First, and without a doubt in the best buy category, is the Henriot Brut Souverain. What impressed me is the precision, detail and interplay of citrus, floral and bready aromatics and flavors. Not really a broadly textured wine, it still has a certain richness about it. The bright acidity gives it a fresh lively character and great lift. It is a very classy Champagne for $35.00. It was fabulous with the salmon dip made by Bianchini’s Market on Alpine road in Portola Valley.

Second, if you want to move up the ladder price wise, the 2002 Camille Saves Grand Cru Brut  is superb and, given such high quality at $70.00, a great value. The 2002 vintage is considered the finest since ’96 and it certainly shows here. The cuvee is 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay from their own vineyards in Bouzy. The flavors are an exotic combination of red fruit, citrus, mineral, and floral characteristics along with a touch of white chocolate. Although full-bodied and richly textured, the wine shows great finesse and elegance.

Gary M., Beltramo’s Wine Consultant

Why the sad demise?  There exists, a world of bubbly goodness that is easily available, less expensive and utterly delicious. I refer to a wine that is produced by the grower, from his own fruit and is geographically distinctive! Think terroir. A wine that, if from the Napa Valley would be of cult status, grower owned and produced, and sold in defiance to the ‘Big Guys.’ In France these Champagnes are called grower-owned.  Elsewhere they have been coined Farmer Fizz.  Everywhere, they are sublime.

Champagne is a region; Champagne is a drink; and Champagne is also an occasion. The region and industry are dominated by names of world renown such as Moët, Roederer and Veuve-Cliquot. The wines they produce are iconic and as a consumer you can be assured that the Moët consumed in Hong Kong will taste the same as the Moët in Berlin. Consistency in some cases is welcomed but I find the wines non-distinctive. Grower Champagnes, on the other hand, offer unique flavors that are imparted by the specific parcels they are grown in. The wines have personality, depth and character.

How do you as a consumer recognize a Grower Champagne from the wines of the larger houses?  On close inspection the label will show two letters, RM, meaning Récoltant-Manipulant. I have listed some of my personal favorites below:

Champagne Chartogne Taillet NV Cuvee ‘Saint Anne’  ($39.99)   

The wine opens with layers of luscious golden fruit, orange blossom and apricots, round, soft and supple.  There is a touch of brioche and a racy edge, with a hint of allspice. The mouth feel is silky, with a long finish.  Reminiscent of Krug without the weight.

 Champagne Chartogne Taillet Brut 2000  ($59.99)

Creamy brioche! The 2000 vintage shows the depth and elegance a grower-producer can achieve. The wine is simply brimming with flavors of baked apple and candied orange peel. Unusually crisp on the front, but finishing with a supple, silky texture and extraordinary length.

 Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellier Brut ($64.99)

70% Chardonnay.  30% Pinot Noir. A truly fabulous Vilmart. The wine opens with a fine mousse, subtle, delicate. An exquisite texture on the mid-palate with flavors redolent of lemon, nutmeg and a slight smoky tone. The finish is long and lingering, haunting.

Pierre Gimonnet & Fils 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut ($44.99)

Good acidic grip right of the bat, subtle hints of green tea, and chalk followed with a salty tang. Flavors of young plums and zesty citrus. A thirst quenching finish, with a fine snap!

 James D-B,  Beltramo’s Wine Consultant

Below is a snapshot of some of my favorite new releases:

I’m sure most of you have had Modena’s balsamic vinegar, Parma’s Prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, but have you tasted the local “fizz” from that region?

Lambrusco is an Emilia-Romagna specialty made in a frizzante  (semi-sparkling) style. Try the Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco Centenario Amibile Grasparossa di Castelvetro ($10.99) for a real and affordable treat. Gorgeous pink mousse erupts atop bubbling purple liquid. Delicious, delicately bittersweet. Try with salumi, dim sum, or with your holiday roast turkey.

Of all the sparkling wines we carry from Italy, Prosecco is by far the most popular category and Sorelle Bronca Prosecco di Valdobbiadene ($14.99) is easily the best seller. The vinification is unusual for Prosecco. Instead of two separate fermentations, (grape juice to still wine, then still wine to sparkling wine), the Bronca Sister’s Prosecco grapes are pressed, and the juice is held at very low temperatures until it is ready to be made into sparkling wine.  They do this periodically throughout the year to maintain the freshest possible stock, and once it is ready, the must is put into a special fermenter and fermented directly to sparkling wine. This more costly single fermentation process retains more of the classic pear aroma that makes Prosecco distinctive. No sugar is added, all of the sweetness comes from the must. A number of batches are produced during the year to ensure freshness. If you feel like splurging, try the Particella 68 ($19.99). This wine is made from the Bronca Sister’s best vineyard perhaps 500 yards from the edge of the Cartizze boundary, the most prized growing area in the Prosecco zone.

