Marglin on Taste

As he lay dying, the British economist Lord John Maynard Keynes uttered these words: ” I wish I’d drunk more Champagne. ”

The irony is that Keynes, like many well-to-do Brits, drank Champagne nearly every day of his life, at practically any time of the day. The rest of us, on the other hand, do not all have the wherewithal to imbibe the precious liquid in such quantity. Happily, though, there are plenty of other sparkling wines to help us avoid regrets like Keynes’s. After all, the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine is simply that the former is produced in the French region of the same name. So be it resolved: henceforth, to help keep you from dying unsatisfied, I shall write an article each year about sparkling wines.

Sparkling wines come in all tastes, but my favorites tend to be crisp “” even sharp “” rather than sweet. I like the way sharp flavors cut through whatever might be in your mouth, with a smack of acidity and a pucker of sugars. Sparkling wines make your mouth sit up and take notice. And when they’re served refreshingly cold, as they should be, it’s a whole new bubblegame.

That said, what most folks notice when they drink sparkling wine is the texture. As far as wine pros are concerned, all wines have texture, and we speak glibly about delicate and velvety mouthfeel, as opposed to coarser sensations. But texture comes boldly to the fore when bubbles are in play: they remind people that the pleasure of wine lies not just in its taste, but in how nice it feels in your mouth. (And, if you drink just the right amount, it feels pretty nice in your body and your head, too.) Real Champagne has the most delicate bubbles; ordinarily, the more you spend, the more elegant the texture will be, owing to the quality of the fruit and the time-consuming care that goes into making fine wine. But in our modern era, many other sparkling wines also have delightful texture.

Every country that makes wine, for the most part, also makes sparkling wine. Italian proseccos, once the barely noticed bastard children of the sparkling-wine world, are now enfants terribles in Manhattan. Hundreds of cocktails are being created by infusing them with various fruits, herbs, and liqueurs: we’re way beyond Harry’s renowned Bellinis here, with everything from cherry and lavender to elderflower and peach to rhubarb and ginger thrown in. On the drier side, Spanish cavas have a rough-and-readiness that makes them perfect accompaniments to shellfish. Me? I love the opulent red color and refreshing taste of sparkling shirazes from Australia.

The other night I had the pleasure of imbibing a 1996 Highfield Estate Elstree Marlborough Cuvée from New Zealand: it was delicate and graceful, racy yet balanced, with a wonderful weight on the tongue. After a few sips, I thought: you put this in a blind tasting with real Champagne, and my guess is a lot of people would prefer the Kiwi sparkler. In a similar vein, the best sparkling-wine value in the world right now (I can’t say ever, but perhaps in my lifetime) is Roederer Estate from California’s Anderson Valley: the regular is outrageously good, but the rosé is absolutely stunning. At around $22 a bottle, it’s still a bit of a splurge, but well worth every penny. The color of pale strawberries, it’s got the kick, the delicate elegance, the X-factor that makes your eyes open wide as you think, What is this?! It shows how far the world beyond Champagne has come. Although I never look a gift Champagne in the mouth, so to speak, when I order out or buy sparkling wines for myself, I always look elsewhere.

In the United States, excellent sparkling wines are being made in, of all places, Massachusetts. Westport Rivers makes a 1990 MAX Maximilian Cuvée that sells for an exorbitant $86 a (literal) pop, but in blind tastings it has beaten the likes of Dom Pérignon. This is how you get a wine region on the map. Westport also makes an Imperial Sec Riesling that is unique, easy to find, and worth the $28 price. You have great sparklers in Long Island, Washington, Oregon, California, and even New Mexico, where Gruet makes a very affordable (around $12) blanc de noirs (meaning the wine is made from pinot noir grapes). In Argentina, in South Africa “” all around the world, in fact “” sparkling wines are popping up and making people’s eyes pop.

So to paraphrase Lord Keynes, though I hope these aren’t my dying words, I wish you would all drink more sparkling wine “” this summer, this fall, whenever. To life!

