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My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

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I was promised a recession.

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Hot air and ill-informed banter

You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / wine blogging / Holiday sparkler

Holiday sparkler

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For many people, holidays involve lots of sparkling wine and lots of less-than-discerning relatives. But you’ve got to drink the same stuff they do, so you want something cheap *and* decent. I bought a case of Segura Viudas Brut Reserva (it’s a big family gathering on Friday) and just opened the first one. It’s really pretty good, not yeasty and complex like real champagne, but with nice fruit and acid and nothing offensive.

Only seven bucks and the best under ten dollar sparkler I’ve ever had.

Reader Interactions

58Comments

  2. 2.

    krissed off

    Your note on the widow holder intrigues me. Compared to another cava, like Freixenet? Or a prosecco?

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    We have a sparkling chardonnay in the fridge for the New Year — no idea if it’s any good. We’re not exactly wine connoisseurs, though — if it’s cheap at Cost Plus or BevMo, we’ll give it a try.

  5. 5.

    Econwatcher

    Is there a particular intoxicant you can especially recommend to help take the edge off as your house is filled with wingnut relatives for the holidays?

  6. 6.

    DougJ

    Compared to another cava, like Freixenet? Or a prosecco?

    Well, it’s dry so I can’t compare it to proseco. It’s better than Freixnet. It has some real fruit, which Freixenet doesn’t.

  7. 7.

    Comrade Mary

    If you want a semi-sparkling, try any Portuguese vinho verde. Even in Ontario, I can get a nice bottle year round for about 8 bucks, and I’m sure you can beat that.

  8. 8.

    SteveinSC

    Spanish sparkling wine? My experience with Spanish wine has them like Rioja, dry and tannic like bark. Is Segura something other than Rioja with Bubbles? I don’t drink much, (well no, actually) California wines, but Korbel Extra Dry is more Christmasy and not very expensive. For Spanish grapes , stick with amontillados and olorosos.

  14. 14.

    DougJ

    Is Segura something other than Rioja with Bubbles?

    It is nothing like that! It’s white, for starters.

    I love Rioja, though, and would like try Rioja with bubbles if it exists.

  15. 15.

    DougJ

    I’m on a Spanish wine kick. You can buy a nice 2004 Rioja for $12.

    There’s some great Spanish values right now. I love Ludovicus (may be misspelling it), about $11. Also Oliva de Hoya, about the same price.

  17. 17.

    aimai

    I love cava, and prosecco. I discovered a few years ago that I really don’t like champagne, and it wasn’t because I was drinking the cheap ones, either. I also love what I think of as the “greeny” wines, like Verdejos, Vernacchias, Gruner Veltliners and less sweet Rieslings. I’m sorry, but I do.

    aimai

  18. 18.

    Steerpike

    Um, aren’t we all supposed to be “Chardonnay-sipping elitists” here? Stick with the meme, people.

  23. 23.

    Comrade Darkness

    Chandon Chandon Chandon.

    I’ve served it to Frenchmen who, in shock, admitted it was better than Moët et Chandon, so a serious bargain, even at $18-$20 per bottle.

    All the yeast and tantalizing balance of acid money can buy.

  26. 26.

    SteveinSC

    @DougJ: DougJ I am game to try the Segura. The fetish over dry wines, Brut and then Natur has fortunately faded. (For a masochistic experience try choking down a glass of Tio Pepe Fino sherry.) I am older now and more inclined to the sweetness of Extra Dry’s. Are there degrees of sweetness available with Segura or only Brut?

  28. 28.

    jager

    I found myself making breakfast last Sunday morning at 3am for the last diehards at an annual Christmas Party we throw at our little villa. As I toiled away, I heard Mrs J shout, “it should be a champagne breakfast!” As I served the eggs (scrambled with cream, extra sharp Tillamook cheese, onion, various peppers and ham from the buffet-lifted and folded carefully!) she poured the bubbly. I ate mine in the kitchen washed down with Basil Hayden bourbon. I don’t switch horses…Mrs J poured the Moet Chandon we were saving for our anniversary…oh well! I cleaned the kitchen, walked the dog and went to bed at 5! She was sound asleep and I didn’t see her face until noon.

  29. 29.

    Suzanne

    We just bought two cases of the Segura Viudas. We’ve been buying their champagne for several years. It makes a nice gift combined with a food item when we go to someone’s home and of course is great for the holidays. We’re certainly not experts on champagne but we know we like it.

  32. 32.

    EIGRP

    I had a delicious cranberry wine from Montezuma Winery, just east of Rochester. It’s almost like alcoholic cranberry juice.

    I’ve heard the Barefoot bubbly is good too although I haven’t tried it.

    -Eric

  33. 33.

    bedtimeforbonzo

    I mentioned it a few weeks ago and will give another recommendation for 14 Hands, a red wine from Washington State. My wife likes the Merlot, I like the Cabernet Sauvignon.

    Holding on for dinner until I am finished work at 9, jager’s eggs are giving me hunger pains.

    And speaking of food and spirits, you will see plenty of both, along with good acting and a quick pace, in the entertaining “Julie and Julia” (currently on DVD and OnDemand) — which also gave some insight into the blogging world, via the Julie end of the story. If you were a fan of bigger-than-life Julia Child, you will be so even more so after this movie. And if there is such a thing as a perfect husband, I witnessed it in Stanley Tucci’s restrained, graceful performance of Child’s husband.

  34. 34.

    scudbucket

    Anyone have that three-buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s? It’s pretty good! And it’s only … well, three bucks.

  35. 35.

