Fair enough. I suppose I just meant that the climbing prices of Champagne have made me curious about other sparkling wine regions, not J Schram in particular. You’re right- lots of Champagne is less expensive than J Schram.
My first J Schram was actually in a Sonoma restaurant a few years back; it was priced around $100, essentially at cost, whereas all the Champagnes were more than twice that. So in that context, it was the value play. I didn’t know what to expect and I was blown away by the quality.
I don’t buy it often, but it’s become a tradition to open J Schram at Thanksgiving. I like the idea of sticking to American wines for that holiday, sparklers in general tend to compliment the various traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and J Schram has been my favorite US sparkler to date. It’s easier to justify the high-ish cost for the holiday. I was overseas for Thanksgiving this year, so we celebrated yesterday, which is why I opened the rosé last night.
Looking forward to trying the other suggestions here: Goodfellow, Le Reve, Corollary. Roederer L’Hermitage is indeed very nice and, while I’ve had Argyle, never tried their Extended Tirage.
I would then say to look at English Fizz that makes it to the states like Gusbourne and Nyetimber. They are fairly priced and imo better than J Schramm at a similar price
You’re right i should have said 2018+. Even though thats mostly focused on the Hirsch offerings, but still more than enough chatter to cause concern. At least they seem to be responding to emails on flawed bottles now so that’s a plus.
Oh im not doubting that they’re great sparklers or that their history with still wines is excellent! Im just saying its hard to place any offering at the top of the list when they’ve only released a single vintage so far
I really want to like Gusbourne but even in the UK I can buy Champagne that is more compelling for the same price. Even at the member pricing that I got, that was a bit under retail, I didn’t feel like the value was there. Could well just be palate preferences on my part though.
Some great suggestions up-thread (the Corollary X-Omni BdB and their 2017 Extended Tirage are great). I’ll add a couple others for people to check out:
Roco/RMS (if I remember correctly, Rollin Soles started Argyle’s sparkling program and is making some really nice stuff)
My wine knowledge is very limited . The only high end American sparkler I have ever had was J Schram (and have been a buyer of Ultramarine). Maybe it is also because of the box, and having visited Schramsberg, but my wife’s face would light up if i brought home a bottle of it. Cant say that about any other American sparkler .
I’ve seen it for around $50ish here and the BdB is more than fine and competitive at that price. Granted, if I was in the UK, I wouldn’t be too bothered with it when Rathfinny and others are more available
Oddly Gusbourne is $50-ish in the UK as well, at member pricing, often more at retail. I can actually get nice grower fizz for less. Agree on Rathfinny, lovely stuff!
Almost all the non-new release complaints seem to me to be more about stylistic preferences, and not really about wine quality. It’s just in places like this people conflate preference with quality.
Carneros for the price. Ultramarine has been great so far, Goodfellow has massive potential and the first couple I tried were fantastic. I wasn’t impressed with the couple bottles of J Schram I’ve had so far but they aren’t easy for me to come by.
