Once known as the cheap, cheerful and fizzy plonk served with ice cubes, today’s top Lambruscos are a far cry from the industrially made, cloyingly sweet versions that flooded American shelves in the 1970s and ’80s.

The top wines of Lambrusco have such a verve, energy and happiness that you feel better after a few sips,” said Writer-at-Large Jeff Porter, Wine Enthusiast’s resident Italian wine reviewer, back in January. “The continued push towards better farming, drier wines and a revitalization of old-school winemaking techniques are creating wines that show complexity and drinkability in equal proportions.”

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Hailing from the Emilia-Romagna region, Lambrusco is made from its namesake red grape. Or, to be exact, the extended family of varieties grouped under the Lambrusco category.

Once loved and then scorned for its candied sweetness, a number of producers now make distinct, slightly sparkling Lambruscos that belong on every wine lover’s radar. However, buyers beware—the styles vary tremendously and include lightweight, sweet and semi-sweet wines. The best Lambruscos are dry, crisp and delicious. Most are also extremely well-priced. To help you navigate through the ever-evolving category, we’ve put together a guide to the top styles and bottles worth seeking out.

Lambrusco di Sorbara

Lightly colored, fragrant and boasting vibrant acidity, Lambrusco di Sorbara, made from the grape of the same name, is the most refined wine of the Lambrusco category. Made around the village of Sorbara north of Modena, the variety excels in the sandy, fertile plains between the Secchia and Panaro rivers.

Historically, Lambrusco di Sorbara was a dry, crisp wine that finished its fermentation in the bottle to produce a light effervescence. But large cellars then discovered the Charmat method, which is a much quicker and less labor-intensive process where the second fermentation occurs in steel tanks. It also allowed the flexibility to produce sweet wines.

“The Charmat method generated a huge increase in production, but it also ended up destroying Lambrusco’s reputation,” says Alberto Paltrinieri, who runs his family’s winery, Cantina Paltrinieri. Founded in 1926 in the heart of Sorbara, the firm makes wines exclusively with estate grapes.

“Charmat can give excellent results and control quality, or it can be used to make industrial beverages to suit market trends,” says Paltrinieri. “However, longer fermentation times in the tank that last for three months, as opposed to three days, can yield more complex, aromatic wines.”

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Paltrinieri notes a number of producers have gone back to the traditional practice of carrying out the second fermentation in the bottle with no degorging, leaving a fine sediment at the bottom. This method produces dry, terroir-driven wines with personality.

These evolved methods have led to a renaissance for Lambrusco di Sorbara. However, the wine’s rebirth really began in the vineyard, says Paltrinieri, where “greatly decreasing yields has been fundamental.”

Anselmo Chiarli agrees. He’s the managing director of Chiarli 1860, the oldest winery in the region, and Cleto Chiarli, the family’s winery dedicated solely to Lambrusco made with estate grapes. While lowered yields and optimal vineyard sites have aided the resurgence, Chiarli says that identification of the best clones has further enhanced quality.

“In the 1980s, we began recovering the old clones in our vineyards,” he says. “After massal selection [where grafts are taken from existing old vines to propagate plantings, as opposed to planting new nursery vines], we planted the offspring of the best-performing vines.” These old clones give the wines more depth of flavor, which results in greater authenticity.

The best Lambrusco di Sorbara examples are dry, with enticing scents of violet and crisp red-berry flavors. They’re silky, lightly sparkling and offer racy acidity. These are the most food-friendly Lambruscos, pairing beautifully with the region’s hearty cuisine, like cured meat or tortellini in brodo.

Wine Enthusiast recommends:

Medici Ermete 2022 Phermento Lambrusco Rifermentato in Bottiglia Lambrusco di Sorbara (Lambrusco di Sorbara)

A wine of history and pure joy, this watermelon Jolly Rancher-colored sparkling wine bursts out of the glass with aromas of wild strawberry, green herbs and candied rose petals. The bracing palate pops with electric acidity, tart lime, watermelon and saline. A bottle for all occasions. Editor’s Choice. 94 Points — Jeff Porter

$29 Wine 365

Cleto Chiarli 2022 Lambrusco Del Fondatore Lambrusco di Sorbara (Lambrusco di Sorbara)

This zippy sparkler opens with aromas of freshly squeezed cherries that envelop the senses as floral and herbal aromas slowly come into frame providing contrast to the bright fruit notes. Plump mixed berries jump on the palate as the creamy texture and soft bubbles transport the palate to the next level. 93 Points — J.P.

$23 Wine.com

Paltrinieri 2022 Leclisse Lambrusco (Lambrusco di Sorbara)

Delicate aromas of fresh flowers, cherries, McIntosh apple and green herbs open the nose of this elegant sparkling wine. Tart strawberries, cranberries and a hint of vanilla crème give shape to the palate as the gentle perlage acts like silk on the palate. 93 Points— J.P.

$25 Wine.com

Fiorini 2021 Vignadelpadre a Giuseppe Lambrusco di Sorbara (Lambrusco di Sorbara)

This wine opens with aromas of cut strawberries macerated with mint in their own juice alongside wild rose and subtle yeastiness. Sour Bing cherries and fresh thyme lead the way on the palate of this complex and beautiful wine, finishing with zippy acidity and near-perfect bubbles. 94 Points — J.P.

$ Varies Blackwell’s Wine & Spirits

Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro

The polar opposite of Lambrusco di Sorbara, wines made with the thick-skinned, late-ripening Lambrusco Grasparossa grape are darkly hued and have more tannic structure than other Lambruscos. And while Lambrusco di Sorbara excels in sandy soils on the plains, Lambrusco Grasparossa needs clay and silt for optimum results.

Grasparossa’s spiritual home is south of Modena, around the town of Castelvetro. Among the earthiest and fullest-bodied of all Lambruscos, Grasparossa di Castelvetro is the flagship wine for this variety.

“Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro is actually more like a red wine, thanks to its body, tannins and structure,” says Fabio Altariva, who runs his family’s Fattoria Moretto winery, in the heart of the Castelvetro hills, along with his brother, Fausto.

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While other Lambrusco varieties grow in the plains, Lambrusco Grasparossa is the only one that does well on the hillsides, Altariva says, at around 650 feet above sea level, where it’s always breezy. Top producers keep yields far below the maximum allowed, and many of these leaders focus on specific vineyard sites for best results.

In the past, Grasparossa bottlings tended to be more rustic, but most producers now seek to make increasingly elegant wines. In part, this is done by careful management of skin maceration to ensure they only extract the right amount of tannins. The best Lambrusco di Grasparossa Castelvetro bottlings are dry, dark and frothy. They offer dark berry and black-skinned fruit flavors, as well as a pleasantly bitter finish.

Wine Enthusiast recommends:

Tenuta Pederzana 2021 Lambrusco (Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro)

This Lambrusco opens with aromas of spiced-plum compote, fresh black fig and pepper. The bold and dense palate is loaded with black-hued fruit flavors melding seamlessly with savory herbs, spices and earthy notes finishing with a round and soft perlage. 91 Points — J.P.

$20 Bottle Shop

Sebastian Van de Sype 2021 Ancestrale Grasparossa di Castelvetro (Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro)

Sebastian Van de Sype is a former aerospace engineer who worked on Formula 1 race cars, but now he is taking his genius to the fields to produce pure, earnest and truthful Lambrusco from 100% Grasparossa. Fresh aromas of plum, blackberry and cassis rise out of the glass with subtle hints of dried leaf and wildflowers in the background, which move to the front as the wine opens. It’s energetic on the palate with a spark of acidity that keeps the palate fresh. Fine bubbles tingle the palate, and the core of fruit continues to develop with each sip. This is an estate to follow. Editor’s Choice. 95 Points — J.P.

$34 Terroirizer

Lambrusco Salamino

The most planted of the Lambrusco varieties, Lambrusco Salamino is often blended with other grapes to add its generous color and marked acidity without imparting strong flavors. It’s also commonly used to make off-dry and sweet wines.

