In the last few years America discovered Prosecco, an inexpensive and very nice Italian bubbly, and its sales have grown 25% over the past couple of years. Why Prosecco? Value.
All sparkling wine sales have increased enough to where the U.S. may surpass the UK as the world's largest importer of sparkling wine (they love their French Champagne). England is even making its own sparkling wines now.
Domestic sparkling wines are over half of U.S. sales with Mumm Napa and Domaine Chandon showing significant growth.
Western Oregon has the right climate for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Now there's a surge in sparkling wines being made from these grapes.
Here in Sonoma County a company that makes sparklers for some wineries, Rack & Riddle, is going great guns and expanding. Their business is mostly with small to medium sized wineries that make one or two sparklers. It's cost prohibitive to get the equipment and maybe the expertise to make them yourself. So the winery may supply the still wine to Rack & Riddle and they do the secondary fermentation (where the fizz comes from) and bottling. Or sometimes a winery will just buy a finished bubbly direct for them.
With the increase in popularity of sparkling wine many wineries are getting into the bubble business. For instance, Jordan Winery, known for its Cabernet Sauvignon has partnered with a French Champagne house to release a Brut Champagne under their own label. Cheers!
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| Owned by three sisters, Breathless hit the market just as sales were taking off Tasting room located in Healdsburg |
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