I’ve only ever bought them at Chambers St. but wine-searcher shows availability in NJ, CT and CO as well as a bunch of NY stores. For a moment I thought Calvert Woodley had them but they carry a sparkler from Damien Pinon, not Francois. You can do a search on Francois Pinon Brut and a bunch of hits will come up.
MacArthurs has Chidaine, so my guess is if I want a Loire sparkling wine, I would probably get that. Don’t know where the OP lives, however, and so am thinking he may have trouble finding Pinon. I think of that as a Louis/Dressner wine and they are mostly in NYC, although we get some in the DC area.
You should add some Cremant to the mix as well. There are several very good ones from the Loire and from the Alsace.
This is terrific - Vajra N.S. della Neve - half nebbiolo, half pinot. Under $30.
Could have some real fun and grab a South African sparkler…personally a big fan of Black Elephant Vintners MCC
I suggest you don’t overlook this, or pet nats in general (petillant naturel, otherwise known as methode ancestrale)
They’re fun, typically off-dry and lower in alcohol
I wouldn’t limit myself to just Argyle’s Extended Tirage - the rest of their lineup is pretty fantastic. And that’s from someone who loves their Extended Tirage series - just finished off my last of six Extended Tirage 2007’s. Hoped to let the last couple sleep for a while but they were just so damn good.
Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée is surprisingly good Champagne for about $30, if you can find it.
Here’s what I’d do, trying to get a good sampling of styles and regions. Most styles have good recs in this thread, so I won’t repeat those here, but will add some of my own.
- Champagne – Bereche Reserve, Chartogne-Taillet Cuvee St Anne
- California – Schramsberg
- Oregon (or Washington) – Mellen Meyer or Analemma if you can find it. Argyle if not.
- Cava – Recaredo if you can find it. Gramona if not.
- Cremant de Loire – Huet* or Chidaine or Pinon
- Prosecco or Franciacorta – I’ve got no widely available recs
- rose Cremant from Jura or Bourgogne or Alsace, or rose Champagne – same here
- wildcard: does the group like wines with a bit of sweetness? If so, then Moscato or Cerdon du Bugey or Blanquette de Limoux or Brachetto d’Acqui. If not, maybe a Txakolina or a bubbly from Tasmania.
*I can vouch for the 2013 Huet. I’ve heard only one report on the just-released 2016, which hasn’t reached our market yet, and the report didn’t sound great.
THANK YOU for all of the suggestions. I’m finalizing the list and will follow-up with how the tasting went and what was chosen.
That is a fantastic bottle.
A couple of less expensive options
Cava - Duran Gran Reserva
Cremant de Bourgogne - JCB 21
Portuguese espumant.
I would consider a Cremant du Jura if you can find a good one.
If you can find it: Giuseppe Contratto.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/contratto/1/usa/
Had the 2012 Asti Spumante this afternoon - not at all what I was expecting - but my Goodness, it’s a profound bottle of wine.
.
Another vote for English Sparkler - if you can find a Raimes, buy it. Had a bottle recently that was terrific.
Thanks, again, for all of your suggestions. The night was a big hit - people seemed enjoyed learning about and tasting these different sparklers… Here’s what we ended up tasting (sorry, no TN).
Champagne: Roederer
CA sparkler: Roederer
Cava: could find no gran reserva, can’t remember what we drank
Prosecco: Drusian
Vouvray: Foreau
Cremant de Loire
Sekt: difficult to find. Can’t remember what we drank, but it was dry and a big hit.
Pet-Nat: this was difficult to find. Total Wine had just one bottle that I could order. Couldn’t tell you much more than that about it.
Moscato d’Asti: Paolo Saracco (tasted last)