Lambrusco Salamino is planted extensively in the province of Modena, especially in the northern part of the province around the Santa Croce hamlet near Carpi, where it originated.

While there’s a denomination devoted to the variety, Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, most producers in the Modena province blend the grape into other Lambrusco bottlings.

Lambrusco Salamino also plays an important role in Lambrusco di Sorbara production. The latter has a flowering anomaly that results in sterile pollen, so growers plant Salamino alongside to act as a pollinator. Up to 40% of Lambrusco Salamino can be used in Lambrusco di Sorbara wines. Lambrusco Salamino is widely cultivated in the Reggio Emilia province, where it’s enjoyed excellent results.

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While the Santa Croce growing zone has fertile soils similar to those of Lambrusco di Sorbara, the plains near the foothills of Reggio Emilia contain more clay and rock.

“Thanks to the soils, Lambrusco Salamino in this area produces richer wines, with more structure and tannins when compared to other areas,” says Alberto Medici, co-owner and part of the fourth generation of his family’s Medici Ermete winery in Reggio Emilia.

Fragrant and fresh, dry wines made with Lambrusco Salamino boast intense red-berry sensations and are well-balanced. They’re somewhere between Lambrusco di Sorbara and Grasparossa bottlings.

“Lambrusco Salamino has vibrant acidity, but still lower acidity than Lambrusco di Sorbara,” says Medici. “And while they are well structured, Lambrusco Salamino wines aren’t as tannic as Grasparossa offerings.”

Wine Enthusiast recommends:

Vigneto Saetti 2021 Rosso Viola Lambrusco Salamino (Lambrusco dell’Emilia)

100% Salamino grown organically in the hills north of Modena this wine is the personification of the Saetti family’s dedication to their craft. Aromas of blackberries, mulberries and tamarind share the glass with violets, dried roses and wild herbs. The palate is lush and vibrant at the same time with rich ripe black-hued fruits balanced with crunchy acidity. The wine has a long and refined finish highlighted by the well-crafted perlage. 95 Points — J.P.

$ Varies The Grapevine

Lini 910 NV Labrusca Bianco Lambrusco Salamino (Lambrusco dell’Emilia)

Enticing aromas of Bosc pear, chamomile, singed orange rind and lemon oil waft from the glass. It’s vibrant and crisp on the palate with tart nectarine, pressed yellow flowers, gentian and bitter almond on the finish. Best Buy. 93 Points — J.P.

$18 Lincoln Fine Wines

Lambrusco di Modena and Lambrusco Reggiano

Besides the three DOC/DOP (Denomina­zione di Origine Controllata/Protetta) dedicated to Lambrusco (Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro and Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce), the small province of Modena also makes Lambrusco di Modena.
Part of the larger Modena denomination that covers the entire province, this designation is more flexible than the three flagship denominations. Lambrusco di Modena can be made with a blend of numerous Lambrusco varieties, and the maximum permitted grape yields are higher.

Bordering with the Modena province, the province of Reggio Emilia also has a long Lambrusco tradition. Reggio Emilia doesn’t have any Lambrusco-only appellations, so Lambrusco plantings are destined to produce Lambrusco Reggiano, which falls under the larger Reggiano umbrella DOP. The appellation covers the entire province, and wines can be made from a blend of Lambrusco varieties.

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When compared to Lambrusco di Modena, maximum grape yields are lower. Even though more Lambrusco is planted in the Modena area, production of Reggiano Lambrusco is larger than Lambrusco di Modena. That’s because most Lambrusco plantings in the Modena province end up in the more celebrated Lambrusco-specific denominations.

Given the large growing areas and more flexible grape blends, wine styles and quality vary tremendously, but there are some very good wines at great price points made under both designations.

Wine Enthusiast recommends:

Podere Giardino 2021 Suoli Cataldi Sparkling (Lambrusco Reggiano)

This is a true classic. Bold and upfront out of the glass with Bing cherry aromas combined with savory herbs, anise and turned earth. The palate pops with more tart fruit notes of Damson plums, pomegranates and sour cherries combined with fresh and dried flowers and a subtle hint of game. It finishes with gentle bubbles and zingy acidity just screaming for a slice of cured meat or aged cheese. Best Buy. 93 Points — J.P.

$20 Somm Cellars

Cleto Chiarli NV Centenario Lambrusco (Lambrusco di Modena)

Exotic spices, dried violets and sweet plum aromas dominate on this juicy and fresh Lambrusco. The lush palate is driven by notes of blackberry, fig and cherry jam all interwined with sweet and savory spices finishing with a pop of acidity. 88 Points — J.P.

$20 Plum Market

Medici Ermete NV Phermento Frizzante Secco Lambrusco (Lambrusco di Modena)

Heady aromas of blueberry and wild cherry lead the nose on this delicious, lively wine. On the lightly sparkling palate, hints of botanical herb and white pepper accent raspberry compote, blueberry and lemon zest before a crisp dry finish. 91 Points — Kerin O’Keefe

$ Varies Mount Carmel Wines

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But just before the Gouais vines met their unfortunate fate, a staff member surfing the World Wide Web (this was the ’90s, after all) stumbled upon the research of Carole Meredith, a grape geneticist and viticulture professor at the University of California, Davis, who was studying the grape. The variety, as she and her team uncovered had a far more fascinating lineage than previously believed. The humble Gouais Blanc was, in fact, the “mother” grape for at least 81 different varieties, including Chardonnay and Gamay.  

In reading about Meredith’s research, Chambers and his team learned that his vineyard contained one of the only commercial plantings of the grape on the planet. The vineyard team contacted Meredith about their vines and she urged them not to destroy the Gouais Blanc. This series of events helped to usher a revival of the varietal. 

An International Effort to Revive Gouais Blanc 

That Gouais Blanc’s historical significance was discovered at all is due in large part to international teamwork.  

Late 20^th-century grape genetics were rudimentary compared to today. In the early 1990s, there were no DNA markers available in grapes, says Meredith, referring to the genetic “fingerprinting” that’s common today. So, she formed an international consortium with 20 other researchers across 10 countries to develop a database of markers. “We knew they would become an invaluable tool to develop a better understanding of grapevine biology,” she says. The consortium collected data on over 300 grape cultivars—some of which were nearly extinct, like Gouais—in order to learn the grapes’ parent relationships and genetic makeup. 

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By the late ’90s, the researchers’ collaboration had begun to pay off. They started to see patterns in the varieties’ lineage and were surprised to discover how many grapes shared a common set of parents, in particular Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc.  

“We, like most other grape genetics researchers, had never heard of Gouais Blanc and had included it in our study because it was one of several hundred varieties historically associated with northeastern France,” Meredith says.  

While believed to have originated in Eastern Europe, Gouais plantings were widespread across northeastern France throughout the Middle Ages. The vines were grown on “the mediocre sites, the better sites being reserved for more noble varieties such as Pinot,” reads the 1999 paper Meredith and five other researchers co-authored. Gouais was “a variety considered so mediocre that it was banned (unsuccessfully) at various times in at least two regions and is no longer planted in France,” the paper stated. Even the name Gouais, which derives from the old French adjective “gou,” is a term of disparagement.  

Affectionately nicknamed the “Casanova of Cultivars,” Gouais is the “mother” of Chardonnay and Gamay, most famously, but also to well-known vinifera varieties like Aligoté, Blaufränkisch, Melon de Bourgogne (the grape used for Muscadet), Riesling, Chenin Blanc and Furmint (the variety used in Hungary’s famed Tokaji wines), as well as over 70 more. 

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Gouais’s undesirability could have been due to the grape’s high-yields, susceptibility to botrytis, high acidity and low sugar content, which often resulted in a low-alcohol wine of neutral character. But for such a downtrodden variety, it sure got around. There are over 50 different aliases for Gouais; it’s known as Weisser Heunisch in Germany and Gwäss, in Switzerland, to name a couple. It once populated almost every corner of Europe, from Portugal to Hungary.  

