Lemon Sparkler -- Happy 4th of July

I've already dug my sparklers out for the Fourth of July - both the kind you light with a match and the ones that have corks. It should be hot, but what better way to cool off than with a crisp, lemony cocktail made with a splash of sparkling wine.

This Lemon Sparkler recipe comes from the folks at Barefoot Bubbly, a line of affordable, sip-by-the-pool wines that's part of the E & J Gallo empire. The lemon flavor comes from limoncello, a bittersweet lemon liqueur that's a traditional digestif all over Italy, but especially in the south.

Lemon Sparkler
1 1/2 oz limoncello

1 1/2 oz fresh sour mix

3 oz Barefoot Bubbly Brut Cuvée

Lemon twist

Fresh mint leaves

Directions: Combine the limoncello and sour mix in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into chilled martini glass. Top off with Barefoot Bubbly. Garnish with a long lemon twist & mint sprig.


If you don't get your fill during the day, The Winesellar & Brasserie, a well-stocked wine shop and restaurant in the Miramar area, is hosting a tasting called Champagne and Friends from 5 to 7 p.m. on the 4th. The exact wines are a secret, but judging from their ad, you can count on tasting something made by Gruet, a fine French style sparkling wine house based in New Mexico.

Bubble Up!

I always love an excuse to talk about the Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui, a deep red , tart-sweet sparkling wine from Piedmont that tastes of roses, raspberries and cranberries. At Arterra in the San Diego Marriott Del Mar they're serving a potent ruby red Sangria made with Brachetto. Created by Tom Mastricola, the new general manager and resident mixlogist, it's sublime.

The hip new patio that surrounds the pool - complete with cabanas, mod furniture and a yummy menu of upscale comfort food -- makes a great place to down tall cold glass of sangria this summer.

In case you'd like to try it at home, here's the recipe:

ArterraGria

2 raspberries
2 blueberries
2 strawberries
1 slice orange
1 slice lemon
1 ounce Landy Cognac
1/2 ounce creme de cassis
1/2 ounce simple syrup
splash fresh orange juice
2 to 3 ounces Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui

Add the berries to a 16-ounce bar mixing glass and muddle (smash) the berries to a juicy pulp. Add the orange and lemon slices. Add the Cognac, creme de cassis, simple syrup and orange juice and stir well to combine. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Top off with Brachetto.

My Bubbly Book

It feels good to be blogging again.

First, I must apologize for having been absent for so long, but I've been up to something huge.

For the past few years, I've been working on a lifestyle book that would celebrate all the wonderful sparkling wines and champagnes I love from around the world.

Things started clicking in early spring when I started working with literary agents Jennifer de la Fuente and Frank Scatoni of Venture Literary. They were professional, encouraging and well-connected.

In early April, I signed a deal with Clarkson Potter to write a book on sparkling wine cocktail recipes and delicious appetizers that sing with any sparkling wine or champagne. Clarkson is considered one of the premier publishers of gorgeous and glossy lifestyle and cooking books; their authors include Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray and Giada di Laurentis. The book will be filled with beautiful color pictures as well as lots of practical information on how bubbly is made, how to pair it with everyday foods and great wines to taste. It's due out in August 2008, but I'll keep you updated.

After a whirlwind of shooting pictures and writing that ended on June 1, photographer Paul Body, some friends and I celebrated by cracking open a magnum of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label.
I look forward to many more celebrations!!!

Cava, Cava!

I was out wine shopping with my friend Kristi at a local grocery store this weekend when I stumbled on one bottle of Cava Can Vendrell sitting all by its loneseome on the shelf. I think I yelled "Oh my God" and grabbed the bottle.

I was so excited because it was the first time I'd ever seen a bottle of this organic cava by Albet I Noya. I thought it was a bargain at $18. Cava, which means "cave" in Spanish, is a sparkling wine made in the same method as champagne, but it using native grapes from Penedes named xarel-lo, macabeo and parellada. Josep Maria Albet I Noya, as their web site explains, is one of Spain's pioneers in making fine organic wines, dating back to the late 70s.

So I raced home with my prize, stuck it in the refrigerator and planned a cava-worthy meal of Spanish shrimp with grapes.

Turning on the computer while I waited, I found an email from a "Bubbly Chap" named Patrick and his wife Roso who live near Barcelona, Spain. She works for an Institute promoting cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, and in doing research found my site The Bubbly Girl.

