You may recall, a few weeks back, my mentioning an interesting sparkling wine I came across at a tasting on Friday the 13th not too long ago. I found out where I could pick up this beauty of a bottle and finally dove in head first. As part of a Marble Porch day I held in celebration of my birthday (9 days down, 25 more to celebrate), this was one of two bottles of bubbly I opened, and it performed very much as it had the first time I enjoyed it. Here’s a few bits for you to quaff…

Jacques Pelvas Brut Rose NV, Provence, France

The short:

1. If you didn’t know what this varietal was off the bat, and had even a little experience tasting bubbly, you’d notice that the smell and taste were different than your standard brut. Lovely, light, but a fruit aroma you’re (pleasantly) not used to smelling or tasting from traditional sparkling wines. What’s in it? GRENACHE! Surprise!! I’ve yet to hear of a Grenache sparkling rose, but I really liked this one.
2. The label is pretty basic…nothing that would make it stand out among the rest on the shelf
3. So far, I can’t tell that these folks have any kind of actual physical presence…so unless I hear otherwise, I’ll just have to be happy with finding these bottles
4. The varietal isn’t as popular as others, but it’s even less common in the sparkling category, which automatically makes this a pretty deviant wine!

The judgement: 4 out of 5. I really enjoyed this wine. Good balance, easy sipper, and nice aroma to it. And the PRICE can’t be beat – $11 or $12. But be prepared to hunt for it. I picked up my bottle(s) at The Gourmet Corner in San Mateo, and it was worth the trip. I walked out with 2 bottles of this and 3 others to try out, and spent just barely over $70. Score! Make sure you pick up a couple of bottles, as I think you’ll find, much like me, that it’s easy to go through these. No joke, I’m probably going to pick up a minimum 6 bottles, possibly a case. Sante!

The nerdy notes:

• nose: light, hint of strawberry
• taste:  more of that strawberry, slight note of barely ripe cherry, and some kind of floral that I couldn’t put my finger on at the time of tasting. Nice mouthfeel and much more up my alley when it comes to sparkling. Good amount of bubble stream, too!

No, wait. Let’s not call it a “resolution”, because resolutions are too easy to break. Let’s call it Bubbly Goals! When most of us think about selecting a bottle of bubbles, there are some typical go-to names that pop-up, such as Mumm, Korbel, Gloria Ferrer, and Freixenet to name just a few. Why is that? Because it’s what we’re used to. But what about bubbles that come from alternate wine regions in the U.S., or even sparkling wines that come from other countries? There’s a host of them, and my recommendation is to try any from these REGIONS:

• Cava (Spain)
• Prosecco, Asti or Lambrusco (Italy)
• Espumante (Portugal)
• Sekt (Germany)
• Pezsgo (Hungary)

And don’t forget all the alternate STYLES of sparkling:

• Natural
• Extra Brut
• Brut
• Extra Dry/Extra Sec
• Dry/Sec
• Demi-Sec
• Sweet

Finally, a sparkling wine doesn’t HAVE to be made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Pinot Muenier. Why not try something made with:

• Muscat/Moscato
• Lambrusco
• Syrah
• Riesling
• Pinot Blanc
• Gamay
• Gruner Veltliner
• Blaufrankisch

What you should do now is select a bottle or two that deviates from your comfortable path, be sure to report back here about what you enjoyed, and where you found it so others can try it out. What you shouldn’t do is feel overwhelmed by all the options. Your best bet is to hit your local bottle shop first, and then fall back onto a larger chain store if time is running out. There are so many kinds of bubbly, so asking someone that works at the shop for a recommendation will help you go a long way. I’ll be posting my thoughts on a couple of bottles shortly, and look forward to your comments here.

What a wonderful way to kick-off our wine deviance…with bubbles!