Gouais Blanc Travels to the Southern Hemisphere 

At the turn of the 20th century, Gouais escaped Europe’s borders and traveled to Australia. The vines landed in Rutherglen, a region famed for its fortified wines. Winemaker Stephen Chambers, Bill Chambers’s son and the sixth generation of his family to make wine, believes that his vineyard obtained the Gouais vines from Rutherglen Viticultural Station, a research institute that experimented with recently imported varieties for suitability. “As part of the program they would have wanted a commercial quantity planted,” Chambers says.  

Once Meredith learned of the Aussie plantings in the late ’90s, she asked Bill Chambers to send sample cuttings to California for DNA fingerprinting, which would further the researchers’ studies on the variety.  

Bill Chambers died in December 2023, but, more than 25 years later, the over 120-year-old Gouais Blanc vines are still going strong in Rutherglen. Utilizing mostly original equipment in the 166-year-old winery, Stephen Chambers, who has been at the winemaking helm since 2001, makes both a still and sparkling wine from Gouais. Occasionally, he’ll produce a wine called “The Family,” which blends Gouais with genetically related Riesling and Gewürztraminer. 

As the climate in northeast Victoria warms, Gouais, once known for its neutral aromas and high acid, is making more flavorful wines. 

When Chambers started working with Gouais in the early 2000s, “it was a very late white which tended to retain its acid and was quite austere as a variety,” he says. “Now it has developed some aromatics and ripens closer to the other white varieties we have in the vineyard, albeit at a lower sugar level; even an occasional acid addition is required.” 

A New-World Companion 

The sole commercial Gouais Blanc producer in wine’s “New World” for over a century, Chambers now finds itself in the company of another Gouais producer, Björnson Vineyard, in the Eola-Amity Hills region of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In 2019, it became the first American producer to grow the variety. 

Björnson Vineyards owner Mark Björnson decided to plant the grape out of curiosity after he read about its history but couldn’t find it in the U.S. “I thought it would be interesting to plant some and produce wine,” he says.  

There’s been a learning curve with the grape. Björnson noticed that Gouais ripens later than Pinot Noir and always has a large crop load. Located in a cooler region than Rutherglen, he sees the prominent acidity inherent to Gouais. “It reminds me of a Muscadet,” he says, referring to the Loire wine made from Melon de Bourgogne, one of Gouais’s offspring. “[It has] floral notes on the nose with bright lemon flavor and a long finish. It goes very well with raw oysters.” 

The winery sold just 60 cases of its first Gouais, released in 2022, which was fermented in concrete egg then finished in neutral oak. It will soon release 75 cases of the 2023 vintage, which is fermented in stainless steel, sometime this year. 

Swiss Champions 

While Americans and Australians may get to taste singular domestic examples of this ancestral variety, back in Europe the variety remains mostly a museum curiosity.  

While a smattering of German producers and one Italian, make minuscule quantities of wine from the variety, almost everywhere except Switzerland has forgotten it. That Gouais still grows in the country—no one knows how much, as it might be a row or block scattered around here or there—is thanks to preservation initiatives like  that are targeting the country’s many historic grape varieties. VinEsch that are targeting the country’s many historic grape varieties. 

José Vouillamoz—a Swiss botanist, grape geneticist, co-author of the book Wine Grapes and mentee of Carole Meredith—is leading those efforts. He has been instrumental in raising awareness of Gouais, which was once a major varietal player in Switzerland before phylloxera decimated Europe’s vines in the mid-19th century. 

In 2009, Vouillamoz, with his winemaker friend Josef-Marie Chanton, organized a “World Summit of Gouais” at a ski resort in the Valais region. In an effort to increase awareness of the variety, they hoped to gather all the known producers of the variety in the world. While half a dozen prominent journalists attended the summit, only five producers were present. Chambers couldn’t make it due to the distance, and only one non-Swiss winery accepted the invitation, the German producer Weingut Georg Breuer. While miniscule in scale, the gathering did reinforce Breuer’s convictions to continue growing Gouais, as well as Chanton’s.  

The co-founder of VinEsch with Vouillamoz, Chanton, who is based in Valais, is one of Switzerland’s main Gouais producers. Production size is still tiny (there were just 1,030 bottles produced in the last vintage), but Chanton’s Gouais boasts “nice aromatics and very high acidity,” Vouillamoz says. 

The Ancestral Search Continues  

Over two decades after the genetic importance of Gouais was discovered, scientists are still uncovering significant details about the grape’s history.  

In 2018, geonomics researcher Anthony Borneman and a team of seven other scientists at the Australian Wine and Research Institute (AWRI) embarked on a search for Gouais’s own parentage. Again, the peasant variety proved full of surprises. 

Pinot Noir, it seems, is both parent and partner to Gouais Blanc. “We sequenced the genome of Chardonnay and compared this to the Pinot and Gouais,” Borneman says. “Rather than the usual pattern you would expect for a parent-offspring trio, the data suggested that some inbreeding had occurred in the Chardonnay family tree.” 

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As more discoveries are made about the ancient variety, some grape geneticists herald Gouais as one of the vinifera varieties well-suited to weather the effects of climate change and even to aid in breeding new, hardier varieties. 

“Gouais Blanc has been through many different climates since the Middle Ages; it most likely existed even before,” says Vouillamoz. “This makes it a candidate variety to be the best genetically equipped to cope with climate change. It is also important to maintain it for future breeding. Since Pinot and Gouais Blanc once gave birth to Chardonnay, deliberate crossings of Pinot with Gouais Blanc would allow breeding of siblings, and maybe one of them will be even better than Chardonnay.” 

The Casanova of Cultivars, it seems, isn’t going anywhere. 

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Despite failed attempts in the 17th century at planting European vines in what is today Manhattan’s Bowery neighborhood, by 1800, Flushing, Queens became—and remained for more than seven decades—the site of America’s most important nursery. The Prince Family Nurseries introduced more than 200 grape varieties to America and standardized the name and use of established varieties, a legacy that lives on today.

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“For the entire 19th century, the City of New York hosted at least a dozen horticulturalists of national stature who founded botanic gardens that specialized in grape culture and the making of wine,” says J. Stephen Casscles, grape historian and author of Grapes of the Hudson Valley. “These NYC-based horticulturalists disseminated hundreds of different wine grape varieties to budding viticulturists around the nation and taught them how to grow grapes and make wine.”

Fast forward to the late 19th century when a significant jump in Italian and Jewish immigration brought new wine traditions to NYC and wine was made in tenements and back gardens. Manischewitz, the famed (or infamous) sweet kosher wine, was made in Brooklyn from 1939 until the mid-1980s.

And the past two decades have ushered in a modern iteration of city winemaking, one that includes a dollop of wine tourism: the urban winery.

City Winery, which began on Chelsea Pier in Manhattan’s Meatpacking district in 2008 and has expanded to 13 venues in nine American cities, combines music, food and wine for immersive experiences that afford city dwellers the chance to taste beside shiny steel tanks of fermenting grape juice without ever having to leave NY’s concrete confines. Similarly, Brooklyn Winery, founded in 2010 in Williamsburg, offers tastings, tours and upscale comfort food in its recently expanded wine bar. Both establishments source grapes from both East and West Coast wine regions as well as Argentina (in City Winery’s case).

Other urban wineries are more locally focused. Red Hook Winery, also founded in 2008, works only with grapes grown within New York State. Perched at the edge of Pier 41, with dramatic views of the Statue of Liberty, its exposed location earned it the unfortunate distinction of being the only winery in the state to withstand extreme damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It rebuilt bigger and better, and today Red Hook offers tastings and a retail shop within its industrial brick-and-steel complex. As if its location weren’t unique enough, the winery boasts not one but three highly experienced (if, stylistically, polar opposite) winemakers— Christopher Nicolson with California stalwarts Abe Schoener and Bob Foley—who craft a dizzying array of individually made regional and site-specific wines.

