Last week, we took a look at the French Champagnes, and now, we move across the seas to get America's answer to that Gallic challenge.
It was inevitable the fledgling American wine industry also would try its hand at sparkling wines. Just after World War II, there appeared some American sparkling wines to take advantage of the returning American solders familiarity with the beverage. It is sad to report that the best of them were horrible.
It took a while for the American wines to be recognized for quality, and that was mainly due to the trouncing the French wines received at the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting. Some French vintners came to the realization that the United Stares soon would become a major player in the wine industry and that they had better stake out a claim in America. In 1979, Mumm Napa was the first to establish a winery in California.
Mumm opened the Pandora’s Box that began a California rush to make quality sparkling wines.
Mumm Cuvee Napa Brut Prestige ($22)This is the wine that Mumm Cuvee Napa hangs its American hat on. Made from the traditional blend of pinot noir and Chardonnay, this wine captures the true spirit of the fruit, while maintaining the structure and elegance required of a fine sparkling wine. Mumm Cuvee Napa Brut Prestige is a wine with a crisp acid bite, which is in perfect balance with the fruit - an important feature of any decent sparkling wine. The cherry of the pinot noir is suppressed in favor of the melon flavors and aromas of the chardonnay along with a hint of bread and vanilla. This is a truly fine wine and the perfect accompaniment to holiday meals. Yes, you can serve sparkling wines with meals and it does add a touch of elegance.
Mumm Cuvee M ($22)This wine comprises a blend of 48 percent chardonnay and 43 percent pinot noir with a bit of pinot gris thrown in for extra complexity. Two things are immediately noticeable when the wine is poured: its pale pink color and the constant stream of very fine bubbles, both signs of a better wine. The aromas are impressive, displaying a compendium of summer fruits and a modest hint of strawberry. The flavor is an obvious combination of peach and pear with hints of vanilla. The chardonnay element contributes to the elegant creamy finish, a sure sign of a better wine.
The appearance of the Mumm wine stirred a hornet’s nest of sparkling wine producers, but very few dared to enter the high quality area dominated by the monumental Champagne. In 1986, Judy Jordan established J Vineyards & Winery specializing in high-end sparkling wine. Her ventures proved an American vintner, using homegrown grapes, could rival any sparkling wine in the world and, in many cases, beat them.
J Cuvee 20 Brut ($28)This wine is one of California’s answers to French Champagne. It is an elegant wine that bespeaks the quality that can be found in a well made domestic wine. The grapes for this wine were drawn from Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, displaying the flavor and aroma of apples, citrus, apricots and lime, with a host of tropical flavors in the background. The finish is pure cream with a hint of toast. This is the type of wine that books are written about.
J Cuvee 20 Brut ($28)This is a dry, full-flavored sparkling wine with a beautiful salmon-pink color that can accompany just about everything on a dinner table. The wine displays the aroma of black cherries mingled with raspberries and strawberries, which also carry over to the flavor. If you love sparkling wines, you must try this wine.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and manages ArticlesOnWine.com. He can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.
