Best sparkling wines in Paso Robles for the holidays

Posted: 7:00 am, December 20, 2020 by Publisher Scott Brennan

–With the holiday season now upon us, we invited our local wineries to help us with their top wine recommendations. Wow, were we impressed by the submissions! When you celebrate this season and raise a glass for a toast at your Christmas dinner and New Year’s evening, consider pouring some of our delightful local wines.

Today we consider sparkling wine recommendations. Champagne has always been a popular choice for kicking off the holidays to ring in the New Year. California’s Champagne-style sparkling wines make for excellent choices. From the several sparkling wines submitted, here are the ones we recommend. Cheers to a brighter 2021!

Our recommendations are in alphabetical order. Serve them chilled.

Top local sparkling wine recommendations

Bianchi Signature Sparkling – $25
This sparking is a Champagne-style wine made with Methode Charmat fermented in stainless tanks. Its predominately French Columbard grapes give it a pleasant brut dryness creating a unique clean pungent fruitiness. Perfect for your holiday toasts and cheers and everyday sparkling enjoyment.

Broken Earth 2018 Sparkling Albariño – $30
Made with handpicked grapes and free-run juice and then made in the Méthode Champenoise style. A perfect choice for your holiday cheers. It has plum and spiced aromas with tart orange and berry flavors.

Broken Earth 2018 Sparkling Grenache Rosé – $30
If you are reminiscing the Eagle’s ‘Hotel California’ and thinking of pink champagne on ice, you might pour yourself a glass of this. But hold the ice. It’s a perfect sparkling just as it is.

Bushong 2018 Faire La Fête – $37
This bubbly is made from 100-percent gewürztraminer in the Methode Champenoise. “The best sparkling wine for the holiday season and beyond,” says winemaker Jason Bushong. It has flavors and aromas of toasted brioche, lemon meringue, and spicy ginger. It was my personal favorite of this year’s selections.

Cass Sparkling Viognier – $44
This sparking is made in the traditional Méthode Champenoise style. It’s tiny bubbles spring to life with floral notes and dance on your palate with flavors of pear and a livery dry citrus finish.

Castoro Cellars Sparkling Brut – $40
This delightful sparkling wine is crafted with the traditional Méthode Champenoise process. The cuvée, or base wine, for this bubbly, is 100-percent estate-grown chardonnay grapes from the Blind Faith vineyard.

Opolo Vineyards Sparkling – $14
A 100-percent French Colombard sparkling wine produced in the Method Charmet process. This wine is light and refreshing. It’s light golden in color and full of flavor with pronounced ribbons of bubbles. The wine delivers flavors of peach and apple. It’s a great value in this category.

Rava Sparkling Grenache Rosé Wine – $45
A wonderful holiday treat from one of Paso Robles’ premier sparkling producers. Leaving the juice to sit a little longer in the grenache grape skins gives this wine a vibrant pink color. It has fresh aromas of cherry and strawberry along with floral notes. Its smooth texture is balanced by crisp natural acidity. The wine is rich and savory with a long and creamy finish. Cheers!

Sculpterra Sparkling Wine – $26
This is the winery’s first-ever sparkling wine. It’s concentrated with bouquets of toasted hazelnut, and a hint of classic stone fruits. The fruit comes from the coastal regions of Central California and is 100-percent French Colombard. The fruit is grown for sparkling wine production and the grapes are picked at the perfect time with proper sugar and acid balance in the berries.

Tobin James Dreamweaver Sparkling – $12
This non-vintage local favorite has made regular appearances through the years at bridal showers, anniversaries, birthday parties, and weddings. It’s made from chardonnay, chenin blanc, and a touch of moscato. And you can’t beat the price.

Vina Robles Brut Sparkling Wine – $23
A classic non-vintage bubbly perfect for holiday toasts. It’s a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir. This sparkling wine is produced using the traditional Methode Champenoise” style, which undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. It has notes of apple and a toasty finish.

See more wine recommendations

• Best local sparkling wines for the holidays
• Best local rosé wines for the holidays
• Best local white wines for the holidays
• Best local zinfandel wines for the holidays
• Best local Rhone-style red wines and red blends for the holidays
• Best cabernet, Bordeaux-style, and red wines in Paso Robles for the holidays
• Best local dessert wines for the holidays

Publisher’s note: For the seventh year in a row we thought it would be a great idea to recommend local wines for the holidays. Once again, we received an amazing amount of participation from our local wineries. Over the last two weeks, we received more than 100 entries. After tasting and tasting and tasting, there were many solid, well-made wines to recommend. We have created several lists of top local wines into categories. The recommended wines above are in alphabetical order.