Grapevine: A sparkling start to holidays

Wine is never more a featured part of daily living than during the holiday season. There’s no need to add to your pile of stress by fussing over finding the best bottles. Here’s your game plan:

A good sparkling wine will get any meal off to a good start. As one Champagne producer explains, it needs no special occasion. Champagne, he insisted, is a special occasion. I’ve listed several choices in all price ranges for your holiday fizz.

Next up, you’ll want a fancy bottle or two. Whether for gift giving or to serve as the centerpiece of your own festivities, the wine pipeline is bursting with outstanding new releases, especially from the great 2005 vintage. Here are some favorites from Washington, both white and red.

Last but certainly not least, we are all looking for those great everyday bottles that cost under $8 and taste far better. I’ve listed some excellent choices below, all of them widely available.

Bubbles

Good bubbly need not be expensive, although true Champagne can certainly command a high price. To me the best values in sparkling wines are Italy’s proseccos and sparkling wines from Alsace.

Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut Blanc de Blancs; $14 would be my first choice for a wine that is close in quality to champagne, but costs a third as much. It’s made from pinot blanc by the champagne method. Equally good is the dry, pink Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé; $14. It’s an elegant wine lightly scented with rose petals, cherries and hints of herb.

The other surefire palate pleaser is prosecco, from northern Italy. Prosecco is not a champagne-method bubbly, but the wines still show elegance and finesse. Good prosecco has plenty of lovely, lively bubbles, highlighted with fragrances of orange peel and citrus. It’s a great mixer, too, for a Sunday morning mimosa.

There are dozens of good proseccos in the market currently, among them those from Villa Sandi, represented by Michael Mondavi’s Folio Fine Wine Partners. Stylishly packaged, these light and lively wines average just 11 percent alcohol and make splendid aperitifs.

If you want real Champagne, look no farther than Piper-Heidsieck Brut ($38) or better yet Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve ($40). Be sure to tell your friends that you’re pouring “Champagne Charlie” because, as you are sure they must have heard, November is “Charles Heidsieck Month” at The Ritz Hotel in London, and this is the featured Champagne. Nothing’s too good for your friends.

Fancy table wines

Let’s stick close to home here; Washington vintners are releasing some spectacular wines for the holiday season. Some favorites:

Gorman 2006 “Big Sissy” Conner Lee Vineyard Chardonnay, $35. This is just plain luscious chardonnay, bursting with rich, butterscotch flavors of toast, nutmeg and caramel.

L’Ecole No. 41 2006 Columbia Valley Semillon, $16. A good case can be made (pun intended) that semillon is Washington’s best white wine; and no one outshines L’Ecole No. 41. This delicious, rich and succulent wine will pair beautifully with poultry, offering flavors of nettle, lime, melon and vanilla custard.

O“S Winery 2005 Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Franc, $30. O“S doesn’t hold anything back. This wine, from the great Champoux vineyard, is intense, high-toned and jammy, packed with juicy red fruit flavors and barrel notes of coffee and tobacco.

Columbia Crest 2005 Stone Tree Vineyard Reserve Zinfandel, $30. This is the first time that Columbia Crest has made this Wahluke Slope zin; and it’s a winner. Raspberries and violets light up the bouquet, with blackberry and plum fruit flavors following. This is a great choice for pork, lamb or beef entrées.

Cheap and good

Covey Run 2006 Dry Riesling, $8. A perfect turkey wine, this Washington riesling has floral and citrus aromas, leading into fruit flavors mix melon and peach, finishing with a tart, acidic snap.

Lindemans 2006 Bin 65 Chardonnay, $7. This latest vintage of the ever-popular Australian chardonnay is sleek and modern, tasting of light melon, pineapple and lime, with crisp, palate-refreshing acids.

Lindemans 2006 Bin 50 Shiraz, $7. On to the reds! Lindemans just keeps knocking it out of the park with their Bin 50 shiraz. It’s clean, sharp, tight and tart, with a candy bowl mix of red fruits and zippy acid.

Washington Hills 2005 Merlot, $7. Is anything more difficult to find than decent merlot under $8? This one includes 20 percent cabernet franc in the blend, which adds some herbal, muscular tannins. It’s a good choice for roast beast.

La Vieille Ferme 2005 Rouge, $8. This southern French blend of grenache, syrah, carignane and cinsault is a mini-Châteauneuf-du-Pape at a fifth of the price.

Hogue 2005 Cabernet Merlot, $9. This affordable blend shows pretty aromas of black olive, baked plum, white chocolate and black cherry. It’s a softer, New World version of a simple Bordeaux.

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