Champagne Guide: Ring in the New Year with Some Bubbly

New Year's Eve is champagne's time to shine.

Maryland Heights residents will soon be ringing in the New Year, a time when champagnes and sparkling wines rule the drink menu. Choices of these great sparklers can be overwhelming, so let's review which ones may be best for your New Year's Eve dinner or celebration.  Generally speaking, people refer to all sparkling wines as champagne. Actually, the only wines that can be called champagne are the ones that are produced in the Champagne region of France, hence the name.  Wines produced outside this region of France are called by different names. The primary grapes used to produce champagne are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. There are now only five family-owned champagne houses in France, and Laurent-Perrier is the largest of …

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Missouri Vintner: The Art of Sparkling Wines

Let Missouri show you what sparkling wine is all about.

Have you ever been at a winery or in a store and were asked to sample some wine, only to be surprised by the bubbly sensation that occurred. That's because it was sparkling wine; universally referred to as champagne. “Everyone calls it champagne but out of respect to the French we don’t call our sparkling wine champagne,” said Chuck Dressel, owner and president of Mount Pleasant Wineries, Augusta. Dressel said that those cellars that use the term American champagne do so only because they fall under a grandfather clause, and have done so for decades. History Behind Sparkling Wine Mount Pleasant has a rich tradition of wine making dates to 1859 and has been a leader in Missouri wine production since its reopening after it closed as a result…

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