Not content to crank out industrial quantities of "bulk process" bubbly, California winemakers began to get serious about creating high-quality sparkling wine about 30 years ago and never looked back. Jack Davies is generally credited with spearheading the sparkling wine renaissance with his purchase of the decrepit Schramsberg estate in Calistoga at the northern end of the Napa Valley; here he began making bubbly that soon outclassed all others in the state. As if to underline the trend, French Champagne houses soon entered the fray, with Moët & Chandon being the first to   More

Not content to crank out industrial quantities of "bulk process" bubbly, California winemakers began to get serious about creating high-quality sparkling wine about 30 years ago and never looked back. Jack Davies is generally credited with spearheading the sparkling wine renaissance with his purchase of the decrepit Schramsberg estate in Calistoga at the northern end of the Napa Valley; here he began making bubbly that soon outclassed all others in the state. As if to underline the trend, French Champagne houses soon entered the fray, with Moët & Chandon being the first to set up shop in California, followed later by Mumm, Roederer, and Taittinger, among others. The most convincing California sparkling wines are by the traditional method, or méthode champenoise, an expensive, highly labor-intensive operation.   Less