Sure, when New Year’s Eve rolls around this year, you could grab a magnum of Krug or Moët and call it a night. But when you know which farm your pork comes from and are on a first-name basis with the person who makes your goat cheese, there’s no reason to ring in the New Year with champers that’s made by multinational luxury conglomerates a million bottles at a time. Far better to pop a few bottles of wine produced by small operations in limited quantities with minimal additives. New York is full of sparkling wine that’s easy to find, often cheaper than the brand-name stuff, and much, much more interesting.
Fleury Pere & Fils Carte Rouge Brut NV ($41)
This is pinot noir Champagne in the old-school French, bureaucrat-approved meaning of the word. Unlike a lot of brand-name bubbly, though, it’s biodynamic, the grapes are farmed by the producer (rather than purchased), and thousands (rather than tens of millions) of bottles of it are produced a year.
Tiphaine, Nouveau Nez, 2010 ($25)
Produced in the Loire from chenin grapes, this one is produced petillant naturel, meaning that the carbonation is completely a product of the grapes. (Champagne producers add sugar and yeast during the bottling to get their sparkle.)
Saumon, La Cave Se Rebiffe, NV ($19)
Another petillant naturel, this one is a rosé made from young, hotshot, natural Loire producer Frantz Saumon. It’s made from gamay (a grape usually associated with Beaujolais) and sealed with a crown cap, like a beer bottle.
Champ Divin Champ d’Étoiles Crémant du Jura 09 ($22)
For those who don’t know, the Jura is a region of France near the Swiss border known for producing some seriously idiosyncratic wines from grapes not grown anywhere else; to say it’s a wine-geek darling is an understatement. This wine is a more classic sparkler, but it still manages to fly the freak flag a little: The vineyard is organic and biodynamic, and unlike most sparkling wines, there’s no dosage, so expect it to be very dry.
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