Bevvy of the Week – Bubbly: Champagne, Prosecco and Cava

Bubbly: Champagne, Prosecco and Cava

Many people will be rushing out over the next day or two to ensure they have adequate amounts of bubbly to see them through the end of 2016 and safely into 2017. It’s at this time of year where the sales of sparkling wine really go through the roof. Whether it’s Champagne, Prosecco or Cava there are many options out there to suit all budgets.

Champagne : This sparkling wine in the eyes of many is viewed as the best and it also comes with a high price tag. The likes of Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot and Moet all will come with a price tag of between €50 to €70 per bottle. However there are many champagnes out there that come in well below that asking price and are around  €30 to €40 per bottle. These Champagne’s though not the most recognisable of brands will be of excellent quality, and be assured only wines that come from the Champagne region in France can be called Champagne. If it doesn’t have Champagne on the bottle it’s not Champagne.

Prosecco : This sparkling wine from Italy is the best-selling sparkling wine in Ireland and the sales of it just continues to grow. The main reasons for this is price and taste. There are two types of Prosecco; Fizzante and Spumante. Fizzante is semi sparkling and Spumante is fully sparking. It might not always say on the label whether it’s Fizzante or Spumante but you can always tell by the cork. The Fizzante wines though sparkling do not have the same amount of gas in the bottle as the fully sparkling style of the Spumante therefore they do not need the metal wire to hold the cork down. You may find that Prosecco Fizzante has a small string around the cork. This is just for show and you will need a corkscrew to open it. Spumante wine will have the same style cork as Champagne. Prosecco Fizzante starts at around €10 per bottle and Prosecco Spumante around the €15 mark.

Cava : This sparkling wine from Spain has been very popular for a very long time and before Prosecco became as popular as it is Cava was the next alternative to Champagne. Cava is fully sparkling and starts around €13 per bottle.

If you have a bottle of champagne along with a few bottles of Prosecco or Cava to ring in the new year don’t hold out to open the champagne for people. Open it as soon as guests arrive because come midnight people won’t care what they are drinking as long as it has bubbles.

Happy New Year, Sláinte,

Patrick

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