How freaky and cool is that?? They were as thrilled to find someone in the US who loves bubbly as I was to hear from them. Every Friday, they celebrate what they call "Happy Friday" with a bottle of cava and different foods. They say there are lots of local stories about cava, like the one that promises if you dig a hole in the earth in Penedes, cava will run out of the ground.

I hope to get there one day soon to find out!

The Other Dom

Who hasn't heard of Dom Perignon? But there's another Dom who's quite famous in the world of Champagne. Dom Ruinart also created champagne, and realized selling bubbly to Europe's high and mighty would make a fine business. His family founded what is the oldest house in Champagne in 1729.

As good as Ruinart champagne is, it's somewhat rare. So I was thrilled to discover their Blanc de Blancs on the wine list at Chive in downtown San Diego. And mon dieu, it was half-price, thanks to a Mad Monday wine special!!
The clear bottle of Blanc de Blancs was gorgeous and the wine was a revelation: incredibly elegant and light while still being round. It's rare and refreshing to find an old-school French bubbly that's so lithe and juicy with chardonnay fruit. It was perfect alone, but magical with a dish of seared scallops stuffed with chorizo.

After dinner, I moved over to the bar to meet a co-worker who had a guest named Stephen visiting from London. He works at the posh bar Artesian in the Langham Hotel -- which serves loads of bubbly and cocktails based on artisanal spirits.

The half-price Ruinart caught his eye too. "We sell this for 17 pounds a glass!"

Here we go again...

Sweet Surrender Cocktail Recipe

OK, sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but I've been a busy girl -- even more than normal.

One of my new activities is joining my first book club, informally known as the Best Book Club Ever. It's filled with smart, fun women, who are mostly attorneys or their wives. Our first book was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, a very moving and controversial tale of a girl who was born in order to donate stem cells, and then bone marrow to her older sister who has a rare form of cancer.

Since I was longing for a bit of spring, I decided to create a girly, rose-scented cocktail to add some sparkle to our first meeting. I named it after a hot pink rose called Sweet Surrender. Here, finally, is the recipe:

Sweet Surrender aka Book Club-tinis
Makes 1 cocktail
2 tablespoons Stirrings 60 Petals Rose Essence
splash Torani raspberry syrup
Rotari Brut sparkling wine
candied rose petals

Add the rose syrup and a drizzle of raspberry syrup to a champagne flute. Top off with Rotari or another favorite brut sparkling wine. Add a few pieces of candied rose petals to the glass, they'll float up and down and make it extra bubbly.

I plan to sip a few of these while reading our next book, The Other Boelyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, a tale of political intrigue, romance and sibling rivalry set in the court of King Henry VIII.

Livin My Life Like It's Golden

I feel like I'm in sixth grade again.

I have been playing the song Golden by the amazing singer and songwriter Jill Scott incessantly this weekend.

I'd heard before, but it hit a chord when I heard it on TV paired up with the image of a perfectly golden glass of bubbly. Apparently, it's the theme song for "The Starter Wife" a new USA Network miniseries starring Debra Messing. It's based on a book of the same name by Gigi Levangie Grazer that tells the story of a Hollywood exec's wife restarting her life after getting the heave-ho.

Married, divorced or happily single, this song celebrates the way we all should live. Is this the Bubbly Girl theme song or what?

Boa Cocktail Recipe

A good cocktail recipe can be hard to find, so I'll save you the trouble.

Here's how to make The Boa, the Valentine cocktail I mentioned earlier this week. It's slightly sweet with a sort of unseen power -- like a woman perhaps?

The Boa is just one of the unique wine-based cocktails that Lisa Redwine has created at Molly's Restaurant in the San Diego Marriott Marina, where she's the wine director and GM. Redwine (yes, her real name) was inspired by a similar cocktail she tasted on a trip to France.

The Boa Cocktail
Splash (1/2 ounce) Aqua Perfecta Raspberry Liqueur
5 ounces chilled sparkling wine
Float of Quady’s Elysium Black Muscat dessert wine
1 fresh raspberry
Pour raspberry liqueur in bottom of glass. Add sparkling wine slowly because it will foam. Top with Elysium. Garnish with fresh raspberry.

Cin-cin!

New Site Feature: Bubbly FAQ

Ever wondered how to afford more champagne on a beer budget or how to stop mangling the pronunciation of methode champenoise?

Well, wonder no more: go check out a new feature called Bubbly FAQ on my web site The Bubbly Girl.

