What Are You Toasting 2013 With?

New Year's Eve is a time to reflect on the past year's highlights... or even lowlights. Many of you will do this over a toast of champagne. But, is what you are toasting with champagne or sparkling wine? As we know, all wine and champagne come from grapes. There are many different types of wine that come from these grapes. The process in which the grapes are fermented will determine what type of wine it is.

Sparkling wines can be made from nearly any type of grape. The inclusion of carbon dioxide is what makes this wine sparkling. Carbon dioxide occurs naturally during the process of fermentation, and winemakers have developed techniques to trap the carbon dioxide in the wine. A few of the more popular sparkling wines are; Cava, Champagne, Crémant d'Alsace, Moscato d'Asti and Prosecco.


Often, sparkling wines are referred to incorrectly as Champagne. Yes, Champagne is a type of sparkling wine, but for a sparkling wine to truly be a Champagne, it must come from a region of northeast France named... Champagne. There is even a law that states for a wine to be called Champagne, it must solely be produced with grapes only from this region and then produced according to strict guidelines.

We hope you celebrate and toast to 2013 with us. The following are fine choices to ring in the new year:

Sparkling Wines:

• brut, freixenet cordon negro - split 9.25
• brut, mumms, cuvee - napa 45.00
• brut, domiane ste michelle - columbia valley 25.00 
• brut, graham beck -  half bottle, south africa, 29.00
• dollface, sparkling rose - utica, il 57.00

Champagne:

• brut, piper heidsieck - split 23.50
• brut, veuve clicquot - france 75.00