What to Drink for Cheap - Sparkling Wine

So few of us can afford the super-premium brands referenced in the last post. What are we to drink, then? First, a few words on my philosophy on drinking and recommending wines. You can find plenty of blogs/articles out there recommending specific wines that you must simply run out and purchase. I tend to shy away from such pronouncements. I personally remember my frustration - when I knew less about what to choose - when after reading such materials in trying to find the suggested wines and not being able to.

Look, I can recommend plenty of gorgeous, small-production, artisinal wines on offer. These are the ones that I pounce on when I see them in stores or on restaurant wine lists. But sometimes these wines simply aren't available, even in my major metropolitan area. And I'll assume they aren't available in your area either. When I make specific, name-brand suggestions, I'm going to go with the brands that are most likely to be available to the greatest amount of readers. And the caveat always stands that if you can't find a particular name that I've recommended, just go ahead and buy by region. The worst that happens is that you end up with a (fairly cheap) wine that you really can't stand and you pass it off to your friends or cook with it. Experimentation with wine is the most exciting part of learning about it. Keep in mind that most commercially available wines in the U.S. are not undrinkable - they just might not change your life, and that's okay.

So away we go. I'm going to work my way in the style of most restaurant wine lists, which starts us off with sparkling wine - and happens to be a category that I find most overlooked in general. Another caveat: I find often that when I talk to people about Champagne and sparkling wine, they often bring up the terrible hangover experienced after a night of drinking too much bubbly. This blog isn't here to fuel your excessive drinking. 99.9% of people who imbibe responsibly will find no more ill effects from drinking sparkling vs. still wine. So sparkle on - just remember that too much consuption of any alcohol will provide a mean next morning.

Champagne itself (and here I refer - as I will for the rest of this post - to wine produced in the region of Champagne, France only) is expensive. Refer to the pricing post for more information why. It is possible to find cheap Champagne in the stores, but for the most part, I recommend you skip it. Unless you're willing to spring for the expensive stuff (and I'm talking about $30 and up), you can do better by buying from other regions.

Only about half of all sparkling wine made in France comes from Champagne. The rest comes from regions all over the country and are made from local grapes, but often with the addition of Chardonnay even if it's not traditionally grown in the region (for the record, the only three grapes allowed in Champagne are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Petit Meunier). The problem with most French sparkling wines - called cremant - is that they are generally grown in the same vineyards, and are in fact the same grapes, as are used for still wines. Without getting into too, too, too much technical information, let's just say that the wines that producers can't use for quality reasons for still wine often wind up going into their sparkling wine. So cremant, while it can be a worthwhile pursuit, is too dodgy a category for me to really recommend as a whole.

I suppose at this point I have to recommend something, so I will: Cava. Spain's answer to Champagne can be dirt cheap and a very fine substitute. Cava is made in exactly the same way that Champagne is and the reason that it's so cheap is because it's made in a different place from different grapes, neither being as optimal as it is for Champagne, and, thus, the product is cheaper. There is a bucketload of information that backs that statement up, but it will have to be left for another time. Quite simply, when I want to fix my Champagne jones on a beer budget, I reach for Cava.

Producers? Several of the major ones will do you quite nicely. Codorniu, Gramona and Raventos i Blanc are all quite good. Freixenet, in my opinion, is a bit of a step down quality-wise, but is still very commercially acceptable. Most Cava available in the U.S. is at least all right. So drink up.