Carson Kressley is best known for making over folks, first in the landmark Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and now on Carson Nation on OWN. But this fall, he’s getting the movement makeover, if you will, as one of the celebs competing on Dancing With the Stars this fall on ABC.
Anne caught up with Mr. Kressley at a TV press event last January and got this very basic FAQ from him.
“Here’s the thing. I love champagne,” he said. “Well, everyone says you can’t get champagne if it’s not from Champagne [France]. But isn’t it true that there are equally good sparkling wines that don’t come from Champagne? What are the good ones?”
Well, Mr. Kressley, it’s more that you can’t call it champagne if it doesn’t come from Champagne, since, like most European wines, it’s named by where it’s from rather than what’s in it. When you’ve got a region growing all the same grapes and making roughly the same blend, as happens in Europe, it’s kind of obvious that when you call something champagne, it’s going to be a wine made with either chardonnay or pinot noir grapes with the distinctive bubbles in it.
In other wine growing areas, say, California’s Central Coast, or Australia’s Barossa Valley, it’s not so obvious what the grapes/wines are because they grow all kinds in both regions. So the kind of wine is going to be in large type on the label, along with where it was grown/made.
And, you are absolutely right, there are wonderful sparkling wines being made all over the world – usually by the Méthode Champenoise, which is just like it sounds – how they do it in Champagne, by fermenting the wine first, then bottling it, adding just a tiny bit of sugar and yeast to the bottle, then letting it ferment again to make all those lovely little bubbles.
What are the good ones? Well, that’s a mighty long list. We ran into a perfectly lovely pink bubbly from Touraine, France, a year or so back. There are some terrific cavas (from Spain) out there. If you like a sweeter note, some of the Italian Proseccos are pretty good.
Just don’t forget California. There are some pretty good producers around the state, including one we just featured last week, from Terra Sávia. Riverbench, in the Santa Ynez Valley, also makes a really good one, too. And keep reading OddBallGrape.com for a future profile on Riverbench.
The best thing to do, is just keep trying bubblies to find the ones you like. I know. It’s a tough job, Mr. Kressley, but someone has to do it.