Only one of the top sparkling wines sold in grocery stores was a champagne.  Guess which one?

With 90,000 cases sold in supermarkets, Veuve Clicquot came in Number 6 in supermarket sales of sparklers in 2020, according to the industry magazine Market Watch. Veuve Clicquot was also the most expensive sparkler in the top ten, selling in supermarkets for an average price of $54 a bottle. Moët & Chandon didn’t make the top ten supermarket sparklers list (it was Number 16). And Perrier Jouët was not in the top 20. Good for you if you knew that André was a trick answer. It’s not a Champagne; it’s made in California by E & J Gallo. It came in 4^th in supermarket sales, costing an average of $6. a bottle.

Speaking of France and Champagne, have you seen this?The French government will pay out $1.2 billion in USD in emergency aid to French vintners and farmers whose vineyards and crops were damaged by devastating frosts earlier this month. Overall, about 30% of the potential 2021 grape crop in France was destroyed. According to Beverage Industry Enthusiast magazine, the 2021 destruction comes on top of frosts in 2017 and 2018 from which vines were just beginning to recover.  Would the US government do the same for us??

FYI, I buy my sparkling wines and champagnes several ways:

WTSO (Wine Til Sold Out) sells online, offers daily specials, and does not charge for shipping.  The wines arrive well packed, never broken, always!  I often buy the Aimery brut rose’ sparkling (crémant) on this website.

Trader Joe’s is another great source of sparkling wines.  Back when I drank Proseccos, I would buy at TJs.  Now, I look for special sparklings, many are Crémants.  My price point is usually $10 or less for everyday consumption.

Grocery Outlet has been a pleasant surprise lately.  But my strong suggestion is to shop often and carefully.  Their stock changes fairly often, so once you find something you like, grab it!  I found a nice little sparkler from Healdsburg, innocuously labeled, “451”, which was fairly tasty and very affordable.  I went back, put together a case, and shared it with a dear friend.

Total Wines is a place that is both interesting and confounding.  Their prices are usually a little higher than Bev Mo, but their selection is very good.  I do not buy much here, but I am impressed with their overall selection of wines and spirits, especially pricey single malt Scotch.

Bev Mo does not always have good prices, unless they are doing a close out.  And their layout in the store can be somewhat confounding.  I like their wide selection, but they, like many wine purveyors, try to sneak some close out or “junk” wines into the mix.  Of course, they call some of them “grower” wines.  Maybe you will find a bargain, maybe not.

Winery Direct means going to the winery and getting to taste what you buy.  I like this concept, as it has been around since the Sixties.  But now they tasting fee is quite substantial and may not always be applied to the purchase.

Join a wine club means just that, a periodic (usually quarterly) shipment of wines.  Normally, I can specify what I want, but some clubs send a “special” wine to you.  Beware the special, since they may be dumping lesser vintages on your doorstep.  I belong to the Domaine Carneros club, and have done so for at least ten years now.  It also affords preferential treatment at the winery for special seating, special tastings, and further discounts on purchases, with no tasting fee.

Please remember to share what you have found that you like.  Do not worry what anyone else thinks or says.  I will respect you even if you drink pop wines!

Wine tasting on the Central Coast is rapidly becoming “the place to be”, as Frank Costanza once said on Seinfeld, playing billiards with George and The Maestro.  I would much prefer wine tasting to playing billiards with Frank and Bob Cobb!

(Photos, in order, Dauo, Justin, Laetitia)

Many of my wine connoisseur friends speak highly of Dauo Vineyards in San Luis Obispo.  And their prices certainly reflect their newfound popularity.  It is impossible to make a weekend tasting reservation unless it is made weeks in advance.  I plan to visit on a Tuesday morning.
Just a brief word about Dauo (less than the Jones):  

DAOU Mountain rises 2,200 feet in elevation in the hills of the Adelaida District on the west side of the Paso Robles AVA. With its steep mountain slopes of up to fifty-six percent, DAOU Mountain rises dramatically above the Coastal Range with breathtaking views from the highest winery on the Central Coast of California. The mountain is cooled by the Pacific Ocean, fourteen miles away, and gentle breezes that flow over the Templeton Gap.

Warm, temperate days and cool nights guarantee even ripening and vine balance every year.

“We have, arguably, the most perfect climate in the world to ripen Bordeaux varieties and Cabernet Sauvignon.” Daniel Daou

Dauo’s Estate Cabernet is pricey, at $95.  But they have a wide range of offerings for most palates and pocketbooks.  We will do our best to find something drinkable and affordable.

But Justin (time), the more affordable of my two visits, offers one of the most interesting names for their wine.  I just love their Isosceles, a blend of Cab, Merlot, and Cab franc, but rather pricey at $75.  I am sure when they first planted their vineyards back in 1981, they did not envision even remotely being called, “the new Napa Valley”, or as Frank would say, “the place to be.”

