American Bubbly for an American President
Trying to decide what kind of bubbly to drink with my personal celebration of Barack H. Obama’s inauguration, I was immediately drawn to two American sparkling wines. Though there’s lots of fizz made in the U.S., there are only two that were founded by cosmopolitan Americans who believed in the potential to create world class sparkling wine in California: Schramsberg and Iron Horse. Both are are family-owned, both wineries are in Northern California and both make fine methode champenoise sparkling wine from chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes. And both have been poured by American presidents on important state occasions. Iron Horse Vineyards is in Sebastopol in Sonoma County, surrounded by forests and beautiful meadows. Founded by Barry and Audrey Sterling in 1976, it’s headed by their vivavious daughter Joy. The sparkling wines have a very lean and crisp quality reflecting the cool Green Valley climate. Their wines including…
January 23, 2009