Cheers, Grads! Bubbly Ideas for Graduation

Though we can hardly believe it, the school year is already ending, and it’s time to celebrate all of our favorite graduates!

As this is a very special occasion and a celebration of all their hard work, it seems appropriate to raise a toast with sparkling wine. If you agree, and you’re looking for some sparkling options, we have you covered.

We enlisted the help of Jamie at Jacob Liquor to pick out some different bubblies to try.

First up: Bianca Vigna Prosecco, Brut.

What is Prosecco, you may ask? It’s an Italian sparkling wine akin to Champagne, but it isn’t made in the same way. In an overly simplistic description of this, both are fermented twice: once to make regular ol’ still wine, and then again to add the bubbles. Prosecco’s second fermentation occurs in a big tank. Champagne’s second fermentation occurs in the individual Champagne bottles, and the wine sits on the yeast cells for a long time (if you want more details on all this, let us know, and we’ll happily geek out on you). Basically, as a result of all that, Prosecco typically ends up being fruitier with bigger bubbles, and Champagne has more bread notes with fine little bubbles.

Ok, let’s get back to our Prosecco! This wine smells fruity, like limes and lemons and even oranges. It almost smells a little like a fresh sea breeze as well, so you can picture yourself lying on a beach in the shade with citrus trees around you…. It tastes like tart citrus as well. It’s not a sweet wine, but it does have a touch of sweetness to it.

If you’re looking for a fruitier sparkling wine that is less complex and more refreshing, Prosecco is probably the sparkling wine for you.

In a nutshell,

The wine: B

The price: $15 at Jacob Liquor

Would we buy it again? For the price, yes

Our next choice was a sparkling wine from California, Domaine Carneros by Taittinger, Brut 2019.

You may already know this, but sparkling wine can’t be called Champagne unless it comes from the Champagne region of France (there are some odd exceptions, but this is basically the rule). So though this wine is made in the exact same way as Champagne, and though a famous French Champagne house (Taittinger) actually owns this, it’s not technically Champagne.

As mentioned above, sparkling wine made in the “traditional method” (the Champagne method) tends to have more bready characteristics, and this one delivers. It smells like toasted bread, and crazy enough, it even tastes like buttered toast. That’s an interesting experience to have with wine, but it’s a good one. Katie also thought it smelled a little like yogurt or cream. There’s also some green apple in there, so it’s like a nice little breakfast in a glass. We really found this one very interesting and enjoyed drinking it.

In a nutshell:

The wine: B+ The price: $37 at Jacob Liquor

Would we buy it again? Yes

Now we figured we would move on to the famed Champagne region itself, and we tasted the Champagne Bauser Cuvée, Brut Première.

A few things about Champagne. It’s made with three grapes, often a mix of these: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Chardonnay is the most common, though this little beauty here is made with Pinot Noir. Champagne also comes in varying levels of sweetness. From least sweet to most, the levels are: brut nature, extra brut, brut, extra dry, dry, demi sec, and doux. If you’re not wanting sweet Champagne, we think “brut” is a great place to land. For us, the extra brut and especially brut nature get SO dry, they’re difficult to drink. But to each their own.

The Champagne Bauser is almost a touch pink, thanks to their use of Pinot Noir. Get your nose in there, and it smells like fresh bread dough, like making fresh bread with your grandma. It’s a complex wine with notes of pear and pink grapefruit as well.

[Katie’s confession time: I don’t like sparkling wine. It’s just not my thing. So many sommeliers talk about loving sparkling wine, but I can’t bring myself to enjoy it. So it’s actually high praise when I say that with this particular Champagne, I was surprised that I didn’t dislike it.] We actually enjoyed this sparkling wine the best out of the three we tasted, and we’d be very happy to celebrate a special occasion with the Champagne Bauser!

In a nutshell:

The wine: A-

The price: $46 at Jacob Liquor

Would we buy it again? Yes, even Katie would

So congrats, grads!! We raise a toast to you and wish you all the very best!