Now, the only thing missing is your question... If you've got something you're dying to know about bubbly, write to me at
thebubblygirl@sbcglobal.net

Divine Valentine Wine

It's not hard to figure out that I wholeheartedly recommend rose bubbly for Valentine's Day. Aaah, but which one?

I'm early to bed tonite because at 6:15 a.m. Monday, I'll be on KNSD 7/39 talking about romantic sparkling wines to serve on V-Day.

In case you're not up that early, here's the rundown:

Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose One of the best kept secrets in France. Think strawberries on buttered toast. About $75
Domaine Chandon Brut Rose - A vivid and bold wine with lively flavors of plums and raspberries. About $17
Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui- A seductive sweet-tart wine with flavors of raspberries, cranberries and roses. About $18

Champagne & Chocolate

I can't help but grimace whenever I read about people eating champagne with chocolate.

Actually, I have loved chocolate and champagne, but just once. It was at Trianon, Moet et Chandon's hospitality house in Epernay, France. The chef there paired a very subtle milk chocolate mousse with Nectar Imperial.

The rule is that the wine needs to be at least as sweet as the dessert for the pairing to work. Otherwise, the wine tastes sour and it doesn't do much for the food either.

But when the champagne is mixed with the chocolate in a truffle, it's a whole different story. I'm mad about anything San Francisco pastry chef turned chocolatier Michael Recchiuti makes, and his Champagne Truffles are no exception. The milk chocolate ganache truffles are blended with Schramsberg's Blanc de Noirs and dusted with powdered sugar.

For a busy woman, eating fine chocolate and champagne at the same time is the ultimate in multi-tasking.

The Bubbly Index

Even before all those corks went flying on Dec. 31, the vintners of high-end domestic sparkling wine had reason to celebrate: sales of their wines grew 6 percent over last year.

The Bubbly Index -- a report by wine industry consulting firm Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates -- looked at sales in the premium California sparkling wine category. That includes a wide range of brands from J to Domaine Carneros to Korbel.

Joy Sterling, of Iron Horse Vineyards said that their 7.5 percent growth in revenue was fueled by new young wine drinkers who aren't beholden to French bubbly. "California high-end Methode Champenoise Sparklings like Iron Horse fit the profile as 'affordable luxuries,’" Sterling is quoted as saying.

Seeing that this is the third year in a row that sales of domestic bubbly have grown, to me, it also means that more people -- young and not so young -- are realizing that fine sparkling wines are perfect accompaniments for every day life.

Last Minute Bubblies Under $20 and Opening That Bottle

I got up early Saturday to make a last-minute appearance on KNSD 7/39's morning show to talk about under-$20 sparkling wines that make great alternatives to champagne.

Here are the four wines I shared:
Blason de Bourgogne Cremant de Bourgogne Cuvee Brut- Sparkling wine from Burgundy France, it’s light and clean with a balance of crisp citrus notes and golden apples. I couldn't find any background on the Brut Cremant, but Blason de Bourgogne is a joint venture by four well regarded producers in Burgundy intent on crafting fine affordable wines. If you can, grab a bottle of the rose!
$8 at Trader Joe’s

Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Heredad – Cava is a sparkling wine made in Spain using the same methods as in champagne. Smooth, elegant and buttery, it goes down very easily. Plus it comes in a stunning pewter embellished bottle. If you thought you didn’t like cava, this is the one to try.
$14 at Trader Joe’s

Piper Sonoma Brut – Made in Sonoma by a French champagne house Piper Heidsieck, this wine is bold with toasty, mushroom flavors and aromas tempered by creaminess and rich fruit.
About $12 at BevMo or Trader Joe’s

Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui- Lush, tart-sweet wine with raspberry, rose and cranberry flavors and aromas that make it quite unforgettable.
About $17 at BevMo

We also talked about the right way to open a bottle of champagne, a task that I've noticed makes some grown women cringe. Some guys on the other hand, seem to think it's fun to shake the bottle and see how far they can shoot the cork and the bubbly inside. But since a bottle contains the same amount of pressure as a truck tire, corks can and do cause injuries.

Here's how to ring in the new year without needing an eye patch.
1. Get the bottle cold; 20-30 minutes in ice water or 1 hour in the refrigerator.

2. Remove the foil and loosen the wire cage.

3. Place a cloth napkin or towel and the palm of your hand firmly over the cork.
4. Point the bottle at the ceiling, hold the cork and twist the bottle to open.
You should hear a slight sigh, not an explosion.
Cheers!

