A sparkling revolution charted, and the best wines reviewed.
California sparkling wine has long been dominated by a select few producers, many of which have been modelled on (and in many cases owned by) Champagne’s grandes marques. Like Champagne, however, California has experienced its own grower-producer revolution in sparkling wine over the last 10 or 15 years, with the rise of precise and thrilling single-vineyard wines.
‘We’ve seen a refocus in California sparkling wine to site specificity, with people making wines that are much more targeted in their terroir expression’, says Thomas Renshaw, wine director of Sorrel restaurant in San...