An affordable bubbly for New Year’s celebrations
An actually good, affordable sparkling wine is hard to find—which is why this bottle is worth picking up.
Lunetta Prosecco
$13.99 11.5% alcohol
PLCB Item #9596
Sale price through Dec. 31 – regularly $15.99
Sparkling wine is an essential ingredient for any celebration of the new year, but it can be hard to find satisfying bubbles at an affordable price. Sparkling wines are twice as hard to make compared to still wines, requiring not just specialized equipment but also tremendous amounts of patience and skill. Making a dry wine sparkle requires two separate fermentations: one to covert fresh grapes into a still wine and a second to give the wine its carbonation. Sparkling wines are so light and so delicate that any flaw in winemaking, from impure fruit to imperfect craftsmanship, is immediately obvious on first sip, in much the way that a single missed stitch stands out on a white suit. This particular wine stands out for a different reason; it’s hard to find a better bottle of bubbles at this price.
The traditional method for making sparkling wines — the one used for almost all those made in the U.S., France, or Spain — requires the second fermentation to take place in each bottle, a laborious process that adds considerable time and effort. Italian prosecco is different in that virtually all is produced using what’s known as the Charmat method, where the second fermentation that adds the sparkle happens in large pressurized tanks instead of in bottles. Where Champagnes and other sparkling wines depend for their flavor on a long, slow maturation process after the second fermentation is complete, proseccos are instead bottled and sold immediately to preserve the freshness of their fruit flavors. Lunetta is produced in the foothills of the Italian Alps and has been overperforming on price since it was introduced to the U.S. market. At only 10 grams of sugar per liter, Lunetta is noticeably drier than most other proseccos, which often add a healthy dose of sugar at bottling. It features reliably crisp flavors of fresh yellow pears, green apples, and white peaches. Admittedly, this wine’s complexity, persistence of flavor, and finesse of texture can’t compare to those of pricier French Champagnes. But at less than half the price, who’s comparing?
Also available at these N.J. shops:
Wine Legend in Cherry Hill, $14.69, winelegendcherryhill.com; Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville, $14.99; lawrenceville.jcanals.com; and Wine Warehouse in Sicklerville, $14.99, sicklerville.winewarehousenj.com.