THE FIZZ

Bubbles For Your Troubles

How to drink local during the global Champagne shortage.

By JASON TESAURO

APERFECT STORM OF EARLY HEAT, late frost, heavy rains, market flux, and supply chain logjams has left the Champagne region of France in lessthan-effervescent spirits, with Champagne in short supply. The news has left importers, sommeliers, and revelers around the globe bracing for a champers drought that’s forecasted to reach well into the mid-2020s.

Long billed as the pinnacle fizz, Champagne is more than a bubbly beverage. Consider its pedigree, from the Champagne region of France. Nevertheless, as celebrations resume and Champagne becomes ever more elusive and expensive, we need a Plan B for soirées, winners’ circles, yacht christenings, and wedding toasts.

All sparklings are wines with trapped carbon dioxide. Yet, the method by which a wine is carbonated marks the difference between prestige and plonk. Own a SodaStream? You could carbonate pinot grigio, but you won’t get Dom Pérignon. Like soda pop, canned bubblies are injected with CO2. A big step up is the tank method (aka Charmat, cuve close) commonly used for cava and prosecco. And then there’s méthode champenoise, meaning that the all-important fine-fizz-generating secondary fermentation took place in that very bottle. It takes years, specialized equipment, and precise know-how. It’s a pain in the glass and precisely what makes it delicious.

Enter Virginia.

According to VirginiaWine.org, 41 of the Commonwealth’s wineries produce a sparkling version. Not everyone farms their fizz in the same manner as the elite Grand Crus of France, but the range and craftsmanship are well worth your palate and pocketbook. I tasted over half of them and made some eye-opening discoveries.

First, while the Champagne region indoctrinated all of us to treat their vins mousseux as celebratory toasts, the truth is, sparkling wines can— and should—be consumed any and all the time. I sort Virginia sparklings in three unofficial categories: Fun Fizz, Bangin Bubs, and Serious Stuff. The FF wines are solid quaffers that require no special glass, occasion, or pairing. Just pop ’n’ serve. And if some of it ends up mixed into a cocktail or fresh juice at a picnic, no one’s offended. The BBs are sparkies befitting delicious moments with a little more fuss made over proper serving temperature and what else is on the table. The Serious Stuff is just what you think. Whether as an elegant apèritif or paired with a chef’s course, these are finessedriven bubbles that make you mind the mousse (French for fizziness) and forget your troubles.

Second, they’re not limited by centuries of regulation and tradition to particular styles and grape varietals. Good luck finding a quirky, malvasia bianca–based pét-nat anywhere in France. Early Mountain Vineyards makes one less than a hundred miles from Richmond for under $35. How about a steampunk-fused, lambrusco-style, tannat sparking red? Horton’s got one that California wine icon Randall Grahm described as: “Think linebacker in a tutu.”

What Thibaut-Janisson started with arguably Virginia’s first great modern fizzies, the newlyminted Virginia Sparkling Company is continuing by giving small producers access to tools and techniques. Finding Virginia quality is easier than ever. Champagne supplies might be parched for a spell, but no one in the Commonwealth has to go thirsty.

Toasting with a bottle of Thibaut-Janisson Blanc de Chardonnay, one of “Virginia’s first great modern fizzies.”

Jason Tesauro is a writer, photojournalist, and sommelier with five children, four cameras, three books, and too many bylines and bottles to count. Look for his work in Esquire, Bloomberg, Travel+Leisure, Decanter, and find him at home in Church Hill or on Instagram @TheModernGent.

VIRGINIA LIVING’S UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO VIRGINIA BUBBLIES

Fun Fizz

Muse Orchard, Widow’s Watch Cidery, Edinburg Virginia Sparkling Apple Wine NV, Méthode Traditionnelle, 10.5% alc. Loving Cup Vineyard & Winery, north gardEn Sparkling White Pétillant-Naturel 2019, 13% alc. $36 Afton Mountain Vineyards, afton Bollicine 2017, Méthode Champenoise, 12.5% alc. $40

Bangin Bubs

Rosemont of Virginia, La CrossE Extra Brut Sparkling Rosé, 13% alc. $25 Rappahannock Cellars, huntLy Prestige 2016, Méthode Traditionnelle, 15% alc. $36 Pearmund Cellars, broad run Brut Reserve NV, 13.5% alc, $44

Serious Stuff

Veritas Vineyard & Winery, afton Scintilla 2015, Méthode Traditionnelle, 11.9% alc. $60 Ankida Ridge Vineyards, amhErst Brut Blanc de Blancs 2017, Méthode Champenoise, 12.2% alc. $58 King Family Vineyards, CrozEt Brut Blanc de Blancs 2017, Méthode Traditionnelle, 12% alc. $42