There’s one urban winery that takes the locavore concept a step further. In 2016, Rooftop Reds became NYC’s first winery to grow its own grapes on—you guessed it—the rooftop of an industrial complex within the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The “heat island effect” experienced on the 14,800-square-foot roof makes it the warmest vineyard in New York State, allowing Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to ripen easily. To founder Devin Shomaker, planting vines on a rooftop in Brooklyn was a no-brainer.

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“Why should we not explore new areas to propagate grapevines, especially when woody perennials (aka grapevines) carbon sequester so brilliantly, and the maritime climate of NYC allows for a wonderful growing season?” he asks.

Rooftop Reds is open to visitors in the warmer months, between April and October. Guests to the roof can sip the fermented juice of grapes grown on vines just beside their tables and hammocks— along with wine from Rooftop’s Finger Lakes partner winery, Point of the Bluff—while gazing past the vines at a cityscape of skyscrapers and whizzing trains.

This article originally appeared in the May 2024 of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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“By the bottle, it might be the best seller in our tasting room,” says Donnachadh Family Wines owner Drew Duncan, who became an early adopter when he planted own-rooted Gamay on his Sta. Rita Hills vineyard in 2016. “People don’t realize it’s just what they’re looking for until they taste it—and then the light goes on. People seem delighted by the balance, how the fruit, spice, earth and acid all come together in such an effortless way.”

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Ernst Storm makes Gamay from that property, as well as Presqu’ile Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, the latter of which was his first stab at the grape in 2019. “It is not as serious as Pinot Noir, so inexperienced wine drinkers tend to not be intimidated by it,” says Storm. He serves his Gamay slightly chilled as a bridge between whites and reds at his Storm Wines tasting room in Los Olivos. “They like the fact that it is more fun and approachable, easy to understand but with a lot of depth.”

In Santa Cruz, Cole Thomas of Madson Wines uses his Gamay as a “vin de soif,” aka a thirst-quencher. He started with two barrels in 2021, opting for a whole-cluster, herb-forward but bright-fruit style. “Whole-cluster Gamay doesn’t need years in the cellar to be interesting,” he says. “Our consumers are interested in lighter reds that they can bring to a BBQ or serve chilled as an afternoon aperitif.”

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Scott Caraccioli of Caraccioli Cellars, meanwhile, is finding a lot more depth to the grape, which he grafted into his family’s Escolle Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands four years ago. He’d been drinking a lot of Beaujolais and wanted to see it through a California lens. “I was not anticipating the density and complexity it would pull from the granite,” says Caraccioli of his property’s soils.

For a learning experience in his Carmel tasting room, he pours the Gamay right before the Syrah. “The geologic influence on both the Gamay and Syrah make that transition decipherable from a site perspective,” explains Caraccioli, whose customers became immediate fans. “It’s an incredibly giving wine, so it’s rewarding to see the smile after the first sip.”

Gamay can show a darker side as well. Before becoming general manager of her family’s Pellegrini Wine Company at Olivet Lane Vineyard in the Russian River Valley, Alexia Pellegrini imported wines for Beaujolais producer Maison Jean Loron, which taught her how Gamay can be handled in different ways. Finding any Gamay to buy in Sonoma was tough at first. She and her team located a stable vineyard in the Knights Valley and planted their own in 2021 and soon after grafted over 500 more vines. Then they decided to make a denser version.

“Though Gamay is typically one-half step lighter on the spectrum, our utilization of submerged cap vessels throughout fermentation leads to a richer profile,” says Pellegrini, who pours her Gamay after their Pinots in the tasting room.

That style helps with challenging pairings, says Pellegrini’s winemaker Charlie Fauroat, who likes it with savory-sweet Chinese roasted meats and tomato-based Indian curries. “While it is deep, brooding, blue fruited and bold, it also presents with soft rounded tannin structure, has the potential for remarkable aromatic prettiness and intensity,” he says. “I love what an outlier Gamay can be.”

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There’s another reason Gamay may find its way to your glass for years to come. “Climate change is a big reason I believe Gamay is here to stay,” says Chris Pittenger, co-owner and winemaker of Gros Ventre Cellars, which produces Gamay from Santa Barbara to the Sierra Foothills. “Many areas that used to be prime for Pinot Noir are simply not ideal today or won’t be in the next 20 years. Gamay has a thicker skin and can handle warmer temperatures while keeping its natural acidity.”

Replanting is already happening in these warmer spots, and there’s more Gamay on the market every year. “I believe we are in the first inning of a great baseball game,” says Pittenger. “I look forward to watching the Gamay game play out in California, Oregon and beyond.”

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The most recent apex is Coqodaq, an entire restaurant devoted to fried chicken and Champagne that opened in Manhattan in January 2024. It offers the largest Champagne list in North America alongside three types of fried chicken: classic, Korean-style with garlic and soy and Korean-style with gochujang.

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Sommelier Victoria James, a partner and the director of Coqodaq’s beverage program, says the moment restaurateur Simon Kim relayed the idea for the restaurant and asked about her ideas for the beverage program, she answered without hesitation: Champagne.

“In the sommelier world, and [for] wine drinkers, we all want something refreshing, bright and with minerality,” says James. “Champagne is the pinnacle of that, especially with fried foods.”

But the path to this sophisticated-yet-unpretentious pairing peak has been long and winding. While it’s impossible to pinpoint the moment someone first ate fried chicken together with Champagne (or another sparkling wine), there are definite moments in time that have led to the current craze. Below we explore how—and why—this gastronomic odd couple became inextricably linked in the modern American culinary canon.

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Why Do Fried Chicken and Champagne Work So Well Together?

While it may be known in the wine world that sparkling wine pairs well with fried foods, it helps to understand why that is: the inherent complexity of Champagne. To earn the moniker, these bottles must be aged on the lees (spent yeast and other particulate matter) for at least 12 months. During this time, in a chemical reaction known as autolysis, enzymes break down the dead yeast cells and release compounds, proteins and molecules that impart a rich, rounded mouthfeel along with creamy and yeasty, bread-like notes to the wine. These aromas and textural components complement the texture and flavor of fried chicken.

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“But most importantly, it’s structural,” says James. “You have a soaring acidity that cuts through the richness, and you also have the carbonation, which helps break up the fats on your palate. And, they’re really sharp, delicate small bubbles that don’t dissipate quickly—they really just soak up all the oils on your tongue.”

Chris Hall, chef and co-owner of Roshambo in Atlanta, which has the pairing on its modern American menu, concurs. “Down here, chicken and biscuits is a thing, chicken and waffles is a thing,” he says. “A lot of Champagnes will be really yeasty, and you get that brioche element to it, which really works.”

An Elevated Riff on the OG Fried Chicken and Bubbles

While the combination of bready, bubbly Champagne with fried chicken may seem like a recent idea, eating fried chicken with a bubbly alcoholic beverage—namely beer—has a longer history in both the United States and other countries. James says that part of the inspiration for Coqodaq was from Kim’s memories of chimaek, which is Korean slang for the marriage of fried chicken and beer, in Korea. Their restaurant is an elevated version of that.

Meanwhile, Kenny Gilbert, the chef and co-owner of Silkie’s Chicken and Champagne Bar in Jacksonville, Florida, has memories of his dad always drinking Miller High Life—the so-called Champagne of beers—with fried chicken. “That’s what I’m kind of starting to realize, as I talk to more people, that it kind of started with beer and then [pairing with Champagne] is the elevated version,” says Gilbert.

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Like most trends of the last decade, the pandemic played a role in how it evolved. Gilbert came up with the concept for his fast-casual fried chicken restaurant with Champagne and Champagne cocktails during COVID. His former client Oprah Winfrey (for whom he worked as a personal chef) had called to check on him, and she reminisced about how delicious his fried chicken and biscuits were. Pairing them with Champagne just worked.

