New Mexico and RJR from our own Massachusetts neighbors at Westport Rivers Vineyards.
- We love Italian Proseccos, like Nino Franco Prosecco di Valdobbiadere Rustico
- We've served magnums of Argyle Brut from Oregon's Willamette Valley and bought every bottle we could find of their 2005 Brut during the summer. (If you see one- grab it. If you see more than one email us so we can stockpile more!)
- For a special occasion, we treated ourselves to a bottle of Champagne Billecart-Salmon Rose NV.
- We shared a magnum of Segura Viudas Aria Cava with other Boston area food bloggers at a Public Radio Kitchen Event.
Chowhound Opinions
Last
summer the gang on Chowhound's Boston board had a great conversation
about good values in sparkling wines and where to buy them. Here's a
link.
Join our Sparkling Resolution!
Toasting a new beginning each month has been great fun, and we'll keep it going. Join us in lifting a glass of sparkle the first of every month in 2010! We welcome nominations for new wines to try, and we'd love to hear what you're drinking and what you're toasting.
We've also discovered great value in the wine glasses from Schott Zwiesel. The ad below will take you to a page that gives you options for their most popular glasses.
Details:
Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photo: © 2009 Penny Cherubino
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