The best local bottles of bubbly for your holiday celebrations
Fun, festive bubbles are popping up in more San Luis Obispo wineries.
More than a dozen producers are offering sparkling wines, often in very limited quantities.
In honor of bubbly’s upcoming high season, here are some special bottles to seek out for your celebrations.
Thacher Winery and Vineyard
Where: 8355 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Monday
Info: 805-237-0087 or thacherwinery.com
A bumper crop of viognier in 2013 inspired winemaker Sherman Thacher to try it as a sparkling wine. The gamble paid off, producing a bone-dry Blanc de Blanc ($60) with a creamy nose and light, crisp flavors.
The wine starts with a slow, cold fermentation in stainless steel tanks before being bottled. The recently released second batch spent an extra year “en tirage” (in the bottle with flavor-producing yeast sediment); a third is still resting awaiting future release.
PasoPort Wine Co.
Where: 95 Booker Road, Templeton
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday
Info: 805-239-2229 or pasoportwine.com
It’s hard to get more hand-crafted than Perle ($48), a barrel-fermented blend of pinot noir and chenin blanc that has been aging en tirage for more than six years.
Before releasing each new batch, Steve and Lola Glossner spend a month hand riddling the bottles — rotating them a quarter turn several times a day to consolidate the sediment before donning full rain gear to pop each bottle to blow out the sediment, then corking them back up.
The result is an old-world sparkler with a complex, yeasty nose and balance of savory and tart flavors.
Laetitia Vineyard and Winery
Where: 453 Laetitia Vineyard Drive, Arroyo Grande
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: 805-481-1772 or laetitiawine.com
Laetitia started as the American outpost of France’s Champagne Deutz, and its decades-long experience shows across a wide range of bubbles.
Made from estate-grown chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot blanc grapes, the lineup includes the flagship Brut Cuvée ($28), trendy Brut Rosé ($36) and sweet-kissed XD ($28).
For a special occasion, try the Brut Coquard ($40), made from the light, delicate juice from the first pressing of the grapes. Visitors can get a peek at the antique wooden presses that sparkling winemaker Dave Hickey uses to make them while sampling the options.
Myers-Deovlet
Where: Deovlet Wines, 3750 Highway 46, Templeton
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Monday
Info: 805-712-8817 or deovletwines.com
Where: McPrice Myers Wines, 3525 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: 805-237-1245 or mcpricemyers.com
McPrice Myers, known for his Rhône varietals, and Ryan Deovlet, who’s made his name in Burgundy-style wines, set aside their geographical differences for this Blanc de Blanc ($50) collaboration. An extra brut, it’s bone dry with bubbles that deliver elegance, tropical salinity and palate-cleansing acidity.
The first vintage didn’t stick around the shelves long, and the recently released 2014 is sure to disappear pretty quick, too. Take heart, though, a non-vintage blend of several harvests is coming, as is a Blanc de Noir, made from pinot noir grapes.
Biddle Ranch Vineyard
Where: 2050 Biddle Ranch Road, San Luis Obispo
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: 805-543-2399 or biddleranch.com
Deovlet is also the winemaker at this Edna Valley property, where the 17 acres of chardonnay grapes give him another chance to make bubbles.
The inaugural bottling, a lean 2014 sparkling wine ($45), debuted recently. It features apple and pear flavors, a soft hint of meringue and a slight brininess echoing its coastal influence. Make sure to sample this snapshot in time now: future releases will be non-vintage renditions, layering flavors into a harmonious blend.
Sally Buffalo writes about wine, beer and spirits. Reach her at sallybuffalo@gmail.com.
Why we love sparkling wine
Here are three reasons to embrace bubbly.
It’s truly a labor of love.
Requiring an early harvest, special equipment and extensive storage time and space — plus heavier bottles and more expensive closures than regular wines — sparkling wines are no easy feat to make.
There’s a reason sparklers made using the labor-intensive traditional method, or, “méthode Champenoise,” featuring a secondary fermentation that produces the bubbles in the bottle, are considered a luxury item pursued by only the most passionate producers.
They also carry some risk. “Each bottle is its own fermenter, so you pray and hope that everything went ok,” said PasoPort Wine Co. winemaker Steve Glossner.
It’s a fantastic food wine.
Most folks only break out the bubbly to kick off the evening or make a toast. But it’s a great addition to the dining table, standing up to dishes that can be hard to pair with, like risotto, creamy pastas or spicy cuisine. It’s a natural fit for foie gras, oysters, lobster and most seafood. Even simple, salty snacks like popcorn and potato chips rise to new heights with a glass of bubbles to wash them down.
It can pull double duty.
The proliferation of inexpensive bubbles from around the world, as well as local producers including Opolo Vineyard and Tobin James Cellars in Paso Robles, opens up lots of creative possibilities.
Top a late-harvest wine with some bubbles for a lighter take on a dessert offering. Add some soda from San Luis Obispo’s Root Elixirs to your favorite champagne cocktail recipe.
Or mix up a big bowl of champagne punch to up the merriment factor without breaking a sweat.
This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 11:25 AM with the headline "The best local bottles of bubbly for your holiday celebrations."