A mixed bag of sparkling wines arrived at my office this month hailing from Spain and the Loire Valley to Tasmania, Adelaide Hills, King Valley, Victoria, and McLaren Vale. All different grape varieties and varying styles from light zesty aperitifs through to bolder food-friendly styles and one delicious red sparkler made from the obscure Chambourcin variety.
Sales of bubbly are forever trending upwards especially in the warmer months in Australia. With quality at levels not seen a decade ago the consumer can confidently venture outside the classic Champagne district of France for a decent festive wine.
All the wines presented finish dry and are of good quality only varying in style, showing that bubbles can be enjoyed not only for starters but also throughout the meal.
The Wines
Pizzini Prosecco 2014
From the King Valley in Victoria, this is a lovely fresh aperitif made in the Italian Prosecco style. It has aromas of apples, flowers and citrus. Clean and crisp with a dry finish, it really won’t disappoint.
Cava Julia & Navines Brut
From Catalonia and made from three Spanish varieties – Macabeu, Xarel-lo and Parellada – they have been skilfully blended and crafted. This wine has a steady bead and refined autolysis aromas. Shows some class and elegance and a long, dry finish.
Dr Louis PapaeliasVouvray De Chanceny Brut Excellence 2011
Pale gold in colour and with a fine bubble, this has some development and depth of flavour. This sparkling chenin blanc is full, crisp and dry, showing ripe fruit characters and some nuttiness leading to a clean, lingering finish. Its fuller style lends itself to accompanying food but also sits very well as a starter.
42 Degrees South
Made by Frogmore Creek Wines in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley, this area has a reputation for top quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This wine shows the cool climate character of those two classical varieties that go into the making of high quality sparkling wine. The preponderance of chardonnay (90%) gives the wine a creamy character with hints of flower and brioche. It finishes clean with persistence of flavour.
‘Spark‘ Adelaide Hills Sparkling Pinot Noir 2014
Made by Lambrook Wines from 100% pinot noir grown at Lenswood and Oakbank in the Adelaide Hills, it has a lovely soft pale salmon colour in the rose style. There are strawberry aromas of young pinot and a heady vinosity. Soft and round in the mouth it shows generosity and balance .Would accompany foods of a delicate nature.
D’Arenberg The Peppermint Paddock NV (100% Chambourcin)
Chambourcin is a complex hybrid red variety bred in 1945. It has high natural acidity which makes it suitable for sparkling wine. This wine is deep purple in colour with lashings of grape berry and sweet spice aromas. Full 
and fresh in the mouth, its crisp acidity is evident as are plenty of flavour and a clean finish. This is the wine to accompany the Christmas turkey and ham. Perfect red for a hot summer’s day and could easily handle a beef curry for that matter.
All of the above wines retail at somewhere between $20 and $30 a bottle and in my opinion are very good value indeed.
ED: These wines have been made available for this review and for this month’s Doctors Dozen from The Wine Thief, 69 McCourt St, West Leederville, phone 0414 836439