Wine Review: Sparking wines worth a look for holidays

If you are anything like me, you may have recently lost your source for water-carbonating gas tanks or have found that it is a trip out of the way to exchange them. I use carbonated water for mixed drinks and to occasionally return to my Brooklyn roots and enjoy a seltzer, which is the Brooklyn name for carbonated water.

A fact that I did not know is that carbonated water is very popular in Europe and many homes there have a water carbonator as an integral part of their kitchens. A brief trip through the internet turned up several interesting facts. There are several corporations that specialize in supplying both the carbonating gas and the carbonating systems that are, for the most part, affordable. The one that I chose was Soda Sense, as they deal through the U.S. mail with prepaid return shipping boxes that will fit into a mailbox.

With that problem solved, and to return to the subject of wine, I recently sampled some interesting holiday sparkling wines. Spanish sparkling wines called cava are, like the Soda Sense products, carbonated; however, in the case of the Spanish sparkling wines, they are naturally carbonated. 

Champagne Pommery Brut Apanage ($60)
I begin, however, with a French sparkling wine that I had previously reviewed but was given the wrong selling price of $99 by the representative of the wine company. As you can easily see, there is a noticeable cost reduction for this wine. This is a very fine true French Champagne from an ancient and well-respected producer with a long history in France. This is the reason that I never questioned the spelling price. If a true French Champagne producer is the order of the day, I can assure the reader that the Champagne Pommery Brut Apanage will be an excellent choice regardless of the cost.

Campo Viejo Brut Rose ($13)
There is a great deal more to this wine than its super affordable price tag might indicate. The wine presents an attractive pink color, inviting the first sip which offers the drinker a stream of seemingly never-ending bubbles. Those are followed by an aroma featuring strawberries and raspberries that are enhanced by a delicate and pleasant floral effect. While the word brut on the label often indicates a very dry (not sweet) wine, in the case of a Spanish cava, it just means that it is not very sweet and concentrates on the fruit shown in the aroma. This is a wine that the reader can easily serve with pride.

Campo Viejo Cava Brut ($13)
This is another sparkling wine that will not disappoint the drinker. As with any cava, this wine has been made from handpicked local Spanish wine grapes. The wine displays a fruity countenance that offers just the tiniest hint of sweetness, the expected hallmark of a cava. This wine offers all that one seeks in a sparkling wine and presents the very persistent bubbles that remain with the wine and seem to never die. These bubbles were derived by first fermenting in the normal manner. The wine then receives a second fermentation; similar to the French Champagne, the process that produces the bubbles was done in the bottle it will be sold in. Cava wines are all very fruity and reflect all that one seeks in an elegant, enjoyable sparkling wine. They are among the best buy for your ever-shrinking wine-buying dollar. 

As a reminder, if the reader is hosting or planning a dinner for an upcoming celebration or is a guest at one where an alcoholic beverage is being served, please be observant of who is doing the drinking and how much, as it is very easy to overdo it when in a friendly celebratory situation.

Wine columnist and Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.