Franciacorta is Italy’s most noted area for méthode champenoise sparkling wines. This is the traditional Champagne method, in which the secondary fermentation of the wine is carried out in the bottle. I’d highly recommend the Monte Rossa Saten Brut ($34.99).  Saten indicates the wine is made only from white grapes in a crémant style, meaning that the wine has slightly lower atmospheric pressure than a traditional méthode champenoise sparkler. This wine has had the honor of receiving the most prestigious award offered to Italian wines, the “Tre Biccchieri” (Three Glass) Award from Gambero Rosso. Delicate, floral aromas, soft, complex and elegant.

Spain’s contribution to sparkling wine is Cava. Cava, meaning cellar, must go through secondary fermentation in the bottle (méthode champenoise ) and must be aged a minimum of six months on the lees before being disgorged and sold. The main grapes used in Cava are Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada. Foreign grapes have been approved including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir.

Rimarts ($18.99) is a small, family run operation by two brothers, Ricard and Ernest Martinez. Production is roughly 5,000 cases of Cava per year. Compare to Freixenet whose production is over 200 million bottles annually. Riddling and disgorging are done entirely by hand. The grapes come from old-time contracts their father worked with before them. Importer Beaune Imports writes “It is clear from the start that these guys know what they’re doing, no frills, just hand-made Cava that would put many top-name Champagnes to shame.” I agree: high quality and highly recommended.

Venturing outside of the Champagne region, you can find méthode champenoise sparkling wines from many other regions in France. Burgundy, Alsace, Loire Valley and Limoux, to name a few, are areas more than capable of producing terrific “bang for the buck” sparkling wines.

Vitteaut-Alberti “Cuvee Agnes” Cremant de Bourgogne ($21.99) is the finest Cremant de Bourgogne I’ve tasted this year. Cuvee Agnes (named after their daughter) is the winery’s top wine made from 100% Chardonnay from The Côte d’Or and Côte Chalonnaise. This would be my top pick as an alternative to more expensive Champagne.

The Domaine Albert Mann estate is located in Wettolsheim, a small village in the heart of Alsace. The philosophy of the Domaine is to make a wine nourished by the elements of the soil and not by fertilizers. The estate wants to produce a wine in harmony with nature while realizing an agriculture whose finality is not to treat, but to strengthen the vitality of the soil. The whole estate realizes biologic and bio-dynamic viticulture. The Cremant d’Alsace Brut 2008 ($21.99) is a blend of Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, Pinot Gris and Riesling. Green apple, citrus and chalky mineral aromas. Pure flavors with orange notes; finishing tangy and mouthwatering.

Two wines I’d highly recommend from Piper-Heidsieck are the Brut non-vintage ($29.99) with its new, stately label upgrade and the newly released Rare Brut 2002 ($149.99). The Brut non-vintage continues to represent one of the best values in Champagne.  A high quality and sophisticated bottle at this price level. The Rare Brut 2002 is one of the finest Champagnes I’ve tasted this year. A blend of Chardonnay-mostly-and Pinot Noir. The 2002 is the most recent bottling in a trilogy (1988-1998-2002), born out of the oenologist’s inspiration. Wine Spectator writes “A classy Champagne, all about the silky texture. The Pinot Noir component shows now, with red berry and graphite flavors and a firm structure influencing the balance. Honey, toast and seashore notes complete the picture. Fine length. 95 points.”

The new releases from Pierre Gimonnet & Fils are worth your attention. Gimonnet’s vineyards come from the northern Côte des Blancs. The majority of the vineyards are more than 40 years old, the oldest parcel  in Cramant is 100 years. We chose three bottling from this estate in 2011. If you’re not familiar with the style of Gimonnet Champagnes, the Cuis 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut ($44.99), would be a good starting spot. Peter Liem from his Champagne Guide Website writes “Gimonnet’s wines are pure, sleek and lithe, demonstrating a classical character of the northern Côte des Blancs. They are polished in the best sense of the word, demonstrating a fine elegance and sophistication while remaining highly individual in personality and true to their terroir origins.” The 2004 “Cuvee Oenophile’ Extra Brut ($64.99) is the most naked expression of Champagne from this producer. Non-dosage, pure, delicate yet intense. The 2004 Special Club ($74.99) kicks into another gear. Gorgeous aromas and flavors, sophisticated with gentle toast notes, and tremendous length: highly recommended.

