Uncorked: Add sparkle to your Valentine’s Day celebration

Interns get specific inner-ear instructions from Shane Moore when testing fruit used for sparkling wine.

“If you taste a berry, and if there is so much acid in the bite it makes your ears ring,” said Moore with a chuckle and dramatic pause. “We want a little less than that.”

It’s Moore’s golden rule for making sparkling wine. As consumer interest in sparkling wine has skyrocketed, so too has the quality and widespread distribution. Moore, the winemaker at Gran Moraine in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, is part of a domestic renaissance in high-quality sparkling wine.

It’s the ideal time to pop a cork for a Valentine’s Day celebration and enjoy the bubbles that Moore and Frank Family winemaker Todd Graff labor over more than with still wines.

“Every tasting room has bubbles to sell,” Graff said. “A lot comes from one place, and they slap a label on it to say they have bubbles. What makes us different is we handcraft it ourselves. I spent 10 years working in sparkling wine. We do all the aging, riddling and bottling in-house.”

With both winemakers and wineries part of a dedicated contingent of serious sparkling wine producers, their product demands a premium price because they use the traditional method, which takes time and requires a greater amount of labor. Riddling is the process of incrementally turning each bottle by hand to move the dead yeast cells to the neck of a bottle.

After a period of time, the neck of the bottle is frozen, and the dead yeast cells are “disgorged” or removed. Dosage then takes place, in which sugar and still wine are added to replace the wine lost in disgorging. The reward is a sparkling wine with a depth of flavors, a dramatic effervescence and the potential to improve with age.

In the Willamette, Moore attended a Jan. 22 meeting, where sparkling wine makers discussed how to inform someone passing through a wine aisle that the wine under the cork and cage is something special.

That could be a special bottle or a guild icon, but with the increased popularity of sparkling wine, wineries need to differentiate their premium product from those made in the Charmat or tank methods.

“Quality is improving to the point where I feel like people are starting to take notice that great bubbles are coming from producers that made nothing but still wines,” Moore said. “Consumers know Champagne makes their bubbles in the traditional method. Forced bubbles are great to mix with orange juice, but one of the main issues is how to communicate that we are making quality sparkling wines in the traditional method, and for consumers to understand why [to ask] for premium.

What Graff has figured out over his extensive career is that chardonnay is the “bones and structure,” while pinot noir adds “flesh and muscle” to the Frank Family sparkling wines.

The Frank Family Blanc de Blancs 2016 ($60) had pear, sea salt and a lemon flavor in its acidity that hit the molars and lingered on the finish. The Frank Family Brut Rosé 2017 ($60) was predominantly pinot noir, and had strawberry, brioche bun and Granny Smith apple flavors.

“We’re not trying to be Champagne,” Graff said. “But we are trying to be a Napa Valley grower and producer of sparkling wine. Our Blanc de Blancs could be a vineyard designate wine. Our pinot noir for rosé has come from the same vineyard for the last 15 years.”

From Gran Moraine’s first vintage in 2014, Moore has embraced the high acidity Oregon has to offer. The Gran Moraine Blanc de Blancs 2016 ($95) came from a “Goldilocks vintage” with the second earliest harvest ever on Aug. 21 and a consistent growing season devoid of heat spikes.

There were honey dew, Meyer lemon and graham cracker-crust flavors with refreshing hints of mossy rock.

“It’s harder with chardonnay,” Moore said. “There’s no version or color with chardonnay grapes, so the sugar and pH numbers are important. But so is the texture upon tasting and soft skins. If we get that right, the wine will have a lot of energy and life, that’s my kind of chardonnay.”

• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.

VALENTINE’S DAY WINE MARKET

FOR TONIGHT

Mendi, Rioja Alavesa 2020 ($12): Carbonic maceration led to a very juicy wine with blackberry, anise and blackberry cobbler flavors on a medium-bodied red.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE AND WINE LOVER

Halter Ranch “Libelle” Picpoul Blanc Sparkling Wine, Adelaida District, Paso Robles, Halter Ranch “Ancestor” 2020 and Mama Ganache 4-piece chocolate pairing ($189):

The Ancestor has a big nose of wild game, leather and dark fruits; round and juicy with currant, black berry, garrigue, dark chocolate and big tannins that could tame themselves with time. It’s rich and perfectly extracted. Paired with the Mama Ganache Dark Chocolate. On the outside, the chocolate is the perfect mix of bitter with a sweeter filling that’s soft and turns creamy.

“This wine pairs particularly well with roasted meats, reduction sauces, Osso Buco and dark chocolate,” winemaker Kevin Sass said.

Libelle was fascinating. It had a straw color with bread crust aromas. There’s a lemon, lime and pronounced citrus flavor with a long-lasting finish of Meyer lemon. It was a brilliant wine, and was complemented by the creamy Mama Ganache Meyer Lemon White Chocolate with texture that’s almost like cheese cake.

“Over years, I harbored a dream of crafting my own sparkling wine, but Paso Robles, known for its warmth, seemed unsuitable for the traditional varieties,” Sass said. “Upon my arrival at Halter Ranch in 2011, I encountered Picpoul Blanc. With just one acre planted, the vineyard manager described the grape as fiercely acidic, akin to biting into a lemon. Intrigued, I decided to experiment.”

FOR GREAT TASTING GLASSES

RAJ Glass (two for $78): Glasvin and sommelier, winemaker and author Raj Parr created a thin-rimmed, sleek and compact tasting glass. There’s a shorter than normal stem and perfectly proportioned bowl to accentuate the wine’s aroma.

FOR THE AVID READER AND TRAVELER

“Exploring Wine Regions – The Central Coast of California,” by Michael C. Higgins ($44.95): Plan an entire trip to my favorite wine regions with this great, comprehensive reference. Go deep into the wineries listed to craft your tasting schedule. Then plan lodging, the best cup of coffee, disc golf course and seafood restaurant.