Meanwhile, with restaurants closed and chefs out of work, millions of people were seeking comfort (and comfort food). Many chefs, caterers and restaurants offered fried chicken and Champagne as a to-go meal. For example, Urban Hearth in Cambridge, Massachusetts, offered the two as a take-out combo in July 2020. Hall came up with the idea for Roshambo during the pandemic when, through his existing restaurant, Local Three, he began selling takeout fried chicken and Champagne meals. Roshambo ultimately opened in November 2020 with fried chicken and Champagne as major menu items.

However, while the pandemic may have catapulted the pairing of Champagne and fried chicken into the national spotlight, the link between them began forming long before most Americans caught onto their combined charms.

Centuries of Cross-Cultural Pollination

In the U.S., fried chicken has a deep history with African Americans and is associated with slavery. As a pairing, Champagne didn’t enter the conversation until much later. But cocktail historian Deniseea Taylor, who also runs a speakeasy in New Orleans and mans the Instagram handle is @chickenandchampagne, sees a link between the two that goes beyond a good pairing. In the 1800s, enslaved Black people were only allowed to raise chickens—not cattle—as their owners thought chickens were worthless. Some of these enslaved people began to fry the chicken in palm oil with West African spices, and sell it to people passing through by train, eventually perfecting the technique and creating a style of food that became a favorite of Americans across the country.

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Around the same time in France, Champagne was still an experiment, with fragile bottles often bursting as winemakers perfected their methods. It took time for both fried chicken and Champagne to become readily available, Taylor explains.

Then, in the early 2000s, Champagne started showing up more in hip-hop songs as an aspirational status symbol signifying wealth, opulence and success. At the same time, the American dining culture was in the midst of major change.

“The early 2000s were when restaurants were moving further away from what was considered traditional dishes and trying to come up with different things,” Taylor says. Champagne and fried chicken were “an unexpected mashup.”

A New Era in American Dining Culture

It didn’t take long for the pairing to begin turning up at U.S. restaurants. In 2005, chef Lisa Dupar opened Pomegranate Bistro in Redmond, Washington, with fried chicken and a robust list of bubbly on the menu. Her 2010 cookbook was even titled Fried Chicken & Champagne. The following year, Jerry Lasco opened Max’s Wine Dive in Houston, with the mantra, “Fried chicken and Champagne… Why the hell not?!” In 2011, Ashley Christensen opened Beasley’s Chicken + Honey in Raleigh, North Carolina, with fried chicken and a robust sparkling wine list.

Aside from becoming more ubiquitous at restaurants, fried chicken and Champagne dinners also often appear as one-off fundraisers, pop-up dinners or weekly or monthly occurrences. Coquette in New Orleans has been hosting beloved fried chicken and Champagne dinners a few times a year since 2013. Cork Wine Bar in Washington, D.C., had weekly Sunday supper fried chicken and Champagne dinners from 2018 until the pandemic. In Savannah, Georgia, local food website Eat It and Like It runs an annual sell-out Fried Chicken and Champagne dinner that’s been happening since 2017. Before the pandemic, a food truck called Fried & Fizzy made appearances at events around Phoenix for a few years. One-off dinners in places like Lexington, Kentucky; Robbinsdale, Minnesota; and Birmingham, Alabama, have been going on for years.

Taylor recalls hosting fried chicken and Champagne happy hours in her New York City apartment, which culminated in a going-away party in 2016 before she moved to New Orleans. Her one request to guests? Everyone had to either bring fried chicken or a bottle of bubbly.

Of course, like so many trends, the pairing didn’t pop off on a national stage—at least in the eyes of the food media—until it earned recognition as a standalone concept in New York City.

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Chef Sarah Simmons had occasionally served fried chicken for her weekly Sunday Suppers at her Big Apple restaurant City Grit. But one night, after service, while drinking a bottle of Champagne alongside cold fried chicken leftovers, the idea for her next concept, Birds & Bubbles, was born. The restaurant opened in 2014 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, offering fried chicken served in Champagne buckets along with classic Southern sides. It racked up instant critical acclaim from food media, and the pairing subsequently blew up as a pop-culture phenomenon.

It and Simmons’s other New York restaurants have since closed, but Birds & Bubbles lives on via a pre-fixe dinner at her restaurant in Columbia, South Carolina, also called City Grit. At a large table in the back of the restaurant, one nightly seating of up to eight people offers a flat-fee dinner that echoes the original “Bird & Bubbles experience,” explains Simmons. “It’s a way of keeping the brand alive and getting to preach the beauty of fried chicken and Champagne.”

Of course, while New York City can seem like the center of the universe for the folks who document dining trends, Birds & Bubbles wasn’t the first or the only restaurant serving the pairing at the time. Others outside the city have been just as—if not more successful—in spreading the word.

Also in 2014, Brooks Reitz opened Leon’s Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop in Charleston, South Carolina, with the idea of being an approachable neighborhood restaurant. Like many wine lovers, he wanted to expose more people to Champagne and convince them it didn’t have to be saved for special occasions—an idea that has taken off globally in recent years with some, us included, claiming Champagne has entered its drink “whenever, wherever” era.

“A big part of our DNA is hitting the high and the low because it’s fun, and we like when really cheap things sit next to really beautiful, expensive things,” says Reitz, who offers a well-curated Champagne list at relatively affordable prices with the goal of exposing more guests to the joys of the now-ubiquitous fried chicken pairing combo. “I want to stuff beautiful grower Champagne down people’s throats… so that people can’t not order Champagne.”

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Have you ever noticed the summer sun sets in shades of Sangria? Ruby reds, pastel purples, zingy oranges.

While the aesthetic draw might be the warm array of colors, when crafting your Sangria, it’s important to always use a quality wine. Select a wine you enjoy on its own. Large format bottles and boxes are perfect for a party, and large-batch Sangria will give you more time to spend with friends and family, rather than playing bartender all night.

Sangria is endlessly customizable, but each starts out the same. A simple concoction of red or white wine combined with fresh fruit creates a beautiful marriage of flavors that stand alone perfectly without any other ingredients. The simplicity of this recipe makes creating a pitcher to store for the work week a breeze.

Even when creating a Sangria in bulk, remember not every glass of Sangria has to be the same—and that is where the beauty of this cocktail lies. Little nuances, like the addition of fruit juice or liqueurs, different fruits with different ripeness levels and even a splash of a little bubbly water or soda can bring new life and a unique experience to each glass and each sip.

Maple syrup can be a fun addition if you are looking for a sweeter end to your day. Those craving acidity can slice citrus fruits as both flavor and garnish, adding stunning visuals to your beverage. Strawberries, blackberries and blueberries create a sweet, tangy element. Spices, herbs, and other sweeteners such as simple syrups or brown sugar cultivate a complexity of flavors that can please even the toughest crowd.

Below are 10 red wines ready to serve as agents of alchemy.

Anciano 2020 No.5 Tempranillo Crianza Tempranillo (Rioja)

Bright red-violet in the glass, this wine has a nose of cherry, purple plum and black-olive tapenade. Black-currant and blackberry flavors are joined by notes of dried thyme and sage, milk chocolate and rose petal. Tannins are a touch stiff at first but are washed away by well-integrated acidity. 89 points. — Mike DeSimone

$13.99 Plum Market

Lopez de Haro 2020 Crianza Red (Rioja)

This garnet-colored wine has a bouquet of blackberry, caramel and sage leaf. It’s a little spicy up front, with clove, anisette and eucalyptus flavors dominating over cassis and black cherry. Dark-chocolate notes and midweight tannins sail into a smooth finish. 89 points. — M.D.

