Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

Happy New Year to everyone from atlantaSKYrise! 

It’s been a year filled with change and progress, but I’m ready for 2009 to begin! I hope you have a great evening filled with fun, friends and family. Cheers to 2009!

Be responsible – don’t drink and drive. There are plenty of cabs available or just bring your overnight bag to your party… just in case. 

Enjoy something from the Forbes Life champagne list for your celebration tonight. I have a few bottles to celebrate with my family and friends. 

Champagne: Bernard Tornay Carte d’Or Brut NV, $50

Sure, it’s easy to go for the safe, recognizable Champagnes like Veuve Clicquot or Taittinger, but you’ll be surprised at the quality and distinctiveness you’ll get from grower-producer Champagnes, like this one, for about the same price. Grower-producers raise and sell grapes to the big wineries, but keep some to make their own Champagnes. This is a dense, rich bubbly that has the classic bread-dough, yeasty aromas connoisseurs love, backed by intense fruit flavors and acidity.

Germany: Raumland Rosé NV, $43

Bet you thought the only bubbly Germany made was beer. Turns out, Germany isn’t all about Riesling, and has a sparkling wine tradition all its own. The price on this bottle may seem a bit steep, but the price of trendy rosé Champagnes has skyrocketed in recent years so, comparatively, this one’s a bargain. Clarke likes this wine for its range of red fruit flavors, but also for its versatility, as it’s great with food, whether it’s New Year’s dinner or brunch the next day.

Champagne: Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus Blancs de Blanc 2004, $72

This is a very dry Champagne, which makes it very food-friendly, says Clarke. What he also likes is that the grapes for this wine come from a single place, not from all over the Champagne region. “Usually I get a lot of Meyer lemon, ginger qualities to it, with lots of minerality,” says Clarke. “And it’s relatively light- to medium-bodied.”

Italy: Riva di Rocca Prosecco NV, $15

This sparkler is a bargain, crowd-pleaser that’s “a little bit sweet,” says Clarke, offering “lots of peach, some mineral and citrus notes.” It’s very light and fresh, but because of the sweetness, Clarke says, make sure to keep the bottle chilled very well when you serve this one, otherwise the sweetness can be off-putting. Drink this one on its own, as an aperitif.

Champagne: Soutiran Perle Noir Blanc de Noirs NV, $63

Newbies to Champagne frequently ask how the wine can be white when it’s made entirely of pinot noir. It’s because the pinot noir grape’s juice is actually white, but the skin of the grape is red; letting the juice and skins ferment together makes the wine red. When solely the juice is fermented, you get a white wine that can be turned into a bigger, fuller-bodied Champagne like this one. “[It] has that toasty brioche character, kind of baked pear, and some of that baking spice quality,” says Clarke. “If you’re going to have a Champagne in cool weather, have this one, since it has that weight in a warming kind of way.”

New York: Chateau Frank Blanc de Noirs 2002, Finger Lakes, $30

Upstate New York is best known for its Rieslings, but the Dr. Konstantin Frank winery has been making sparklers for several years. This one is 95% pinot noir, and is light in color. Clarke calls it a “fuller-bodied style, [with] good spice notes.” Despite being made according to the same guidelines as Champagnes, however, this wine does not have a similar brioche, rising-bread aroma, and instead has “more pear and green apple fruit flavors,” says Clarke. “It’s a bit crisper on the finish–still smooth, but the acidity is more apparent” than in other Champagne-like wines from outside that region.

Champagne: Roger Pouillon Rosé NV, $44

Sometimes the overt fruit flavors and aromas–achieved by adding a small amount of still red wine–of rosé Champagnes mask the wines’ yeasty, brioche-like aromas. But not if they’re well made, like this one, which maintains a balance between the two. “Sometimes that brioche quality comes through as an almond note in a rosé, and I definitely get that here,” says Clarke. “It has a cherry, raspberry element, but balanced with those other elements. Definitely a good wine [that] works especially well with medium fish like tuna, cod and salmon.”

Alsace: Lucien Albrecht Cremant d’Alsace NV, $15

Straight east of Champagne is the region of Alsace, best known for still whites like pinot blanc and Riesling, but they also make plenty of wallet-friendly sparklers, like this one. “I really love Cremant,” says Clarke. “It tends to have this great baking-spice character,” along with pear and tangerine flavors. “It’s fairly light and smooth, and…it makes a great start to the meal or with light dishes, while the bigger styles of Champagne might require something richer.”

Champagne: Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 1999, $70

One of the most coveted Champagnes in the world is Salon, which will run you about $300 or more per bottle. But Delamotte is made in the same winery facility, and the grapes that don’t quite make the cut for Salon, Delamotte gets first crack at. “It’s not a way to get a deal on Salon, but you know they know what they’re doing,” says Clarke. “It’s just really smooth and elegant,” he says; the wine offers nutty, brioche and shortbread aromas, balanced with pear and quince fruit flavors.”

California: J Wine Co. Brut 2000, California, $50

Sparkling wines not from the Champagne region, usually don’t have the yeasty, bread-dough character, but Clarke says it’s sometimes to be found in the vintage wines from J. “You get that Champagne-like weight with the brioche character, and really ripe fruits,” that are typical of California-made wines, says Clarke. What’s more, if you buy a couple bottles of this one and don’t manage to open them all on New Year’s Eve, no problem–this is only going to get better with a couple more years of aging. To ring in 2010 or even 2011 with this wine, “You’ll get a lot more complexity on the finish which, right now, tends to narrow down on that brioche [character],” says Clarke. “It’ll just become smoother.”