Justin looks like a great place for a wedding or private party, though I would avoid the summer and its day time heat.  Evenings are pleasant though, and would be perfect for a party.  Justin offers an evening shuttle service from their downtown tasting room.  But I must warn you, $25 for a lunch time burger is a little pricey.  And their premium tasting flight is $75!!  It does not look like a comfortable place for a casual lunch with Lexi!

Perhaps, for us, it is best to buy some sushi at the California Market in Pismo, and head to Arroyo Grande.  Our little Laetitia Winery has a low key tasting room, and a nice, quiet picnic area for Lexi and our sushi.  Their brut rose’ is quite good, as are some of their Pinots.  Then a stop at Dauo on the way home.

We decided to stop at Firestone Walker for lunch since they can accommodate Lexi on their patio, in case of rain.  Then we had to find some food for Lexi since we forgot it at home!!!  But we will make up for our wine shortcomings by having dinner at Ember in Arroyo Grande.

Long, meaning long enough to be bored, and short enough to keep me at the airport. I have spent the better part of a full day in a Singapore Airlines lounge, well worth it, but 8 hours is too long to be anywhere but home.  The ideal layover, when I am in a hurry, is an hour.  If I have two long flights, a two hour layover is perfect, if I have airline lounge access. And if I have been upgraded to Business or First, I usually have lounge access.

For those of you unfamiliar, the Lounge might be the Holy Grail of International travel.  It has less importance domestically, at least for me, as a retired traveler, than a business traveler, who needs to use a laptop and cell phone simultaneously.  Nonetheless. it does usually provide a respite from the noise and hustle of the airline boarding areas and gates.

Some lounges, like United and American Airlines, are just average.  Alaska and Air Canada are somewhat better.  Some offer soft drinks, coffee, and snacks, along with some periodicals, like the local paper, WSJ, and a few magazines. 

Others, like Singapore, and some of the other foreign airlines, have full meals, showers (with amenity kit), movies, private rooms, and even a massage therapist.  In most lounges, except for the “fancy” lounges, alcohol incurs a separate charge.  I do remember having my own beer tap in the JAL lounge at Tokyo Narita.  And a few actually have decent champagne and wine!

The average ones, in Africa and South America mostly, are not very inviting, somewhat depressing, and often noisy and not well maintained.  Almost always, the standards are higher in foreign countries.  The SE Asian countries and Japan have the best, by far.  Who can argue with fresh sushi, noodles, dim sum, and pho??

The big question about lounges, is “Are they worth it?”  Well, it depends on who is paying.

In general, the beauty of the lounge is getting away from people scurrying around the airport.  With mostly similar seasoned travelers, the lounge is more relaxing, quieter, and provides a bit more personal space.

In my business travel days, my employer often paid for the lounge access.  Depending on which airports we used, we would pick the one that had the most lounges in the cities we visited.  Mine was generally United, since I tried to use one airline to build my frequent flyer miles (Mileage Plus program).

Now that I use the airline that is both cost efficient and goes to where I want to go (rather than work related), lounge membership is not economically feasible.  But. . . . 

I can get lounge access through the following:

Business or First Class allows lounge access in the airline (or partner) you are flying.

The right credit cards can open lounge access (United, Amex and Chase).

Or, when I really get desperate, I accost a lounge member outside the door, and beg to enter with him/her.  Not really.

But I strongly suggest you try it at least once.

So few of us are interested in sweet wines.  My suggestion is to give it a try.  You might like it.  These would include sherry, port, sauternes, ice wines, and demi sec sparklings.  I do not include “pop” wines, or fruity and sugary faux wines.

Which are sweeter?  Winespeed:  If a wine has any natural grape sugar left—that is, if some of the sugar was not converted to alcohol during fermentation—then the wine is said to have residual sugar. In order to be considered a sweet wine (not a table wine), a wine has to have quite a lot of unconverted natural grape sugar. According to European Union legislation, for example, a wine labeled “sweet” must have at least 4.5% residual sugar. Most of Europe’s great sweet wines, however, have considerably more than that. Port, Sauternes, and German TBAs are all sweet, but nothing compares to Spain’s opulent Pedro Ximénez sherries (PX), which have over 40% residual sugar. PX wines are nearly black in color and have a texture as thick as maple syrup. A small glass is more than dessert wine, it is dessert.

You already know my port stories from Portugal.  And my Sauterne stories from France in 2019.  I am not crazy about ice wines, but I know many people who are.

My suggestion, as a way to start, is to try a dry sherry as an aperitif.  Try it neat or with some crushed ice.  You will be pleasantly surprised.  Start with a Taylor or Sheffield before graduating up to the more expensive bottles.  Sherry is also great in several casseroles and slow cooked dishes.  And I guarantee it works as a great aperitif!

Port is traditionally a dessert wine, though some can be used as an aperitif.  The classic pairing is with dark chocolate.  Since I am not a chocolate guy, I prefer my port either alone or with a medium soft cheese or dried nuts (I prefer almonds or cashews).   You know my escapades across the Portuguese countryside in search of vintage ports.  Hint:  if you can find any splits, I strongly suggest buying them immediately.  Unless you have a house full of guests, it is impossible to finish a bottle of port in one or two nights.