$13.99 Wine.com

Breca 2021 Garnacha de Fuego Garnacha (Calatayud)

This dark garnet-colored wine has a nose of black currant, cherry and fennel pollen. It is equal parts fruity and spicy, with cherry, cassis, violet, licorice and eucalyptus flavors wrapped in a sheath of polished tannins. The finish is marked with a note of mint. 88 points. — M.D.

$14.99 Wine.com

Bodegas Aragonesas 2020 Don Ramón Roble Imperial Garnacha Garnacha (Campo de Borja)

This deep violet-red colored wine proffers a bouquet of Luxardo cherry, butterscotch and clove. Black-cherry and black-currant flavors wrapped in lightweight tannins and vivid acidity are joined by notes of menthol, anisette and fennel bulb. 86 points. — M.D.

$11.99 Western Reserve Wines

Cantine Colosi 2022 Nero D’Avola Nero d’Avola (Sicilia)

The primarily savory, slightly bitter nose features notes of tar, soil, coffee and dark chocolate, but with a splash of cherries and raspberries. The palate goes further with that sweet and sour dynamic, as a tarter fruit element emerges and a drizzle of milk chocolate adds sweetness, while acid dances around affectionate tannins. 88 points. — Danielle Callegari

$14.99 Wine.com

Flagship Cellars 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles)

Toasted herb, anise and loamy soil aromas dominate the dark black plum fruit on the nose of this bottling. The palate is packed with incense and marjoram flavors as well as hints of blackberry and light pepper. 89 points. — M.K.

$12 Miracle Fruitz

Tassajara 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon (Monterey County)

Tarry, a bit reductive aromas of dried meat persist after this twist-top sits open for an hour, but the elderberry and dried berry aromas eventually poke through. There’s a lot of herbal influence to the palate, from oregano to anise, and muddled red fruit at the core. 87 points. — M.K.

$15 Harvest Wine Market

Second Growth 2021 Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley)

Light bodied, with plush tannins and mild acidity, this is a smooth textured, n easy sipping Pinot Noir. Not-quite-ripe boysenberry and strawberry aromas are joined by traces of sea breeze salinity and orange peel. Smoked cherry and nutmeg flavors unite with a healthy dose of balsa wood. 89 points. — Michael Alberty

$27.99 Bottle Buys

Barossa Valley Estate 2021 Shiraz (Barossa Valley)

Give this some air to unlock the black olive tapenade, currant preserves, licorice and earthy spice aromas. The full-figured palate is rich with density of flavor and gauzy, hefty tannins. It’s a concentrated, primary bottling for drinking with protein. 89 points. — Christina Pickard

$14.99 Wine.com

Ripe black plum, cherry and blackberry jam aromas waft immediately out of the glass, complemented by chocolate, fresh tarragon, fennel and black pepper spice. On the palate of this wine, these flavors come together, woven by soft, plushy tannins and a solid dose of acidity. A well-balanced, easy-to-love Syrah. 89 points. — Stacy Briscoe

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In December, Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, voiced a commitment to keeping a military presence in Nagorno-Karabakh to support peace efforts and facilitate the return of its former residents. However, last week, Russia announced the withdrawal of its remaining troops from the region. With Russia’s support fading away, no system in place to aid refugees returning to their homes and rising fears of more conflict, uncertainty looms over the future of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia as a whole.

Much hangs in the balance, including the fate of Armenia’s recently revitalized wine industry. But a group of winemakers is intent on keeping the momentum going, despite the uncertainty around them.

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“What happened with Artsakh is endlessly hurtful from an emotional perspective, but it has an impact on our wine production, too,” says Ghevond Petrosyan, winemaker at Voskevaz Wine Cellar.

Prior to Azerbaijan’s takeover, Artsakh had around 15 wineries producing approximately four million liters of wine annually, with 70% of it derived from the indigenous red variety Khndoghni, also referred to as Sireni. This ancient grape, which boasts black fruit flavors and robust structure with a great potential to age, thrives in the region’s volcanic soil, considered to be some of the best Armenian winemaking terroir.

Wines from the Nagorno-Karabakh region have long been renowned for their exceptional quality, often regarded as some of the finest in Armenia. The volume of production was also substantial. Before Azerbaijan took over the region, Artsakh made four million liters of wine annually, accounting for 31% of mainland Armenia’s total production of 13 million liters per year.

It’s not just grapes and regional winemakers who are being impacted. Artsakh was also Armenian coopers’ primary source of high-quality oak. Its loss has dried up those prized wood supplies, too.

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With stock of these oak barrels gradually depleting, winemakers will soon need to turn to alternatives, such as conventional French barriques. The shift from indigenous Armenian oak to foreign alternatives is set to alter the economic landscape: it will entail significantly higher costs for Armenian winemakers compared to what they’ve been paying for locally sourced products, and the expenditure on barrels will result in much-needed capital leaving the country.

The shift to foreign oak barrels goes beyond financial burdens. It also jeopardizes the cultural and sensory uniqueness that Artsakh wood infuses into Armenian wine. Its particularly fine grain is well-suited for the gradual aging of wine while mitigating premature oxidation. Plus, its staves lend the liquid a discernible balsamic character as well as notes of dried fruits, chocolate and vanilla. “Anyone can use French barriques, so people want our wines to be matured in Armenian oak,” says Noah of Areni CEO Arsen Mkrtchyan, who has Artsakh ancestry. “It’s about the history and the tradition behind it—it’s very important for wine drinkers.”

Following the recent losses of Artsakh, and of its prized oak wood, Armenia’s winemakers are now ramping up efforts to reclaim as much of their nation’s vinous heritage as possible.

Winemaking in karases, Armenian clay amphoras with a history spanning over six millennia, is gradually being rediscovered. Manufacturing know-how was lost for good during Soviet rule, when brandy production was prioritized over winemaking. Still, numerous karases can be found in the cellars of villagers across the country who, for the past century, have been using them to make wine at home.

Vahagn Gevorkian, the CEO and founder of Gevorkian Winery, seeks out these heirloom karases from villages and restores them to guarantee they are hermetically sealed, thereby preventing premature oxidation of the wine. “Currently, we only use karases for maturing wine made with Areni, Haghtanak, Kangun and Voskehat, but starting next year, we are going to bury them into the ground and use them for fermentation, too.”

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Alongside karases, Gevorkian and other winemakers are reviving the kakhani, a grape-drying method reminiscent of Italy’s appassimento, the key process used to give Amarone its signature depth and complexity. This technique entails suspending harvested grape bunches along strings in well-ventilated rooms. According to Petrosyan, the practice dates back at least three millennia and traditionally involves red varieties—such as Areni and Haghtanak—to produce full-bodied wines with varying sweetness levels. But Petrosyan is pushing the boundaries by experimenting with white varieties, too. “We know that Voskehat is excellent,” he says. “So, we decided to apply the kakhani method to those grapes as well.”

Petrosyan and Gevorkian are far from alone in their desire to blend their homeland’s millennia-old winemaking history with this sort of innovative mindset. To address the economic and spiritual void left by the loss of Artsakh, some wineries are seeking creative solutions to continue honoring their cultural winemaking heritage.

Exploring oak from alternative Armenian regions, for example, holds promise in allowing the country’s wines to maintain a distinctive sense of place once fulfilled by Artsakh barrels. “Some of my colleagues have used barrels made with wood from the north-eastern Tavush region, but we also have some oak forests in Syunik [in the south],” says Mkrtchyan. “Oak from there is very tight-grained because of the very dry weather, so it’s quite good for winemaking. I’ve used those barrels for the first time in 2022 and I like them. I might buy some more.”

Others are planning to bring a piece of Artsakh to new wine-growing regions. Artsakh winemaker Andranik Manvelyan—who reconstructed his wine business in mainland Armenia after fleeing the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020—views his plans to establish vineyards of Artsakh’s key indigenous grape, Khndoghni, as a way to reconnect with his origins and preserve the memory of his lost motherland. “We left immediately when they entered our village,” he recalls. “A man who stayed behind was beheaded; we didn’t have any option to stay.”

