Born in the USA

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Born in the USA

Most Californian sparkling wines are made according to the method of champenoise, so with a second fermentation in the bottle. Indeed, the big champagne families Mumm, Chandon and Taittinger managed to gain a foothold in the new wine country America to make the equivalent of their French wine here. But local family businesses have also taken to 'Napa Sparkling'. Especially in the Los Carneros AVA, an old and cool provenance area stretching across the border from Napa to Sonoma. Carneros means 'sheep' in Spanish and these natural weed killers can be seen walking along the rolling hills and abundant vines.

Domaine Carneros was founded by Claude Taittinger, in 1987. Their Brut is made from chardonnay and pinot noir, and because it is a vintage wine - so not a blend of different years like many champagnes - you can keep it for at least five years. You smell honeycomb, lime and citrus zest, and on the first sip you taste a soft mousse and flavours of white peach, baked pear and orange blossom. The chardonnay gives crispness, the pinot noir gives depth and a rich red fruit flavour with velvety finish.
DOMAINE CARNEROS BY TAITTINGER BRUT 2018 | 8WINES.COM | €37.58

What is orange wine?

Replace grapes with oranges and you get the orange wine Tarongino. Not the same as the orange wine that is now being written about so much, because orange wine is wine made from white grapes that gets its colour because the skins are co-fermented and the juice stays on the skins longer. Tarongino is made from real oranges and that is from Valencia. There, the Spanish Antelo Mencheta family has been growing oranges, grapefruits and blood oranges for more than five generations. Out of love for wine, they turn it into a light orange wine after natural fermentation and with the help of an oenologist.

Their orange trees are in the Sierra Calderona area, in the town of Sagunto. This is a walled town with great historical significance since Roman Hispania, where growing citrus is tradition. At the family estate, they are harvested by hand and ripened in steel tanks and barrels so that oenologist Juan Alberto Anaya can make wine from them.
TARONGINO CALIENTE WINTER WINE | TARONGINO.CO.UK | €11.99

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