Best of all, you can start with a California port from my home area, Ficklin.  They make some great wines and ports.  Start with one of their tawny ports, relatively inexpensive, before graduating to the vintage ports.  Of course, you can try any of the ports from Porto, if you have a decent budget.  Believe me when I tell you that we spent a goodly sum of money in Portugal on vintage ports, some of which are still in the wine cellar.

Some port rules?  For most of its history, Port was matured in the lodges by law—a system that effectively insured that the big Port shippers monopolized the trade and that small growers were excluded from creating their own brands. That changed in 1986, and today Port can be, and often is, aged, bottled, and shipped directly from the farm estate (called in Portuguese a quinta). Today there are more than 100,000 vineyard properties in Portugal’s Douro Valley, the region from which all Port comes. These are owned by the shippers themselves, as well as the region’s roughly forty thousand growers, each of whom owns, on average, no more than a scant acre of vines.

A little side note here:  If you want to really enjoy the port, please get some really nice cordial stemware.  It will enhance the experience exponentially.

Moving on to Sauternes, like I said, I was there, and I thought I gave them a decent try,  The locals are quite proud of their Sauternes.  It almost seems rather cultish.  We tried it after a nice dinner one night, along with a semi sweet dessert, an apple tart.  Perhaps if I added some crushed ice, perhaps it would soften and be less sweet.  It is obviously an acquired taste.

Was I happy getting to Sauterne?  It was certainly different.  And it is a charming little village.

The German TBA or trockenbeernaulese, otherwise known as a rather medium to full bodied dessert wine.  Aside from their high sugar content, they are botrytized (noble rot), picked very late obviously.  While I am not a fan, I have tried a few.  Sweet wines are an acquired taste.  But a good German strudel with a TBA could work on a cold winter’s night.

Some of the sparkling wines,, called demi-sec are on the sweet side.  They are usually labeled as such, or perhaps under the label doux, demi-sec, or names like Moscato, spumante, or Franciacorta.  I would try them,  since you never know what you might discover.  Such as the case when my Italian waiter in Chicago offered me a glass of Franciacorta.  It was quite good with my charcuterie.

Much like other wines, the pairing is the key.  A fairly neutral pairing, like an almond cookie works well with the sweeter wines.  Stay away from the sweeter desserts, and chocolate (except for port).

Please give them a try!

Many of us think that reading about wine is the second best wine activity after drinking it.  But this will shock you.
From Winespeed:   Over 30,000 wine books and other wine publications held by the library at the University of California at Davis, the premier viticulture and enology degree program in the U.S. The collection contains rare manuscripts, maps, and periodicals on wine, the oldest dating back to 1450. The library also houses the papers of distinguished wine writers Leon Adams, Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, and … Karen MacNeil.

Again, another very interesting bit of history from Winespeed:  Did Zinfandel really come from Croatia?  Although it has been called “America’s grape,” scientists have known for decades that zinfandel (just like chardonnay, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and dozens of other varieties) originally came from Europe. The question was where in Europe? Thanks to DNA typing of grapevines, we know that zinfandel’s original home was the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. Sometime around the 1820’s, what we now call zinfandel was brought to the United States (to Long Island) under a variety of names (zenfendel and black St. Peter’s being two). Curiously, zinfandel was also brought from Croatia to Italy, where it was named primitivo. So if you see an Italian primitivo in the wine shop, guess what? It’s zinfandel.

What country has the world’s most southern vineyards?  If you thought the answer was New Zealand, you would have been right until just recently. For 50 years, New Zealand’s Black Ridge Vineyard (at latitude 45.15 degrees S) held the title Most Southern Vineyard in the World. But Argentina now has a winery that has surpassed it. As of 2021, the world’s most southerly vineyard is Bodega Otronia (latitude 45.33 degrees S) in Chubut Province deep in Argentina’s Patagonia Extrema, a region once known only for mining and sheep. Over the next few years, the title will be an ongoing contest between Argentina and Chile, as both countries push viticulture further and further south toward the cold tip of the South American continent. (Sorry, New Zealand).

And a little about forgotten Burgundy:  Burgundy got its name early in the sixth century, in the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire, when the wandering Germanic tribe known as the Burgondes established a settlement in the area. They called it Burgundia. In 534, Burgundia was absorbed into another Germanic entity, the Frankish kingdom established by Clovis, the king of the Franks. Clovis eventually went on to unify the numerous Germanic tribes that operated throughout what was then called Gaul. With Clovis’s coronation, modern France (the name is derived from Franks) was born, and Clovis’s eventual conversion to Christianity established France as a Christian nation. With Christianity in place, the course of Burgundy’s history changed, as it went on to become a nucleus for Catholicism and monastic power.

So, consider yourself a bit more informed today.  On another blessed Sunday, why not open your favorite wine, and celebrate all that is happy and healthy in your life?