Sparkling Wine

Fourteen years ago, John Wright and several business colleagues discussed whether there was a singular American style or flavor that could be incorporated into a sparkling wine. Was it possible, they wondered, to develop a product that would immediately appeal to the nation's palate?

With the surging interest in natural wines, a budding vintner in London is jumping into the fray at Forty Hall community vineyard in the borough of Enfield. The Guardian newspaper reports that the only commercial vineyard inside the M25 motorway that encircles London is hoping to produce London's first organic wine since the Middle Ages. In this climate of bone-chilling cold, it's a challenge. This month, the Guardian's Patrick Barkham reports, 50 volunteers will prune 7,000 vines by hand.

Guy Devaux, 68, French-born winemaker and chemist who specialized in sparkling wines. After graduating from the University of Paris in chemistry and physics, Devaux began his career with Moet et Chandon in the Champagne district of France. Moving to the New York Finger Lakes area to work with wine pioneer Charles Fournier, Devaux became one of the first winemakers to use drip irrigation for grapevines. In 1979 he moved to the Napa Valley to create sparkling wine for Mumm Napa Valley.

My husband never remembers Valentine's Day. He's just not sentimental that way. Lucky guy, because neither, as it happens, am I. But if you're with someone who does care, deeply, about celebrating Feb. 14 and, gulp, you've waited too late to get a reservation at her favorite restaurant, don't let panic send you out to buy some questionable red underthings at Trashy Lingerie. Head to the nearest wine shop, pick up a couple of Champagne flutes and a bottle of rosé Champagne. Bring said bottle over, already chilled, along with the makings of a simple but elegant supper -- you can manage a pasta dish or a steak, right?

As you approach Domaine Mumm along the Silverado Trail east of this central Napa Valley town, you glance west and see a simple green roof and what appears to be a medium-sized winery. What is only apparent as you stand on the main level looking down into a cavernous wine making facility is just how large Domaine Mumm really is. Or how state of the art. Other French-American joint ventures have been far more ostentatious than this modest property.

The greatest success story in the California sparkling wine business this past year has been Mumm Napa Valley, the joint project of G. H. Mumm of France and Jos. Seagram and Sons. Winemaker Greg Fowler, using Pinot Gris as a spicing element in his sparkling wines along with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, won more medals at major competitions this year than any other sparkling wine. Sales of Mumm Napa have exceeded 125,000 cases in annual sales.

Jamie Davies, who with her late husband, Jack, founded Schramsberg Vineyards in the Napa Valley, one of the first vintners in the U.S. to produce sparkling wines using traditional French Champagne methods and grapes, died Tuesday at her home in Calistoga. She was 73. The cause was complications from Parkinson's disease, according to Schramsberg spokeswoman Joy Henderson.

Alex Day is standing behind the custom bar at the headquarters of Proprietors, the drinks consulting company he and his partner David Kaplan recently set up in downtown Los Angeles -- an office cum cocktail lab that they've dubbed Chapter & Verse. "Champagne is always a good idea," Day says as he carefully pours sparkling wine along the spiraled handle of a bar spoon that leads into a flute partly filled with Armagnac, Royal Combier and a couple of dashes each of Angostura and Peychaud's bitters.

Domaine Mumm, Cuvee Napa, is the latest entry into what is an ever-increasing line of sparkling wines made in California by French Champagne firms. Representing a joint venture between G.H. Mumm and Cie of Reims and Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, proprietors of Sterling Vineyards and the Monterey Vineyard, the initial non-vintage release in 12,000-case quantity is now available at $14 per bottle.

The French Champagne firm of Deutz has launched a winner in its first Santa Barbara County sparkling wine offering, Brut Cuvee, Maison Deutz. Made in the classic methode champenoise technique, the wine is a superb triumph of Old and New World taste and style. Its greatest asset is its clean, dry style, which hits the palate with an austere, virtually bone dry character that closely parallels the firm's French version. At 0.

Plans to serve California bubbly (listed on the menu as "Champagne"), rather than real French Champagne, at President Obama's inauguration banquet later this month are putting a crimp in Franco-American relations, says Money & Co. blog. On the menu is "Korbel Natural, Special Inaugural Cuvee Champagne, California," which will accompany an apple tart for dessert, according to a news release from the inauguration committee. But a Washington, D.C. , lobby for France's Champagne industry says Champagne comes only from the region of Champagne, France, and bubbly from elsewhere should be referred to as "sparkling wine.

Re "Would rail project foul the air?," June 11 Where did America go? Where is the drive to build much needed infrastructure that creates jobs? It worked after the Great Depression. Regarding California's bullet train, you can continue to look for reasons not to build it, but that's not what made this country great. Once upon a time, California would not have thought twice about moving this project forward. Now you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone who is trying to stall it. Yes, the environment will be affected slightly while the system is built.

