Many people only think about bubbly wine for New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, and “special” occasions like weddings and anniversaries.  By all means, open a bottle of fizzy wine on these occasions, but I think that opening the bottle of bubbly can make for a special occasion.  There are many different types of sparkling wines out there, but my preference is for a dry champagne-style.  If that’s not for you, however, check out the myriad other options available – I guarantee there are some out there that will work for you.

Here in VA, it’s hard to talk about sparkling wine without talking about Claude Thibaut.  I’m a big fan, and when I hear that he’s doing a tasting at a wine shop I can get to, I make plans to be there.  The last time we caught up with him, we found him pouring a limited release of a vintage (2008), extra brut sparkler: Cuvée D’État.  He was really impressed with the vintage year and this particularly vineyard site, so he decided to do this special bottling.  I liked it when I tasted it, and given my love of Thibaut-Jannison Winery sparklers, a bottle came home with me.

One of the foods that people talk about as a good pairing for sparkling wine is the egg.  I love eggs – they taste great, are incredibly versatile, and they cook quickly.  I also love mushrooms!  Thanks to Grape Envy Guy’s near miraculous ability to pick out great recipes, we had a dinner of mushroom and feta frittata planned.  In a perfect world, I would have opened a bottle of a lighter, but earthy, red wine.  I didn’t have a wine like this in the house, however.  (In fact, I’m not even sure what this wine might be – if you’ve got suggestions for us, please make them – we need some help).  Given that I had to move on to plan B, I turned to the bottle of Cuvée D’État I had chilling in the fridge.

On the nose, I noted crisp, green apples with a hint of yeast.  On the palate, I found apple, peach, and some floral notes (sorry, my floral identification isn’t great).  As I spent more time with the wine, I also noted some Asian pear flavors.  I really liked this wine.  I also really like the frittata.  Frittatas are a great, quick dinner (it’s like a quick quiche with no crust for those of you unfamiliar with the term), and we make a lot of them.  This may be the best one we’ve ever made, and the sparkling wine made a simple dinner feel really special.

If I really want to look at the pairing critically, which I guess I do since I’m doing it, the wine would have worked better with the meal had the floral notes been a bit less pronounced, but good wine and good food make for a nice night, and sometimes bubbles and eggs are all you need (or at least all I need).