By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor
This month's edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the 74th such edition, is being hosted by Tim Elliott, long-time blogger and podcaster at Winecast. The theme: Value Sparkling Wine, which Tim has defined as anything $25 and under.
Perhaps not surprisingly, I usually try to wedge a New York wine in as my WBW entry when possible.
Most of my favorite local sparklers, sadly, do not qualify. They tend to be $30 and up.
But then I remembered that my friend Debbie Gioquindo sent me a bottle of Happy Bitch Wines "Happy Bitch" Rose a few weeks ago, which retails for between $10 and $15 depending on where you get it. And while I wouldn't call it fully sparkling -- the carbonation is intentionally light, or as Debbie called it in an email earlier today "a little bit of Happy" -- I think it fits the bill for WBW nicely.
Happy Bitch Wines is a new label created by Keryl Pesce, author of Happy Bitch, and Debbie, who you may know as Hudson Valley Wine Goddess. Made with 90% pinot noir and 10% chardonnay from the Finger Lakes, it is made in the Hudson Valley. Interestingly, the base wines weren't intended for sparkling wine (or for rose), and I think it shows on the palate. To date, they've made 1,800 cases of this frizzante, off-dry rose.
This isn't what I'd consider a 'serious' sparkling wine. My wife and I drank this before and during Valentine's Day dinner next to Heart & Hands Wine Company 2009 Brut Rose and they weren't even in the same league, but that's not the point I don't think.
Keryl and Debbie say that this wine is "designed by women for women" and while I'm not one to advocate marketing beverages for one gender over another, I get what they mean.
It's all strawberries and raspberries with that light fizz cutting through the gentle residual sugar. Complex? No. Elegant? No. Fun and gulpable? Absolutely.
Producer: Happy Bitch Wines
AVA: New York (Finger Lakes)
Price: $12*
Sparkling wine? The COLA says "TABLE RED WINE". It's made by Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville, NY and seems to be an experiment in producing wine for a "virtual winery". Nor can it be called or described as "frizzante" under the strictures of the TTB.
I believe this wine is artificially carbonated. Back when I was in the business, the rule of thumb was if a wine had a distinct fizz when you opened and poured it, likely it was over the BATF's (TTB's) legal limit for the addition or retention of CO2. I hope they have it correct, because the limit is quite low and the tolerance quite small and the tax on "sparkling wine" is twenty times that of still wine. It's also difficult to accurately test -- not even Cornell's Wine Analytical Laboratory offers the service to do it.
Posted by: John Sperr | February 16, 2012 at 04:47 PM
I'll say it, I hate the name of this wine. I have never had it but I think it makes NYS wine look bad when you have a goofy name like this. I understand they want to make money but as a big supporter of the NYS wine industry I think it makes it look amateurish.
Posted by: Mark Rizzolo | February 16, 2012 at 08:46 PM
John: You're right, of course, but as I alluded to in the post, I kinda force this wine to work for the theme. And I used frizzante casually. It's extremely lightly sparkling, and I'm sure it's being taxed properly.
Mark: You know, typically I'd agree with some of what you're saying, but because "Happy Bitch" is an existing brand (because of the book) it being the name of this wine doesn't bother me as much. And I certainly don't think a single wine makes the industry look amateurish. There are plenty of wines far more embarrassing than this one being made, trust me. There is an entire winery named Pompous Ass, remember.
Posted by: Lenn Thompson | February 17, 2012 at 09:36 AM