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In his rush to flee, Manvelyan left behind his winery, oak barrels, approximately 200,000 bottles of his wine and his Khndoghni vineyards. After relocating, he managed to import some Khndoghni, yet as Artsakh oak supplies came to a halt last September, so did the import of grapes.

Now he relies on varieties from mainland Armenia. “It is terrible,” he says. He’s currently working on establishing a new Khndoghni vineyard and the sentiment around it is bittersweet. “It won’t be the same as before, but at least we won’t forget about it,” he adds. “It’ll be a way to retain our culture and heritage.”

Though some Artsakh refugees have started the process of rebuilding, the currently tense geopolitical situation poses plenty of challenges to Armenia’s vibrant and dynamic wine industry. Apprehensions about potential further conflict with Azerbaijan, coupled with ongoing threats from Turkey and Azerbaijan’s ambitions to establish a land corridor through southern Armenia, bring instability to the south of the country.

The area includes Vayots Dzor, said to be home to the oldest winery in the world, dating back more than 6,000 years. This well-regarded region, encompassing approximately 3,000 acres of vineyards, is home to the prized Sev Areni (Black Areni) grape. Growing on high-elevation volcanic vineyards, some reaching heights of up to 5,900 feet, the Areni grape showcases its nuanced character to its fullest potential. The area’s finest wines exhibit a delicate color, velvety texture, elegant spice and complex bouquet with good natural acidity that makes it an excellent choice for sparkling wine production, too.

This specter of further invasion—and the uncertainty over whether Artsakh refugees will ever be able to return to their vineyards and wineries—is throwing a wrench into many Armenian winemakers’ plans for the future. But they remain steadfast in their mission. Mkrtchyan, for one, is planning to build a new winery next to his vineyards in the Vayots Dzor village of Rind, but given the lack of clarity as to what’s coming next in the conflict, has opted for a temporary winery near Yerevan. “Just imagine: how can you make an investment of over $2 million in this landscape?” he says. “We will still do it—even with the risk of losing it—we just can’t live with this fear.”

The post As Uncertainty Still Looms Over Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia’s Wine Industry Hangs in the Balance appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Tannat stands out against the heavier wine styles that have dominated in recent years, says Wine Enthusiast Writer-at-Large and California reviewer Matt Kettmann. “There’s just enough of them that a curious wine fan can become a relative expert quickly,” he says. “But then there is a steadily, if slowly, growing slate of new bottlings that will keep that learning experience engaging for years to come.” 

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Uruguay certainly has more than earned its reputation as one of the largest Tannat producers in the world. But volume alone is not what Wine Enthusiast Writer-at-Large Jesica Vargas, who reviews wines from Argentina, Chile, Central America and South Africa, finds most notable. Rather, it’s that Tannat winemaking in Uruguay has achieved a remarkable quality in only a few decades and continues to evolve.

“During the mid-2000s, careful attention to vineyard management and winemaking techniques in the cellar, such as a more balanced use of oak, has resulted in smoother and fresher Tannats,” Vargas explains. “Oaked and unoaked, lean and structured reds, lively rosés and even sparkling wines are being made by a new generation of winemakers who are giving the grape variety a fresh perspective.” 

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Also exciting? Uruguayan Tannat likely has not yet reached its final form. Historically, the regions of Canelones and Montevideo, near the Rio de la Plata, had the highest number of acres under vine. Now, producers are eyeing emerging regions near the Atlantic Ocean, such as Maldonado. Tannat’s boom bodes well for other varietals, too. 

“I find it interesting how the success of Tannat has encouraged winemakers to experiment with other grape varieties—Albariño shows potential,” Vargas says. 

Altogether, it’s a great time to drink Tannat. Here are some top bottle picks from our Tasting Department. 

Allegretto 2019 Ayres Family Reserve Tannat (Paso Robles)

The bottle age is helping this dense wine find a solid expression, as the nose offers subtly integrated aromas of stewed strawberry, baking spice and sumac. The palate is framed by tannins that remain firm enough to wrap around the black currant, pepper and turned-earth flavors. 91 points. — Matt Kettmann

$45 Allegretto Wines

Château Viella 2021 Symbiose Tannat (Madiran)

Rich and bottled without added sulfur, the wine is dense. Black fruits, acidity and a core of firm, young tannins promise aging. Drink this ripe, full-bodied wine from 2026. 90 points. — Roger Voss

$26 Moore Brothers

Crush 2020 Tantalize Tannat (Paso Robles)

Dark in the glass, this wine has a nose with a whopping amount of oak, spicing up the core of cassis. The palate is also all about oak, so will please those who seek that as a dominant flavor. 88 points. — M.K.

$58 Crush Vineyard

Domaine Laougué 2020 Marty Tannat (Madiran)

Bold black fruits and ripe tannins give a wine that has density. The structure is just beginning to soften allowing space for the rich juiciness. Drink this powerful wine from 2026. 92 points. Cellar Selection. — R.V.

$30 Blackpool Matt’s Wine Club

Bouza 2020 Tannat (Canelones)

Earthy, with pronounced toasted oak notes, this Tannat opens with cranberry sauce and leafy aromas. Rich flavors of baking spices are followed by mild berry notes on the sturdy palate. A touch of vanilla marks the finish. Drink now. 88 points. — Jesica Vargas

$25.99 Compass Wines

Marichal 2020 Reserve Collection Tannat (Canelones)

A subtle mix of red fruit, herbs and tobacco perfume the nose. The palate shows intense berry flavors and a light note of peppercorn. Smooth tannins provide support, making the wine approachable. 89 points. — J.V.

$19.99 K&L Wines

MCV 2021 Tannat (Paso Robles)

Winemaker Matt Villard’s focus is Petite Sirah, but he’s got Tannat figured out too. This darkly hued bottling is lush on the nose with black cherry and coffee cream aromas. The palate is loaded with acai and violet flavors atop a silky texture, with peaty bourbon and coffee notes coming through toward the finish. 94 points. — M.K.

$50 MCV Wines

Plaimont 2020 Vignes Préphylloxériques Tannat (Saint-Mont)

The wine is produced from a small vineyard full of gnarled vines planted before the phylloxera virus arrived in the 19th century. The vines survived. This era’s 10th vintage is dense with impressive black fruits with touches of black chocolate flavors in a massive structure. Drink this great wine from 2026. 95 points. Cellar Selection. — R.V.

$95.99 Beverage Warehouse

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On this particular Wednesday in early December, Feiring has things to do in lower Manhattan, only one of them laundry related. “I want to say hi to Jen at the butcher on my block who just got married,” the petite, bespectacled, red-headed Feiring tells me. “I need to give her a big hug and maybe a bottle of Champagne.” (Grower Champers, of course.)

Before we visit the butcher, we hit up an industry tasting just off Canal Street at the offices of Jenny & Francois Selections, a natural-wine importer that has been around since 2000, as long as Feiring has been writing about the subject. Almost instantly, Feiring is pulled aside by one of the company’s sales representatives. He wants her opinion on the state of natural wine today.

“I don’t think it’s anything different than what was starting to happen eight years ago, where, for the most part, natural wine has just become the new normal,” she tells him. But the road to normal has been a rocky one.

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For Feiring, the journey started in 2001 when The New York Times published her investigative piece on winemaking technologies and their use in making wines to suit the then all-powerful critic, Robert Parker. The backlash Feiring received from the piece— threats from winemakers and doors slammed shut by mainstream editors—took her by surprise. “It was like it was an open secret that nobody was supposed to talk about,” she says. But, instead of scaring her off the subject, she was fueled to write more. In 2008, Feiring published her first book, The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization.

If the Times article made waves, The Battle for Wine and Love caused a tsunami, both in title and subject. “Sometimes you need to be a little bit outrageous and stake your claim,” says Feiring with a coy smile. We’ve made a pit stop at a brand-new Eataly outpost in SoHo, just three blocks from her apartment. Its existence, is, for Feiring, yet another sign of the gentrification that has overtaken her neighborhood.

