Don Day’s Wife has been called a lot of names. She’s sometimes called My Sharona like the woman in the song by The Knack. She’s sometimes known as Imelda due to a certain passion for footwear. She’s sometimes called Grammie after a character in Annie Hall. She’s sometimes called Momma by her kids, especially if they want her to babysit. But most of all she’s known as The Champagne Lady due not for her affection for Lawrence Welk but for her affection for a certain beverage.

The name, however, is not exactly accurate. For even though, on almost every day with a Y in it, Don Day’s Wife consumes at least one glass of sparkling wine, it is seldom Champagne. Due to Don Day’s inadequate investing skills, the budget just won’t allow it. Don Day’s Wife must instead settle for bubbles that come from outside the Champagne district of France, in fact, often from outside the country of France altogether.

So who better than The Champagne Lady to help me do a tasting of the best inexpensive bubbles available in San Miguel De Allende. Well two other people actually. And though perhaps not better, certainly as well equipped. The other two judges were our friends Ben and Cheryl who are also known to be frequent flyers when it comes to effervescence and can often be found with a tulip between two fingers and a thumb.

As bubbles drinking is considered an excellent outdoor sport, we gathered on the rooftop patio of Ben and Cheryl for the event.

There were five contestants for the title. All of them were rated Brut, the dryest of dries, the sparklers with the lowest possible sugar count. All of them were created by the true champenoise method where there is a second aging in the bottle. All of them cost less than 200 pesos (about $15) a bottle. And all were purchased from San Miguel’s best stocked wine store, La Europea. We used a popular scoring system that officially rates wines from 1 to 100 but, in reality, rates wines from 75 to 100. Price was not considered in the scoring and Don Day’s Wife, Ben and Cheryl were not even told how much I spent on each one. If you want to translate the score numbers into words, I’d suggest the following:
75 to 80 Acceptable
80 to 85 Fair
85 to 90 Good
90 to 95 Excellent
95 to 100 Superb

The contenders, now on ice and ready for the competition for the best bargain bubbles prize, were as follows:
Sala Vive Mexico 197 pesos
Pol Remy France 83 pesos
Jacqueline France 112 pesos
Toso Argentina 121 pesos (on special from 181)
Vilarnau Spain 147 pesos (on special from 224)

Sala Vive

Sala Vive has probably the lowest price of all Mexican sparklers but that price is still considerably more than many sparklers from other countries that are available in Mexico. The grape varieties used are a bit obscure with the winery’s website stating 70% Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Macabeo (but not giving a breakdown between the four) and 30% Ugni.

The wine is aged 18 months on lees if you’re using wine lingo or 18 months in the bottle if you’re speaking like a normal human being.

Sala Vive is a product of Spain’s Freixenet winery but is produced from Mexican grapes a few miles from San Miguel de Allende.

The wine was yellower in color than the others and there was a slight taste of butter and honey that hinted at the fairly lengthy aging. What was lacking in Sala Vive were any intricacies or depth in the taste.

Cheryl said, “I don’t think I’d quaff it again but I might pair it with food…something like smoked salmon.”

Don Day’s Wife was less kind saying, “I don’t think I’ll ever drink it again period.”

Don Day gave a little speech about buying local but it fell on deaf ears and Sala Vive scored an 83.

Pol Remy

Pol Remy is one of the world’s most popular sparkling wines and the name and labelling pay obvious homage to Champagne. Pol Remy may even include some grapes grown in the province of Champagne but, more likely, the grapes are grown in other parts of France or even outside the country. It’s made from 60% Airen, 20% Ugni and 20% Colombard which is a very unusual combination for a sparkler and, since virtually all Airen grapes are grown in Spain, Don Day thinks that the label should perhaps say bouteille en France rather than produit en France.

Pol Remy has some green apple and citrus flavors but not much else.
“I’m not getting any of those yeasty, toasty flavors you expect from a French sparkler,” said Cheryl.

“When you look at the price, you’d have to consider it as a contender for a mimosa. It would be fine with orange juice,” said Don Day’s Wife.

Pol Remy scored a disappointing 81.

Toso

Pascual Toso was the South American entry in our little competition and comes from a winery whose Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec are frequent visitors to Don Day’s cellar…OK, shelf in the cupboard.

This Argentinean is made from 100% Chardonnay and had the typical buttery, toasty flavor you’d expect as well as some apple and lemon nuances.

Toso was a little more complex than the other sparklers and Don Day likes his wine (and women) a little complex.

It was Ben’s top scorer and had an average rating of 86.

Jacqueline

Jacqueline was the other French contender. It’s made from Folle Blanche and Colombard grapes which are grown in the Marentais region on the coast of France. It had lots of tiny bubbles which are often evident in Champagne but that was about the best anyone could say about it.

Don Day got apples and pears and some floral notes on his nose but mostly disappointment on his palate.

“It’s awful tart”, said Ben. “I can feel the sharpness in my teeth. But it would be an OK back of the boat wine.”

Jacqueline scored an 83.

Vilarnau

This was the only Spanish Cava in the competition and it’s made from three of the classic grapes used in Spanish sparklers, Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo. The grapes are fermented separately before they’re blended and then aged for 24 months in the bottle.

There was a nice balance between the fruit and the acidity. Cheryl said, “It’s no contest, this is the best.” And she wasn’t the only one to give it her top score. Don Day’s Wife did the same.

By now, we’d opened up a pack of Jamon Iberico de Bellota, the ham that Don Day considers, quite simply, the world’s best and the Vilarnau was a very pleasant way to swill it down.

Vilarnau averaged an 89 on the scorecards and 89s are seldom seen on wines at this price level.

So what did we learn?

So what did we prove in our tasting? Well, other than sitting in the sunshine drinking most of the contents of five different sparkling wines is one helluva way to waste a Sunday afternoon, we learned that there aren’t really any bad cheap bubblies, but there are definitely some that are much better than others.

When you take price into consideration, Pol Remy and Jacqueline are both very good for the price. At 83 pesos or not much more than $6, Pol Remy is an extraordinary value. While it’s on special, Toso would also fit the good value category as well.

Sala Vive was, unfortunately, the one disappointment. Unless you are totally committed to the buying local movement and supporting the regional economy, there’s no way you should pay twice as much for something that had the worst score of all.

And then, of course, there was the winner. Vilarnau, at its special price of 147 pesos or not much more than $10, it was a superb value. It was such a value that Don Day made his way back to La Europea and bought a case.

Like I told you, The Champagne Lady loves her bubbles.