It’s always exciting to watch a wine region evolve (Long Island is now an infant, while Rhode Island and Massachusetts are still in the womb). Almost as exciting is watching a region’s rebirth. Santa Cruz, located about 70 miles south of San Francisco, has been on the wine scene for quite some time “” indeed, it was California’s premier wine region in the 19th century. Now, Santa Cruz is undergoing a renaissance, producing top-notch wines at reasonable prices (at least compared to the finest Napa and Sonoma offerings).

For an area to be a real wine region, it has to attain a certain critical mass. Wine drinkers must be aware of it, and they must be on the lookout for it. The area, writ large, has to mean something to them. Wine regions come, but they rarely go; once they’re established, it’s simply a question of the wines’ quality. And that’s what’s helped give Santa Cruz a second life.

The first wine grapes were grown in Santa Cruz between 1804 and 1807, but the area didn’t develop as a wine region until the mid 1800s, when extensive logging left the hillsides bare for planting. Early on, the wines garnered praise and won competitions; by the 1870s, more than a dozen vintners shared the region. By 1889, Santa Cruz wines were winning prizes at world’s fairs (first in Paris in 1889, then in Chicago in 1893, and up the road in San Francisco in 1894), putting California wine country on the map.

Then, in the early 20th century, Santa Cruz found itself at the heart of California’s temperance movement. Unlike Napa and Sonoma, Santa Cruz has no surviving wineries from before 1930. (Prohibition had a vastly disruptive effect on US winemaking: for all but a few wineries making sacramental religious wines, wine production was illegal. The whole industry stood idle for more than a decade, whereas in Europe, Australia, South Africa, and South America, wine production has continued unabated for at least 150 years.)

Santa Cruz’s famous neighbors “” Napa and Sonoma to the north, and Monterey, Santa Maria, and Paso Robles to the south “” have long overshadowed the region. But it is re-emerging with a vengeance. It now hosts more than 50 wineries, at least 10 of world-class stature. My top 10 at the moment are Ridge, Storrs, Savannah-Chanelle, David Bruce, Mount Eden, Kathryn Kennedy, Cinnabar, Byington, Bonny Doon, and Ahlgren “” but so many fine wineries keep emerging that my list is subject to change.

Paul Draper’s Ridge Vineyards deserve special attention. In any listing of New World cabernets, Ridge’s Monte Bello places right near the top. Paul Draper, acknowledged by almost every wine publication as a visionary leader, is the person most responsible for Santa Cruz’s renaissance. In addition to cabernet sauvignon, Ridge specializes in a host of more obscure varietals, including zinfandel (which may not seem so obscure now, but it was 30 years ago when Draper made his start), petite sirah, mataro (a/k/a mourvèdre), carignane, and field blends (such as Geyserville, which often includes cinsaut and Alicante Bouschet). Draper championed the idea of single-vineyard labeling early on, and his passion and talent for winemaking, to say nothing of his laid-back marketing savvy, make Ridge one of the world’s great wineries.

Santa Cruz has other stars, such as Bonny Doon’s Randall Grahm, whose wines are seemingly everywhere (he has a tasting room just a few miles from downtown Santa Cruz, and another in Paso Robles). Storrs makes wonderful zinfandel, merlot, and petite sirah, as well as a game gewürztraminer and some drinkable chardonnays. I have raved about Savannah-Chanelle’s zinfandels and cabernet francs, and I must confess I love everything this winery puts on the shelves.

As a whole, this region is still learning which vine varieties work best, and at which vineyard sites. So far, its diversity rivals Napa’s or Sonoma’s, although it produces very few sauvignon blancs. Its proximity to the sea and the shady hills makes this a cooler wine region, despite its location 100 miles south of Sonoma. Its wines, made mostly from mountain fruit, tend to be big without going over the top.

Santa Cruz winemakers, moreover, tend to be very friendly and supportive of one another, and the “rising tide lifts all boats” philosophy makes for a convivial atmosphere (in Napa and Sonoma, on the other hand, money and spotlight-sharing issues have led to some major feuds). It is also one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Many of its 50-plus wineries are open for tastings (often free of charge), and there’s plenty of affordable lodging near the ocean. It’s safe to say that after gestating for more than 20 years, this region is just as wonderful the second time around.