What do you drink when the clock strikes midnight, the ball drops and 2020 begins? Bubbles, of course! To ring in the New Year right, you should be drinking local bubbles and, luckily for you, we’ve asked a few of our favorite local wine experts for their professional picks on which bottle to pop to close out the decade.
Carrie Wynkoop
Owner of Cellar 503, Portland
“I love bubbles: expensive bubbles, cheap bubbles, traditional style, unique varietals, I love them all. But one of my all-time favorites is Varnum Vintners Brut Rosé — a high-quality and yet inexpensive sparkling wine made in a Prosecco-style with a crown cap for easy drinking. I love this wine with Mexican food. The bubbles and the fruit really cut through the spiciness of peppers in traditional Mexican food like tamales, or try it with some chips and guacamole!”
Alexandra Stang
General Manager and Beverage Director at Bar Taglio, Seattle
“For me the real standout for local bubbles is by family-owned and-operated Syncline Winery, [which uses] biodynamic farming practices and minimal-intervention winemaking to craft its Columbia Gorge wines. The Scintillation Grüner Veltliner Brut is a vintage, Champagne-method wine that offers a nose of green apple and nectarine as well as a little white pepper and celery note to remind you it’s indeed Grüner! On the palate it is fresh and bright, with more melon and grapefruit, great vivacity and just the right creamy texture to balance the brightness — stunning! Sip on this with a classic shrimp cocktail — the Scintillation’s citrusy flavors are great with seafood and the savory character of Grüner can handle plenty of horseradish in the cocktail sauce — and enjoy the fireworks in your glass, and in the sky!”
Chris Rielly
Wine Director at Nightingale, Vancouver, BC
“My choice to celebrate the holidays would be the Bella Wines 2017 Cavada Vineyard Sparkling Gamay Noir from Naramata Bench in the Okanagan Valley. This wine is sourced from a single-vineyard site located above the Naramata townsite, made in the traditional method with five months on the lees and disgorged with zero dosage. This crunchy Gamay displays oodles of raspberry flesh, cranberry skin and a salacious acidity with chalky minerality that just begs you to crush the bottle without a thought. Pairings for this beauty would be turkey dinner in its entirety with all the cranberry sauce, or some beautifully charred brussels sprouts tossed in a sherry vinaigrette, with red grapes and toasted walnuts. So perfect!”
Katie Hestead
Beverage Director at Richard’s Restaurant and Bar, Boise, Idaho
“I would definitely recommend Daft Pink Brut Rosé by Split Rail Winery here in Boise. I drink a lot of this wine. Jed Glavin, the winemaker, is the most innovative winemaker in Idaho. He works with a lot of Spanish varietals and does some risky techniques, he never rests on his laurels. The Daft Pink is a sparkling, dry rosé of Sangiovese. It has great acid, is delicious by itself and with food and is a great representation of what urban wineries in Boise are doing. It would be great with crudite, ham [or] a giant cheese board and would stand up as your first or last glass of the night.”
