Valentine’s Day has always been a great chance to impress.
Whether you stick with a refreshing fruity Prosecco, splash out on complex Champagne or look for something a little different with a stylish Crémant, impress with these few nuggets of sparkling knowledge:
The Prosecco region is within an hour of the romantic city of Venice. Prosecco flows in the bars of Venice and also helps make the city’s famous Bellini cocktail, yet the proximity of these famous vineyards appears to remain a secret to most tourists of the city.
Although Champagne is a sparkling white wine it is made predominately of red wine grapes. French magic? Not quite, it’s more like a delicate French touch. The colour in red wine comes from the dark skins, so very gentle pressing and minimum skin contact means the skins never release this colour into the wine.
English Sparkling Wine has impressed the French so much so that they’ve been buying up English land! One of France’s most prestigious Champagne Houses, Taittinger, has already planted a vineyard in Kent with Bollinger now hinting that they may follow soon.
Cava is the Catalan word for Cave, linking the Spanish sparkling wine to its Catalonia origins. It’s in the cool, underground caves and cellars of Catalonia, near to Barcelona, where 95% of all Cava transforms from still wine to sparkling wine.
Crémant is the name the French give to sparkling wine made outside of the Champagne region. Produced in great French wine regions like Alsace, Burgundy and the Loire, these are some of the best value wines in France and great alternatives to Champagne.
