Sparkling wine is the United States’ local sustainable answer to French Champagne.  Naturally, no one is allowed to call a fun bottle of bubbles “champagne” unless the vintage actually hails from the Champagne region of France.  Traditionally, the notion of “champagne” exudes messages of elegance, luxury and celebration.  Friends who have traveled or lived in France may at times turn their noses slightly upwards when presented with American sparkling wine as if somehow this cousin from the West is not quite as good.  Such attitudes are for the ill-informed as quite elegant bottles exist in the United States that could rival bottles from France.  And perhaps due to the labeling as “sparkling wine” in the United States, these bottles of bubbles are afforded a bit of latitude as they can be served a bit more casually whether celebration is truly merited or not.  Then again, who is to critique one’s personal celebration of “Wednesday” should they elect it?

In Napa Valley just north of St. Helena, Schramsberg Vineyards (“Schramsberg”) has been producing quality and internationally recognizable bottles of fine sparkling wine.  It is well remembered that one of the bottles was served by President Richard Nixon in China during the famous “Toast to Peace” in 1972 and a young excited Barbara Walters was filmed on the airport tarmac holding up a bottle of Schramsberg’s Blanc de Blancs for the world to learn about.  With that, California wine was off in a race to the White House to begin a legacy of being served at many administration’s finest meals.

Schramsberg produces an array of wonderful special sparkling wines and each is handled with care until such wine’s release.  While all of the grapes used in Schramsberg’s winemaking are of quality, there are certain wines that receive a bit more focus, more attention and high selection in their winemaking process.  Of these is the sparkling wine, J. Schram, which is dedicated to Jacob Schram who founded the winery in 1862.  In the J. Schram, the very best lots of grapes are used to create a sparkling wine that shows off unparalleled elegance in which the winery claims, “ . . . in which no effort has been spared and no care has been omitted.”  To sip at a glass of any vintage of J. Schram will prove this assertion year after year.

The 2002 vintage of Schramsberg’s J. Schram upon arriving in the champagne flute shows off its rich opulence readily.   Yielding deep aromas of buttered toast, the wine is almost like vanilla cream slipping down the throat with apricot kisses.  It is in short, painfully and breathtakingly delicious.   The bubbles that effervesce in the wine are soft and delicate but notably present and it gives the wine a distinct luxurious texture.  It has had 12 years to age since its release and could easily continue aging for at least another decade or two.  The 2002 J. Schram melts the palate and pampers with traditional elements of the “good life”.   The wine is perfect to sip opulently alone or to accompany something special:  whether that be a meal or an event or both.  This is a wine that when sipped clearly marks something:  a moment in time, a place, a stage in life or perhaps that simple moment of pause before life transitions into something remarkably else.

To pair, dinner was planned and served outdoors which at times in Napa Valley can feel like a celebration in and of itself given the valley’s utopia-like nature. As jazz floated through the air and the back deck basked in warm early evening light, there was little reason to not relax, sip and indulge.

First course consisted of a salad:   Dungeness Crab-Avocado Salad with a Thyme-Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette.

Simplicity in food pairing goes a very long way with the 2002 J. Schram.  Serving ice cold sweet Dungeness crab with the wine is outstanding.  However, add a few additional ingredients and the wine begins to set forth its attributes like a well-merited braggart.  Big bold flavors of rich buttered toast leap forward with the pairing of avocado.  Lemon thyme and chive add a touch of delicate herbal balance that allows the wine to settle nicely and set forth bits of fruit from apricot to pineapple.

A cheese plate was a welcomed second course:   Brillat-savarin from France with fresh raspberries.

The Brillat-savarin from France is insanely creamy due to its high fat content and texturally is not as dense as other cheeses such that it is a natural pairing companion for sparkling wine.  Given its fat content, it naturally succumbs to the creamy density of the wine.  Add a raspberry while sitting in a warm ray of sun and feel like you have died and gone to heaven as the acidity from the raspberry renders with the acidity of the sparkling wine.  For sensory overload and a “bite done right”, I purposefully picked up a French baguette from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery.   With Yountville right up the road, nothing could feel or taste more at home.  The perfect crust of the baguette has a naturally buttery, toasty taste to it and as you well imagine, it pairs interwovenly with the toast notes found in the wine.

Clams were chosen for a third course.

Of all the shellfish, if crab pairs opulently, why move to clams?  Clams are naturally sweeter in flavor and are utterly delicious paired with sparkling and certain white wines.   Combined with fresh tomatoes, lemon thyme, butter and garlic, these steamers make a sweet companion to the J. Schram.  The sweetness of the clams syncs perfectly with the sweetness of the fruit found in the sparkling wine.  The butter, thyme and warm garlic cozies instinctively to the buttery toast notes in the wine.  And the tomatoes, much like raspberries, bring a simple brush of acidity to make the flavors in the wine rounder and fuller and to simultaneously cleanse the palate a bit.   Each bite with the shift of the soft early evening bay breeze transitions the meal to another place and another point in time.

For a main and fourth course, the theme of seafood continues as a gorgeous piece of lingcod is slowly grilled over charcoal with butter, Meyer lemon and thyme.  Served alongside are garlicky kale and lemon thyme zucchini chips.

While the J. Schram continues to flow into the meal’s new course, the smoky flavors of the charcoal grill are welcomed as dark, cool evening breezes lazily drift by.   With the lingcod, the J. Schram suddenly becomes alive and introduces you to bouncy, flirty fruit flavors.  The wine is brighter, perhaps due to the Meyer Lemon or perhaps due to the flavor of the slowly grilled lingcod.  The side of garlicky kale introduces seasonings of garlic, red pepper flakes and raspberry vinegar and the Zucchini Chips are lightly battered and fried using a bit of Riesling wine from the refrigerator and are simply seasoned with sea salt.   The zucchini offers a slightly nutty flavor and the sea salt is a natural pair to the wine as well.

And dessert, well that brought out a blueberry pie for anyone who still had the fortitude to press forth with dining.  Regardless of where the meal ended, one thing was certain:  the stars twinkled above in the night’s sky, a good meal was had by all and it was a fine way to celebrate and send off one experience before transitioning to the adventure ahead.  Cheers!