Another candidate for the top Champagne released in 2011 is Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne 2000 ($119.99). Kobrand Imports writes:  “This superb Champagne, produced only in years exceptional enough to declare a vintage, is appropriately presented in an antique-style bottle of XVIIIth century design. Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs is the ultimate expression of the Taittinger style, a Champagne of great refinement, elegance and delicacy. The clean, aristocratic Chardonnay fragrance is offset by warm, toasty nuances, which carry onto a palate of finely- balanced, generous white fruit flavors underscored by a fine, crisp acidity and subtle mineral notes. The refined, toasty finish is lasting and complex.”

I encourage you to try any of these selections.  You won’t be disappointed.  Happy holidays!

Howard Padgett, Imported Wine Buyer

Before tasting the wines, our special guest, Valentina Cirasola, gave a great presentation on the “The ItalianTable and Dining Etiquette.” Throughout the event Augustine and Angela Buonocore of La Biscotteria in Redwood City provided authentic and delicious focaccia, biscotti, and grissini to accompany our wines. Lastly, they treated us with delicious cannoli, to enjoy as a conclusion to our tasting.

The tasting itself was terrific, featuring selected Italian wines from lesser known regions and/or varietals. The theme, “Italian Wines, The Roads Less Traveled,” showcased our imported wines buyer, Howard Padgett’s, efforts in expanding our unique selection.

We started with the beautiful and very classy NV Monte Rossa Saten ($34.99) sparkling wine from Franciacorta in Lombardia, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco fermented in bottle. Then followed the 2009 100% Petite Arvine white wine by Les Cretes. The texture is rich, but not heavy, floral nose, citrus and passion fruit with an obvious minerality. The Petite Arvine wines are terrific if you want something on the exotic side. We recommend the excellent 2009 Swiss bottling from Cave du Vieux-Moulin ($32.99) which we currently have in stock.

We tasted the 2010 “Praepositus” Kerner ($27.99) by Abbazia di Novacella from the Isarco Valley in the far northern region of the Alto Adige. Kerner, a cross-bred grape of Riesling and the red Schiava, purportedly gets its name from the name of a German writer of drinking songs. The Riesling influence is obvious with a subtle pear like character as well as minerality followed by fresh clean acidity.

The first red of the evening was a 2009 Pelaverga “Basadone” from Castello de Verduno ($21.99) in Piemonte. A lighter bodied wine, it reminded me of a cross between Nebbiolo and Bourgogne Rouge in weight and texture and had spicy overtones. The superb 2006 Tuscan red, Villa di Capezzana’s Carmignano ($25.99), located just west of Florence is a blend of 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.  This wine showed good density, elegance, sweet red fruit, and a very persistent finish.

We had the opportunity to taste a grape that most people have never heard of, the 2006 Tazzelenghe, produced by Conte d’Attimis-Maniago ($32.99) in the Colli Orientali del Friuli. This was a fairly hearty and robust wine of dark red fruit and bright acidity. It is definitely a good wine for grilled or roasted meats and game. Then we tasted a Nebbiolo, but with a twist. This was the 2007 Sforzato di Valtellina “Albareda” ($54.99) by Mamete Prevostini, a wine made by drying the grapes (about 30 days) before fermentation. It was one of the overall favorites with beautiful dried floral and red fruit character. The last red, 2004 Montefalco Sagrantino by Terre de Trinci ($49.99), definitely made a bold statement. From the region of Umbria, the aromas and flavors were broad and complex, ranging from black fruit, slight vanilla and spices.

Then came the finale, and what a finale it was! We tasted the fabulous Sicilian 2007 L’Ecru Passito by Firriato ($34.99), a dessert wine which is a blend of Zibibbo and Malvasia. It showed scents of honey, orange peel and dried figs with a texture that really glides. It really is a fascinating exotic wine, and I highly recommend this for the upcoming holidays, or just anytime.

Gary M.,  Beltramo’s Wine Consultant