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“More bigger bottles,” as the nefarious Ju-ju-be from Joisey used to say back in the day, and that’s just what I uttered when I saw a bin of these at one of our local Costcos about a month ago. It’s been a while since we’ve had anything from Schramsberg, but our experiences with their bubblies have always been quite good, so I did some quick calculation in my brain and figured that this was a pretty decent price and worth a try. (Winery SRP for 750 ml is $36.) I finally found the opportunity to pull the cork, and happily, both we and our guests that we poured it for were quite pleased with what we tasted, as it paired quite well with hors d’ oeuvres, pumpkin truffle oil soup and an arugula and blue cheese salad.

2006 Schramsberg North Coast Blanc de Blancs, 60% Napa, 22% Mendocino, 15% Sonoma, 3% Marin, 12.4% alc., 1.5L, $58.99: Medium straw in color, with a fine active bead and ample mousse. It seems only middleweight with the first sip, but quickly fleshes out in the glass, offering flinty mineral and a solid core of slightly yeasty, under-ripe apple character, bone dry and quite satisfying. More than medium bodied, with very good intensity, acids and length, and if it’s not quite as weighty as many Champagnes and California sparklers, it’s quite nice on its own terms. If I see it again at this price, I’ll buy a few more. According to the winery stat sheet, “Small lots of malolactic- and barrel-fermented wines (23%) are added for complexity. The wine is aged on the yeast lees in the bottle for two years prior to disgorgement.” Find this wine

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