Champagne sales keep popping as upward trend continues

We often say farewell to one year and welcome the next with a toast and a sip of sparkling wine.

It's a tradition that is hundreds of years old and, it seems, likely to continue for a long time yet, if current trends are any indication.

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But what's the attraction to the tiny bubbles in the wine? It's a combination of history, deliciousness and the mystery of this venerable beverage that appeals to all our senses, according to Brie Dema, head sommelier at Langdon Hall Country House Hotel and Spa in Cambridge, Ont.

"Champagne has long been positioned as the most prestigious sparkling wine in the world. It has gone from being a beverage to being a lifestyle. It's a great way to start a meal, and it's great throughout a meal," Dema said.

Sushi and Champagne on a Tuesday night?

While vineyards were tended by fifth-century Romans in what is now the Champagne region of France, the wine was not originally bubbly.

The fizz and popping corks didn't show up until the 17th century, and it was the British who really nurtured a taste for it. Today, Dema said, sparkling wine is seeing a massive resurgence in popularity.

"It's not a re-birth. It's stepping into its own and as a category is growing," he said.

Rob Miller, a Kitchener-based sommelier with The Vine Agency, agrees there has been growth and sparkling wine is being sipped at casual meals. 

"Last year alone, Champagne sales to North America were up 10 per cent," Miller said. "It's continually building and that's because people are taking it away from the New Year's Eve or the anniversary celebrations and incorporating it through the rest of the week."

Champagne without the fizz

Contrary to popular belief, the Benedictine monk and pioneering wine-maker Dom Perignon in Hautvillers, France, did not invent Champagne.

In fact, he was trying to remove the effervescence from his wines caused when yeast eats the sugar in grape juice and converts it into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Cold winters made the yeasts go dormant in their barrels; they were awakened in warmer weather and started eating again making the wine fizzy.

When the British developed a taste for the tiny bubbles, Perignon went into high gear perfecting the technique of the second fermentation that occurs in a bottle of Champagne and which is one of its hallmarks.

The British contributed by developing thicker, stronger glass bottles to prevent the sparkling, carbonated wine from exploding. (Incidentally, the pressure of sparkling wine is just a little bit higher than that of the pressure in your car's tires.)

Local Ontario wines sparkle

Champagne production – the region, the specific grapes, the technique of méthode champenoise – is strictly regulated by French production laws. It's in part why a bottle of Champagne can be so expensive for 750 mL of grape juice. However, your bank account needn't worry as December 31 rolls in: Ontario makes some truly remarkable – even world class – sparkling wines that rival authentic Champagne in just about everything but price.

"Sparkling wine in Ontario is at an all-time high in terms of quality. Many are as good as any produced around the world," Miller said, adding in the last seven years or so, Prosecco, an Italian sparkling white wine, has been a primary driver.

Miller cites a number of popular, smaller Ontario producers such as Henry of Pelham, Hinterland, Huff Estates, Big Head and Cave Spring.

"Even the big guys Peller Estates and Jackson-Triggs are making exceptional wine, and you're getting Champagne-level quality at a much more wallet-friendly price," he said.

Miller agrees with Dema that the drink works well with food, from melon wrapped in prosciutto to dry sparkling wines with oysters.

"Those are classic pairings and you just cannot go wrong," he said. "I had a rosé sparkling wine with a seared duck breast recently, and it was incredible."

Another recent trend he sees is serving sparkling wine in regular wine glasses rather than a traditional flute.

"It's treating it as a wine, rather than a special occasion," Miller added.

However you sip it, and in whatever glass, sparkling wine is an "ethereal experience of drinking something that's fleeting," Dema said of the enduring mystery of this centuries' old beverage whose fizz lasts only a brief time once opened.

"There's something magical about drinking the bubbles of Champagne. I heard a quote once that it's like drinking the stars," Dema said. 

Here are a few sparkling wine recommendations, selected by Rob Miller (RM) and Brie Dema (BD).

Please check with individual LCBO and winery outlets for availability and price updates.

Value selections

Astoria Prosecco, Italy (VINTAGES) $15.05

"Light and fresh, perfect for holiday gatherings. Cantaloupe and crisp green apple aromas. Try with prosciutto-wrapped melon balls." – RM 

VQA 2014 Tawse Estate "Spark" Limestone Ridge Riesling (VINTAGES) $20.95

"Grapes from organic/biodynamic vineyards, and vinified in the traditional method.  Notes of crisp apple and citrus, followed by honey and a mineral character." – BD

Medium-priced and local

Cave Spring Cellars, Blanc de Blanc Brut, VQA Niagara Peninsula (LCBO) $29.75
"In the category of sparkling wines under $50 at a recent gathering of top sommeliers and wine writers at Toque! Restaurant in Montreal, this wine placed second in a field of 35 wines behind only a highly rated Champagne (and at nearly $20 less a bottle). Better than most Champagnes at twice the price." – RM 

VQA Henry of Pelham Cuvee Catherine Brut Rose (LCBO) $29.95
"A blend of 80 percent pinot noir and 20 percent chardonnay with aromas and flavours of raspberries, currants and cherry. Made in the traditional method, this wine shows character similar to Champagne." – BD  

If you can afford to splurge

1996 Louis Brochet, Cuvée HBH, 1er Cru, Champagne, France (VINTAGES) $68.95
"Vintage-dated Champagne is a treat and rarely inexpensive. Even more rare is to find one on the shelves with 20 years of age. Run – don't walk – to your local LCBO and buy as much as you can." – RM 

NV Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut Champagne (VINTAGES) $78.95 (or $42.95 for 375mL)
"Bollinger has been making Champagne since at least 1829. Aromas of baked apples, brioche, vanilla and wood spices with creamy mousse. It's like drinking the stars!" – BD