“When I first came [in the late 1980s], except for the butchers on the block, there was no retail.” In spite of the looming presence of the Italian Mafia and the multitude of sprawled or stumbling drunks to circumnavigate on the sidewalks, Feiring remembers the neighborhood scene fondly.

“Everybody on the ground floor was an artist who lived and worked there,” she says, referring to the turn-of-the-20th-century building that houses the 650-square-foot railroad apartment on Elizabeth Street that she’s rented since 1989. “You’d come home at 4 in the morning, and everybody would be hanging out. The old ladies on the block would be having coffee together in the summer. There was always a party happening. You thought you were going to go to bed, but there was always a glass of wine in your hand. There was a real community on the block that’s not there anymore.”

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That natural wine has become so utterly on trend seems to baffle the idiosyncratic Feiring somewhat. She has spent her career promoting a return to traditional, pre-industrial winemaking, and her personal life— from her pre-war-era apartment (complete with a bathtub in the kitchen) to her hobbies, which include Morris folk dancing, fiddle and accordion playing and bread baking— reflects this penchant for a lo-fi lifestyle that isn’t exactly trendy (except, perhaps, for the bread baking).

Sometimes you need to be a little bit outrageous and stake your claim.

Alice Feiring

Ever since that first controversial article, Feiring has experienced written and verbal abuse, even sexual harassment, from some of the wine industry’s male gatekeepers. It’s something she’s only recently come to terms with.

“If you asked me 20 years ago, I would not have been able to see it, but looking back, I can’t think of any man who has been given this treatment; I just can’t.”

We’ve walked the few blocks from Eataly to her NoLita apartment, past boutique perfume and cosmetic shops and eateries that are either “too cool or too expensive,” according to Feiring. We’re perched at her dining room table hydrating yet again with cups of herbal tea, five steep flights above historic Elizabeth Street.

The apartment—which, in its heyday, was frequently crammed with 50 to 60 winemakers and natural wine luminaries—has featured in several of Feiring’s halfdozen books. Her latest work, a memoir titled To Fall in Love, Drink This, sprinkles wine recommendations between intimate accounts of her life, from growing up painfully shy in an Orthodox Jewish household to her lifelong attempt to convert her mother, Ethel, to wines beyond Manischewitz; and even a terrifying encounter with serial killer Rodney Alcala and her confrontational visit with him years later in prison, where, on death row, he asked her for wine advice; from both her father’s and her brother’s deaths to the loneliness of drinking alone during the COVID years. Not in the book, but covered in articles she’s authored elsewhere are yet more recent personal challenges: a blindsiding brush with cancel culture that she says was “the most traumatic thing that ever happened to me after my brother dying,” whilst simultaneously receiving a uterine cancer diagnosis, and most recently, the death of her mother, who was a central character for Feiring both on the page and in life.

Collectively, Feiring’s tales paint a portrait of a woman who, while plucky and assertive in her writing, has battled more than just Robert Parker in her lifetime.

With teacups emptied, Feiring and I head across Elizabeth Street to Albanese Meats and Poultry to bring her newly married neighbor, Jennifer Prezioso, a fourth-generation butcher and the sole owner and worker at the 100-year-old butchery, that bottle of grower Champagne. Sandwiched between a high-end fashion accessories store selling handbags and a beauty supply shop, Albanese, with its original red storefront and sausages dangling in the windows, is the last of its kind in the Little Italy neighborhood. Inside, amid the knickknacks, old photos, newspaper clippings, and a table selling local wares (including Feiring’s books), the shop has a convivial, comfortable feel. A local resident, who, it turns out, is also named Alice, waits patiently for her ground beef while the other Alice chats amiably with Prezioso about the wedding.

Later we’ll hoof it in a cold winter wind up to Union Square and Feiring will buy veggies and eggs from the Greenmarket for the dinner she’s hosting the following night. But it is in this moment, in this mom-and-pop butchery steeped in history and traditionalism, with a forward-thinking female now at the helm, that Feiring, a lifelong vegetarian, seems most at home. Community, it seems, does still exist in her lower Manhattan neighborhood, and Feiring is at the heart of it.

This article originally appeared in the May 2024 of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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The post Alice Feiring Reflects on the State of Natural Wine Today appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

A rule of thumb we like to follow when making mimosas is to keep the quality of sparkling wine in mind when mixing. If you’re pouring the cheap stuff, equal parts of orange juice to bubbles is best. However, if true Champagne—meaning a made-in-the-Champagne-region-of-France bottle—is what your heart desires, go for a crisp and dry brut style to complement the brisk tang of orange juice (and go easy on the juice).  

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“If Champagne was my only option to enjoy a mimosa, then okay, but it wouldn’t be the first thing I reach for,” says Anna-Christina Cabrales, Wine Enthusiast’s Tasting Director and resident Champagne superfan. “So much energy and time goes into making beautiful expressions and adding a drop or a few ounces of O.J. just feels like I’m taking away from that craftsmanship. If I really need to get my orange bubbly fix, you’ll find me ordering an Aperol spritz.” 

Still, for special occasions, Champagne just feels right—and we’re always in favor of a good splurge when the mood hits. So, despite Cabrales’s protests, we rounded up a few of our favorite bottles below. 

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Ernest Rapeneau NV Brut (Champagne)

A ripe, perfumed Champagne, this has tangy acidity and citrus fruits. It is fruity, with a fresh tanginess and vibrant fruit. Drink now. 89 points. — Roger Voss

$17.99 Bottle Bargains

Champagne Vieille France NV Brut (Champagne)

A fine, dry Champagne with apple and citrus flavors, this is a blend dominated by Pinot Noir with Chardonnay. It is tangy, young and could do with a year more in bottle. Drink from 2024. 90 points.— R.V.

$42.98 Corks and Dorks

Charles de Cazanove NV Tradition Tête de Cuvée Brut (Champagne)

The Champagne is fruity and fresh, its ripe fruits showing balance. It has white-fruit flavors that give the wine crispness, while also preserving richness. Drink now. 87 points. — R.V.

$39.99 Woods Wholesale Wine

De Saint Gall NV Le Tradition (Champagne)

A high 66% of aged reserve wine give this Champagne a sense of maturity. Almond and toast aromas are lifted by citrus flavors. The blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is satisfyingly ripe with rich fruits, shot through with acidity. This wine is ready to drink. 88 points. — Roger Voss

$39.98 Total Wine

Charles Orban NV Carte Noire (Champagne)

A blend of the three principal Champagne varieties, this rich, lightly textured wine is full of ripe fruits with a full dosage to match. It is a generous wine, soft at the end. Drink now. 87 points. — R.V.

$40 Woods Wholesale Wine

Albert Lebrun NV Brut Premier Cru (Champagne)

This nonvintage wine is ripe and soft with layers of white fruits lifted by acidity. The Champagne is smooth, rich and ready to drink. 87 points. — R.V.

$41.99 Twin Liquors

Marie de Moy NV Brut (Champagne)

Typical structure, while also showing ripeness, this nonvintage Champagne has softness contrasting with some fine acidity. Drink now. 88 points. — R.V.

$34.98 Total Wine

Canard-Duchêne NV Brut (Champagne)

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier are blended in almost equal proportions in this Champagne. It is a fruity wine, with a touch of minerality and a vivid, youthful aftertaste. Drink now. 89 points. — R.V.

$37.99 Ed’s Fine Wines

Beaumont des Crayères NV Grande Réserve Brut (Champagne)

Mainly Meunier, this balanced Champagne is rich and rounded. It has white fruits and a soft core that give the wine a ripe character. Drink the bottling now. 89 points. — R.V.

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The post If You Must Use Champagne in Your Mimosa, Try These appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.