The Phantom - The Drink, The Drive

Personally, I've always associated Rolls-Royces with Grey Poupon mustard-- at least I think that was a Rolls.

But in yet another burst of over-the-top creativity, New York Chef Daniel Boulud (who brought us the $69 burger laden with short ribs, foie gras and black truffles) found inspiration in a Rolls-Royce for a uniquely luxurious cocktail.

Boulud, who admits he's wild about beautiful cars, was so impressed with the Phantom Black he decided to create cocktail that's equally exquisite and elegant. The result is The Phantom, a curious libation of champagne crowned with a champagne cloud.

Bartender Xavier Herite combines gelatin and the restaurant's private label Cuvee Daniel champagne to make the champagne cloud. In tribute to the Rolls-Royce Phantom Black, the cocktail is served in a mysterious black crystal glass made by Riedel. The Black Sommelier's Blind Blind glass is designed to conceal the color of the liquid so tasters can judge a wine solely on its aroma and flavors.

Most of us will never drive a Phantom, but for a mere $29, we can experience the cocktail from now until late spring 2007 in the Lounge at Daniel.

Irresistible

Recipes seem simple, but they're so much more than sets of instructions for a dish. In between the measurements, they hold a connection to memories of the first time we ate that food, where we were or the person who shared the dish with us.

Being a Bubbly Girl is as much about serving the right sparkling wine as it is about knowing what foods best accompany that wine. I can't think of anything better with bubbly than these Cheddar Cheese Coins, savory little crackers with a buttery cheddar taste and a hint of spice. They're going in my Bubbly Girl book, but since its the entertaining season, I've decided to share them with you now.

The original recipe they're based on came from a rather unpleasant person. But I suppose that shows that everyone has at least one redeeming quality.

Cheddar Cheese Coins
1 pound butter, softened
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated and at room temperature
4 cups unbleached flour
2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon ancho chile powder

Put everything in a large mixing bowl and mix well with your hands or add ingredients to the bowl of an electric mixer and process until well-combined. Working on a lightly floured surface, take a hunk of dough and roll it into a long log about the diameter of a quarter. Wrap log in plastic wrap. Repeat with the remaining dough. Put the dough you don’t plan to bake into the freezer. Let the rest chill in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using a sharp knife, cut log into slices one-eighth-inch thick. Place coins close together on baking sheet that’s been greased lightly or is covered by a Silpat baking mat. Bake for 16 minutes or until the kitchen smells like cheddar cheese and butter. Remove from the oven, the bottoms should be slightly golden. Let coins cool completely before removing them from the pan, or they will fall apart.

© Maria Hunt - All Rights Reserved

Oh Jaaames...

I've been so busy lately, I'm probably one of five people in North America who hasn't seen the new James Bond flick Casino Royale yet. It's the story of how James Bond went from regular spy to a licensed to kill 007. In Bond creator Ian Fleming's original 1953 Bond book by the same name, we learn of all of Bond's favorite things: the Walther PPK, martinis shaken-not-stirred and Bollinger Champagne.

Now I know why he's been drinking the stuff for the past 50 years or so; it's probably the most marvelous champagne I've ever tasted. My friend Jan invited me to a champagne and sparkling wine tasting at the University Club in downtown San Diego.

It was crowded, and by the time I made it over to Bruno, the Bollinger rep, he was down to his last bottles. First I tasted the Special Cuvee, which caught me off guard with its striking balance of toasty aged character mixed with golden fruits.

I was still pondering and savoring this wine when Bruno told me to drink up. He wanted me to have the last taste of La Grande Annee. The current vintage of this wine, which is Bollinger's prestige cuvee, is from 1997. I was mesmerized by the most beautiful symphony of flavors: it was like eating buttery golden brioche wrapped around caramelized apricots.

That was a week ago, and I'm still in its thrall.

Be Your Own Sommelier

Scanning the New York Times online this evening I found this interesting article on the shortage of sommeliers across the country.

Eric Asimov writes that with the rapid growth in wine culture in the U.S., restaurants all over are having a hard time finding qualified people to serve wine. Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible , recounted being served a bottle of Madeira on ice at an Atlanta restaurant. Being qualified means more than knowing the business end of a corkscrew; it also means loving serving people, not being pretentious and having an appreciation for a broad range of wines.

