Ypsi Cooks

Who doesn't love drinking bubbly? Be it actual Champagne, Prosecco, or any of the sparklers and naturally effervescent wines out there people love popping open a bottle in celebration. I think it should be drank more often. There are a few problems though: cost, preservation, and education.

Unless it is New Years Eve it is hard for many people to find inexpensive options. Champagne is such a dominate name and you tend to pay for it. There are plenty of inexpensive sparklers, or near sparklers out there that are under $15. They aren't amazing, but for casual consumption they do the trick. If you were going to get a $10 bottle of wine why not get a $12 bottle of nice sparkler. People will think there is a special occasion. Also a good way to impress the ladies.

The problem with fizz is that it goes flat quickly, so people are hesitant to open a bottle of bubbly unless they know it can be finished off quickly. There are a few options to this dilemma. The first is to not buy full sized bottles. Sparklers can be purchased in magnum (1.5 litres), full (0.75 litre), half (0.375 litre), and quarter (0.1875 litre) sized bottles. A quarter bottle is a perfect for size for a couple people to have with some dessert. We recently got a couple quarter bottles of Cava, a Spanish sparkler for $3 a pop. For that price there is no reason not to have some. The other solution is to use a special stopper. Bridgit got me one for a wedding present. On our honeymoon a nearby table found out we were just married the day before (and it was New Years Eve), so they got us a bottle. We weren't able to finish it, so we took it to our room and Bridgit presented me with the stopper. It clamps onto the bottle so the pressure won't pop it off, and the one she got has a lever that opens a pour spout. We had fizzy drink and some wedding cake for breakfast New Year's morning. This week we opened a bottle on Wednesday, immediately put the stopper on it, and also drank it on Thursday and then again on Sunday morning. There was a pop as I opened the spout and it was still bubbly 4 days later.

People need to know that sparklers from all over the world are good: Spanish Cava, French Crémant (sparklers not from Champagne), Itallian Asti, German Sekt, American “Champagne”. There are also semi and barely sparkling wines that worth a try. They come also come in white, red, and rose varieties. There are also good options out there for under $15.

So this weekend open a bottle of bubbly, for reason but to enjoy it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Drinks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.