Want a Champagne or sparkling wine for New Year’s Eve but are unsure of what to buy?
My 3 favorite sparklers by taste & sweetness!
True Champagne only comes from the Champagne region in France, but you will see the champagne method used on wines made elsewhere. You can tell the area by the “c”.
- A large “C” in the word Champagne means it’s from the region in France.
- A small “c” means it’s the method from somewhere else.
Champagne can be extremely expensive and to me it’s not worth the price, unless someone else is buying :-). I like going to wine tastings and sampling before buying. The Total Wine store in Virginia Beach has free wine tastings every Friday and Saturday night. I tasted several $50 plus Champagnes a couple of weeks ago and didn’t like any of them. They were very bitter and metallic tasting. Maybe they would have been better with food.
Sparkling wine is usually moderately priced and can be just as good or better. Look for “Methode Traditionelle” on the bottle’s label. This means the sparkling wine has been made the same way as true Champagne. The other way is a time-saving Charmat process, that involves bulk fermentation in tanks and results in a lesser quality wine.
- For a dry Champagne or sparkling wine look for “brut”, “extra dry”, or “extra sec” on the label.
- For a sweet sparkling wine look for a Moscato with “Asti” on the label.
- For fruity, slightly sweet champagne, look for “semi-dry” or “off-dry” on the label.
My favorites by taste & sweetness:
Sweet
Villa Lanata Moscato d’Asti
Sweet – $15.99 – From Asti, Piedmont, Italy
This a 5 star sweet sparkling wine available at Total Wine. It’s one of my favorites. It smells like spring flowers, and lots of white peach and lemon flavors. This low alcohol sparkling wine is great with salty appetizers, toasting in the new year, or with light desserts.
Dry
Korbel Extra Dry California champagne
Dry – $10 – From California
It’s available at Wal-Mart. If you like dry wine this is light and crisp with citrus and pear aromas and flavors. It goes great with appetizers, chicken, Asian food, fruits, and anything salty like chips.
Slightly Fruity
Conde de Caralt Semi-Seco Cava
Fruity Slightly Sweet – $9.99 – From Penedes, Spain
This a 5 star slightly sweet sparkling wine is available at Total Wine. Another one of my favorites. This wine has a brilliant light yellow color and a clean, fresh aroma with scents of peach blossoms. It has bright tastes of apple and cream across a fresh, cleansing acidity. Yum 🙂
Want some other choices? Check out my Champagne page!
Have a happy new year!
Cheers – Carrie