    Something Fabulous

    On bubbles: has anyone tried the pink Sophia from Coppola? I saw it in the store yesterday and it was so PRETTY, with the cute packaging and all, that I nearly went and got it, just to be girly. The price turned me in the end, but if I ever get paid again, is it worth it?

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @Something Fabulous:

    I like Sofia but, as I said above, I’m not exactly a wine expert. It goes on sale fairly often, so if you feel really bad about it, you can keep monitoring the price and buy it when it goes under $20.

  38. 38.

    NickM

    Anyone remember the conservative blogger who wrote that
    “big oaky cabs” were a conservative varietal? Because they were from a populist grape?

  40. 40.

    DougJ

    Are there degrees of sweetness available with Segura or only Brut?

    I only saw Brut at the store, but they also make Extra Dry (which is sweet).

  44. 44.

    SteveinSC

    @DougJ: I’ll try to get what passes for a wine store here in the armpit of South Carolina (the cross I bear) to get a few bottles to try. Thanks for the suggestion.

  45. 45.

    Annie

    ooops. I have only had two glasses of a not so good white wine and managed to say the same thing twice. Imagine what I would have done if the wine had been good….

  46. 46.

    DougJ

    Anyone remember the conservative blogger who wrote that
    “big oaky cabs” were a conservative varietal? Because they were from a populist grape?

    Is this snark of some kind? If not, please give me a link, I love it.

  47. 47.

    Jason Bylinowski

    I’m going to repost my new and almost perfect recipe for tea-infused vodka, because it quite simply is better than any other flavored vodka I’ve ever purchased.

    Part one:

    1 fifth of Luksusowa Potato Vodka (or Chopin if you feel like spending money, the important thing here is that it is potato-based, and to me Luksusowa is the fucking bomb for the 15 bucks it costs)

    3 family-sized orange pekoe (or whatever you prefer) teabags – slit them and dump the tea into a large mason jar or tupperware dish. Then just add cane sugar. (I find about a quarter of a cup is best if you’re going to drink it neat, less is better if you’re going to make teatinis or something else.) Wait about, oh, I don’t know. Half a day if you like your tea strong. Strain it out with a coffee filter, hurf durf. And then, by all means, get drunk on this awesomeness before moving on to

    Part two:

    Cut 1 lime and 1 lemon into very very thin circular slices or wedges (the thinness is all that matters). I’ve tried with more fruit types, but there is some weirdness in the taste when you mix citrus with apples, berries, and other tamer fruits.

    Dump it all into an airtight glass container, seal that shit up and stuff it on top of your your fridge for about a week.
    Strain it out again, and enjoy the thrill of something that used to be vodka but really isn’t anymore, but which will stealth-drunk your shit up until Sunday evening. I had every intention of making a fine mixer, but I just store it in the freezer and pour it up neat in a rocks glass. It is really very good.

  48. 48.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @SteveinSC: I hear you, coming as I am from North Augusta, SC. We have a Red Dot store here which is just outta sight though, and WTF?!. we actually just got ANOTHER one about a mile down the road. Both are doing brisk business. Things are changing in SC, slowly but surely. And for that I can only say Hail Satan.

  49. 49.

    Exurban Mom

    California’s Roederer Estates Brut is what we drink if we have a few extra bucks at the New Year. It’s nicely bubbly but not too dry or too sweet. And hoo boy, I just looked it up and the Wine Spectator gives it 91 points!

  50. 50.

    ilsita

    I just opened something kinda interesting that was about $11, and I thought it would be perfect for heavy holiday dinner: 2006 Castel Sallegg Bischofsleiten

    It’s really light — almost like a big rose, and has a teeny tiny fizz to it. Super dry, too.

    If you live in PDX, you can find it at Vino Vixens.

  51. 51.

    Jasper

    Here is another vote for the Segura Viudas. I reached a lifetime alcohol quota at about age 43, but those with more drinking ahead of them really enjoyed it at Thanksgiving. It’s a great hostess gift, too, since no one’s heard of it and don’t know that it’s very inexpensive.

  52. 52.

    Alan in SF

    Cristalino, dude! $5.25 at my local Safeway. Although Segura Viudas is good too.

    If you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, they have a good cheap cava and an equally good cheap prosecco,

  53. 53.

    cfaller96

    Cristalino Cava Brut is pretty good, and it goes for around $5-7/bottle. That’s my recommendation for large gatherings.

    For smaller events, one of our favorite champagnes is Francois Montand- it’s still only around $11-15/bottle, and the quality is up there with a Moet White Star or a Veuve Clicquot (sic?) Yellow Label. Really, really great value.

  55. 55.

    El Cruzado

    We load up on Cristalino every holiday although Segura Viudas has nothing wrong with it (mostly it’s just easier to find Cristalino). I dunno if being from Spain gives me any kind of authority on the subject. I’ll say that back home on Christmas we were more Codorniu people, but good luck finding that around here.

  56. 56.

    Jacquie

    This Segura sounds like just the thing to get me through wrapping presents tonight. Where in Rochester can you find it?

    As for the Sofia Blanc de Blancs, I too was sucked in by the packaging, and the telescoping bendy straws. Alas, no good.

  57. 57.

    andy

    Another great thing to do is make a cocktail- one and a half ounces of Aperol, two ounces sparkling wine, some bitters if you like, and a lime wedge.

  58. 58.

    Don

    Mark me down as another Cristalino drinker, though our go-to source for it (CostPlus/World Market) has bumped the price up to an unheard of $9 per bottle. I’ll have to check a Safeway based on Alan’s mention, though their stock might be different on the opposite coast…

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