Mumm's the word

Friday we went up to Napa to escape the fog of San Francisco and enjoy some wine tasting before the weekend rush. We went to Mumm Napa, sister sparkling wine producer to G. H. Mumm in Champagne, France (both are owned by Pernod Ricard). Most of the wines are made from a base of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, two of the classic Champagne grapes. We had a relaxed patio tasting overlooking the vineyards and mountains, hosted by Claudia, who gave us suggestions for what flights to try. She also let us compare sparkling wine in a regular champagne bottle to that in a magnum - twice the size. Their magnums go through extended lees aging (when the bottles age on the dead yeast cells before disgorgement), so they have more toastiness and complexity to the taste - 7 years aging versus 3 years, as an example. I love these characteristics in Champagne and sparkling wine so it was really exciting to taste the differences. We did this comparison for both the Brut Rose and Brut Reserve. The regular bottles were great but I loved the magnums even more. I love dry pink sparkling wine in general, I think it is the prettiest and most exciting wine to drink, and I've rarely met one I didn't like. The Brut Rose Magnum was so delicious. And the Brut Reserve Magnum was magnumificent!

We also liked their DVX line of wines, which go through some neutral barrel aging and partial malolactic fermentation before bottling for the second fermentation. Traditionally, still wine designated for sparkling wine is stainless steel fermented and extremely acidic, which helps its longevity and age-ability going into the second fermentation. DVX is softened a bit before the second fermentation, but the acidity still remains in the finished wine, so it had this amazing creaminess and crispness in an interesting balance. (Malolactic fermentation is a process whereby the natural malic acid present in the grape juice/wine is converted to lactic acid, a softer acid found in milk. This fermentation happens naturally at the right temperature, and most red wines go through it. Some winemakers allow white wines like Chardonnay to go through ML, but for other wines they usually avoid it by cold-stabilizing the white wine.) 

Champagne bottles in various sizes - as they get bigger they have funny names like Jeroboam, Methusalem, Salmanzar, Balthazar, and Nebuchadnezzar.

Thanks to Claudia for a fantastic experience at Mumm Napa!