Today’s Monday Musings is a post about why sparkling wines are so unique. The answer could be simple, that they are celebratory. That they remind us of holidays, important days, fetes but that would be minimizing the true import of these wines. It would downplay the amazing acidity, freshness, minerality, aromas and flavors that you find in a sparkler.

Before being made into a sparkling wine, these wines are crafted and made into a great base wine. The wines are then lovingly brought into another phase with care and attention. This care goes through to dosage and the final product. Often the art of blending many cuvees together is done. None of this is easy or simple.

Sparkling wines are some of the most complex wines of all. I for one love sparkling wines. I love those made in the traditional method such as the Cava wines shown above. I also love those made using the charmat method like most of my beloved Lambruscos and nearly all Prosecco. I love Oltrepo Pavese Metodo Classico DOCG, Trento Doc, Alta Langa DOCG, Franciacorta DOCG, Moscato d’Asti DOCG, and all manner of ancestral method wines from Blanquette de Limoux and others. Of course I love Cremant, Champagne, and American sparklers too.

And while the winemaking methods makes them different, it is of course terroir, aging, dosage, and grape varieties that bring so much diversity to the sparkling wine world.

This endless discover continues when thinking about pairings. Sparkling wine can pair with almost anything or better, you can find a sparkling wine to complement any meal. Sparkling wines in my view can go through the whole meal.

If I were on a dessert island with only two bottles of wine – one would be sparkling and the other to be revealed another day. What about you?