All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle? - Tasting at the American Wine Society (NoVa Chapter) led by Annette Schiller

On January 06, 2023, Annette Schiller led a tasting at the American Wine Sociery (Northern Virginia Chapter) about: All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle?

We tasted 11 sparkling wines from around the world, ranging from a Hillinger Secco (Austria) to a Taittinger Champagne (France). 40 people participated in the tasting. We had 2 bottles per wine.

Annette Schiller: It can be confusing to see all the different labels of bubblies with prices vacillating between just a few dollars per bottle for a mass-produced sparkler to close to a hundred. There is Champagne, Cava, Crémant, Prosecco, Frizzante, Sekt, Winzersekt, Secco, Pet-Nat, to name just a few. But they all have one thing in common: they have significant levels of carbon dioxide in the bottle to make them fizzy. However, there are different procedures to get the fizz into the bottle. We will taste 11 sparkling wines and will evaluate the difference in the various methods of how the CO₂ gets into the bottle.  

Annette used a power point presentation for the tasting. You find the slides at the end of this posting. 

Previous Tastings

Annette has done similar tastings with different wines at 2 occasions recently: 

All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle? - Tasting at the American Wine Society (NoVa Chapter) led by Annette Schiller

All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle? - Wine Tasting by the German Wine Society with Annette Schiller 

All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle - Presentation by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, at the 2021 American Wine Society National Conference in Atlantic City

Tasting

11 Sparkling Wines

How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle?

One fermentation:
- Adding CO2
1) NV Secco, Pink Ribbon, Pinot Noir, Hillinger, Burgenland, Austria
- Méthode Ancestrale
2) 2018 Pét-Nat, Tscherne 18-Pét Pink, Steiermark, Austria

Secondary fermentation
- Charmat Method (tank fermentation)
3) NV Prosecco, Borrasca, Extra Dry, DOCG Valdobbiadene, Veneto, Italy

- Transfer Method (2 different bottles)
4) NV Jansz, Premium Cuvée Tasmania, Australia
5) NV Korbel, Brut, California, USA

- Méthode Traditionelle (same bottle)
6) NV Paul Cheneau, Cava Brut, Spain
7) NV Domaine Gracieux Chevalier, Crément de Bourgogne Brut, France
8) NV Graham Beck, Rosé, Brut, South Africa
9) 2018 Peter Jakob Kühn, Spätburgunder Blanc de Noir, Brut, Rheingau, Germany
10) 2018 Domaine Carneros by Taittinger, Brut Napa Valley, USA
11) NV Taittinger Brut La Française, France

Power Point Presentation