New year, new wines! Here are my predictions for 2023’s trending sparkling wines! (Hint: they all involve quality over quantity and name recognition.) Step up your sparkling wine game this New Year and try them out!
Trend #1 - Quality over name brand.
🍷 Gruet - a New Mexico (yes you heard that right) sparkling wine that boasts 90 James Suckling points and for GREAT value. The popular commercial champagnes will take a back seat as consumers seek more bang for their buck.
Trend #2 - Foreign name brands with high quality and budget-friendly domestic lines.
🍷 Roederer - this famous champagne house has an Anderson Valley, California sparkling wine with a sultry mouthfeel that you MUST try for yourself
Trend #3 - non-champagne French sparkling wines
🍷 Cremant - from France, but not Champagne. Hmmm how do I put this??? Let’s try…Champagne is to Gatsby’s house as Cremant is to Kim K’s house. Cremant seems to pull more from the grapes - minerality, herbaceousness, etc…in contrast to champagne’s generous expression of lees contact. Like how Kimmy pulls from natural colors and textures while Gatsby prefers to indulge in the man-made artistic expressions…Look, I could go on indefinitely about architectural/interior design and wine, but for now I’d say just try it 😃 Cremant comes from several regions, Alsace, Loire, Bourgogne, and more. So just go on and explore - oh, no need to spend more than about $35
Trend # 4 - investing in a high quality champagne for one rather than buying a whole bottle of mediocre wine
🍷 Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé - rose champagnes are amazing. And I’ve been particularly indulging in this bottle lately. Funky and a bit tannic due to the Pinot noir skin contact, this bottle goes with everything and is shamelessly offered in a single serve size. Luxury in a $45 bottle.