I took a couple things away from it: I'm energized about my own goal to become a wine educator and pursue certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Secondly, with the shortage of good wine servers in restaurants, it behooves every intelligent woman (and man) out there to do your own personal wine education. Get a group of girlfriends together and go to a wine tasting or try something new next time you go to a restaurant. Tasting lots of different styles of wine is the only way to learn what you like and what to ask for. That way, we can all be our own sommeliers!

Enjoy the Day

Aah Thanksgiving. A day off from work, a day to sleep in, a day to watch silly TV before heading out to dinner. Remember to take some time to reflect on all the gifts we have to be thankful for, like good friends, having more than enough to eat, and of course, bubbly!

A couple hours from now, I hope to be drinking some rose champagne with my dee-licious gourmet turkey dinner at Nine-Ten in La Jolla.

Joy Sterling of Iron Horse Vineyards shared this beautiful painting of the Sonoma County vineyards in winter, so I thought I'd share it with you. Enjoy!

Phantom of the Opera Tasting --The Rest of the Story II

SO the heat in Napa was oppressive during my Bubbly Girl's Sparkling Wine Goodwill Tour, but I suppose I can't complain about the fact that I was able to spend a week driving around and tasting sparkling wine.

But at Schramsberg, the heat yielded a cool experience: the chance to taste wine in the caves. Schramsberg is a family owned winery where Jack and Jamie Davies were pioneers as the first Californians to make traditional French-style sparkling wines in the 1960s. For me, the symbol of the winery is the beautiful Victorian home that leaps into view as you reach the end of their winding, heavily wooded driveway in Northern Napa Valley.

The house was built in the 1870s by Jacob Schram, a German immigrant who was the first person to produce wine on the property. He had Chinese workers dig out the hillside to create an extensive network of caves where he stored barrels and produced wine.

A passageway from the Schramsberg tasting room leads to the caves, where PR Director Larry Levine and Winemaker Craig Roemer met me for a tasting. As we walked deeper into the caves, past dusty riddling racks, the natural chill and humidity was like a welcoming caress. We arrived at a table holding a variety of Schramsberg wines. Candles twinkled from candelabras on either side of the table, giving the tasting a slightly spooky, Phantom of the Opera feeling.

The highlight was the chance to taste the 1998 vintage J. Schram Rose, the new pink version of the winery's top wine (aka tete de cuvee). The cool peachy pink wine smelled of fresh strawberries and a toasty sweetness that for some reason reminded me of fresh corn. I still wish I hadn't said that out loud, but that's what I smelled. It tasted crisp and rich, a perfect wine to pair with the rich flavors of seafood or pork or to drink by itself. Larry said I was the second writer to taste the wine; I would have been flattered even if I'd been the tenth because it was so well-crafted and represented so much work. Later we stopped by the labeling room, where a woman carefully smoothed labels on each bottle by hand before wrapping it in tissue.


Getting your hands on a bottle of the J Schram Rose might be tough, since they only made 800 cases and the wine will retail for about $120 a bottle.

Larry offered to send me home with one of the open bottles of wine we'd tasted that afternoon.
Guess what I chose to drink by the pool that night?

The rest of the story-Part I

I'm pretty new to this blogging thing. As a journalist, I want to make sure every sentence is perfectly crafted and each story recounted in detail. The problem is that this perfectionist urge kills the spirit of blogging, which to me is about recording true thoughts and feelings in the moment -- or close to it.

The moment has passed as far as recounting the Bubbly Girl's Sparkling Wine Good Will Tour. So here's a quick installment:

I arrived at Korbel just before opening and had time to enjoy the gardens near the cafe. They were some of the most beautiful I'd ever seen at any winery.


Korbel was established in 1882 by two brothers from Czechoslovakia. Today it's the largest producer of methode champenoise wines in the country. The best wine I tasted was their rose, which had crisp strawberry and citrus flavors, all for around $10 a bottle retail.


After beautiful drive through forests of Mendocino County, I made it to Roederer Estate in Andersonville. Set in a lush area with spectacular views of evergreens, the tasting room was small and very low key. What was impressive was tasting side by side from a regular 750 ml bottle of brut and a magnum, which is the equivalent of two bottles. The difference was incredible: the wine from the magnum tasted like an entirely different and amazingly more complex wine. I bought two. The other cool things were the displays of sculptures made from cork cages; these were two of the best.


Suffice it to say I nearly accomplished my goal of visiting every major sparkling wine producer. I say nearly because although I stopped at Domaine Chandon and marvelled at the mushroom rock sculptures, I didn't feel like dealing with the crowd and skipped the tasting room.