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*