Champagne for less than $40. Or Crémant de Bourgogne, Spanish cava, Portuguese espumante , California sparkling wine and Italian Prosecco for less than $20. It sounds like a party to me. Here are several bartender- and sommelier-recommended bubbles for New Year's Eve cocktails (or to drink straight from the bottle). Pol Roger Champagne Brut Reserve, about $38 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut, about $29 Taittinger Champagne "La Francaise," about $35 Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, about $18 Maison Ambroise Crémant de Bourgogne, about $18 Vilarnau Cava Brut, about $19 Cava Barcino Brut, about $15 Pere Ventura Brut Nature Cava, about $15 Juve y Camps Reserva de la Familia Gran Reserva Brut Nature Cava, about $13 Tarantas Brut Cava, about $12 German Gilabert Brut Nature Cava Reserva, about $15 Graham Beck Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine Western Cape, about $15 Graham Beck Brut Sparkling Wine Western Cape, about $15 Luis Pato Espumante, about $15 Adami Bosco di Gica Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, about $17 - Betty Hallock

Alex Day is standing behind the custom bar at the headquarters of Proprietors, the drinks consulting company he and his partner David Kaplan recently set up in downtown Los Angeles -- an office cum cocktail lab that they've dubbed Chapter & Verse. "Champagne is always a good idea," Day says as he carefully pours sparkling wine along the spiraled handle of a bar spoon that leads into a flute partly filled with Armagnac, Royal Combier and a couple of dashes each of Angostura and Peychaud's bitters.

  Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut In the Loire Valley, Chenin Blanc is an incredibly versatile grape, producing dry whites and a whole range of semi-sweet to luscious sweet wines. Producers there also use it to make a sparkling wine. The nonvintage brut from Domaine Huet, one of the region's great Vouvray producers, is a wine that can take you through the holidays from a toast at the Thanksgiving table through Christmas and New Year's. And it's considerably less expensive than a Champagne of equivalent quality.

Reporting from Paris — At L'Ebauchoir, an upscale bistro in Paris' 12th arrondissement, a quickly gentrifying neighborhood east of Bastille, a swarm of wine professionals — journalists, bar owners and sommeliers — is diligently tasting a range of Chenin Blancs from the Montlouis area of France's Loire Valley. At the stroke of 7 p.m., two vignerons, Bertrand Jousset and Damien Delecheneau, interrupt the tasting with an ear-splitting call to attention. They are standing at the front of the restaurant, beside an oak wine barrel attached to a small bottling machine, and are about to demonstrate a crucial step in the making of a new kind of Montlouis: a thoroughly dry, gently sparkling wine officially named Pétillant Originel but often called by its makers Pétillant Naturel, or more affectionately, Pet'Nat.

C hampagne is almost a synonym for "celebration." Madame Elizabeth Bollinger of France's famous champagne dynasty never waited for a special occasion to drink bubbly: "I drink Champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad," she said. "Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. Otherwise I never touch it . . . unless I'm thirsty."

What do Sherlock Holmes, Blackcelona, One Way, Touchdown, Yuppies, La Gasolinera, No, Rothko, Unbar, West Coast, Zsa Zsa, Clandestino, Beat, Nick Havanna, Falstaff, Hop, Fin/Al, New Sausalito, Popeye, Speed, Status, Sucesso, Crisis, Karma, The End, Lips, Trip-Tic, Dry Martini, Sidecar, The Daily Telegraph, Let's Go, Hollywood, Paris, Maryland, Zurich, Soweto and Ping Pong have in common? They're all names of bars in Barcelona.

This Valentine's Day package at the Gaige House stands out because the inn is in a relaxing, almost-hidden crossroads tucked away in Sonoma's wine country. The 23-room inn in Glen Ellen has a romantic day and night planned with sparkling wine, a couples massage and a rose petal bath. The deal: The package rate starts at $314 per night for two people and includes accommodations, a 50-minute couples Swedish/deep tissue massage, sparkling wine and a rose petal bath. The Valentine's Day weekend requires a two-night minimum, but if you want to take advantage of the package for just one night, book it for Feb. 11. Queen rooms with the package on this date were $369; a king was $399, a studio suite was $469 and a Zen suite was $529.

On the off chance that more revelers than previously announced show up on your doorstep New Year's Eve, now is the time to lay in some inexpensive sparkling wine. And if you don't use it all, there will be plenty of occasions later in the year. Barcelona loves its Cava, the sparkling wine made in Sant' Sadurni south of the city. Though you could drink wonderful, sophisticated Cavas at Barcelona wine bars, until recently, much of those imported to this country were the cheaper, very rustic bubblies -- serviceable in a pinch, but nothing you'd go out of your way to drink.