Pop the champagne - It's Tuesday!

I spent last Thursday in Sonoma with 3 close friends.  While enjoying the tasting room at J, my friend Tiffany casually mentioned that she doesn’t drink champagne very often.  My other friend Nicole and I exchanged a quizzical look and asked her to explain.  Her response “it’s just a celebratory thing.  I don’t feel like enough exciting things happen to open a bottle”.  She had barely gotten this out of her mouth before Nicole and I both exclaimed in unison that she was sorely mistaken. You can have some bubbles whenever you want.

Now I’m not saying pop that bottle of Veuve that you’ve been saving just because you caught the bus on the way home today.  But don’t rule out a bottle (or 2!) of the more reasonable stuff “just because”.  Every day is a celebration, and should be treated as such. 

My bubble of choice is anything that comes from J Vineyards in Sonoma, California (http://www.jwine.com/).  

It’s been my favorite for years and we go whenever I am out visiting my friend Nicole and my goddaughter.  Up until October 2009, every trip to the vineyard ended up with Nicole and I trying to figure out how to get my purchases home in checked bags.  But it was in this lucky month that the planets aligned and they started shipping to Massachusetts (Alleluia!!!!). Within 5 minutes I had signed up for the wine club, and a case of Pinotage was on it’s way east.

While I'll gladly drink anything that comes in a J bottle, the Brut Rose is my first love.  There is just something extra classy about drinking pink champagne.  Perhaps it stems from watching An Affair to Remember too many times, but I just adore the look and taste of a well made pink bottle of bubbles.  I'll admit, that's a bottle that I will save for a special occasion.  It's well worth the wait. 

For my East Coast Friends:  You can get bottles of J around here – some varietals at least (Martignetti’s carried it last time I checked).  And the sparkling wine isn't the only wonderful thing this place produces.  The Pinotage is one of my favorites, and I have yet to have anything but amazing pinot noirs.  Stock up if you see them in stores! 

Whether it’s called champagne, cava, prosecco, or sparking wine, you can pair it with most anything.  

Think about it – what other alcoholic drink can you justify having with breakfast, lunch and dinner (and all the times in between)?  What is brunch without a mimosa? 

Drink it in your pj’s or in your most elegant black tie attire.  I’ve done both and enjoyed both equally (ok, well MAYBE the black tie at the Churchill War Rooms was a bit more enjoyable). 

My parents were on a cruise a few years back and met a man whose parents were champagne distributors.  They apparently were the lucky ones that did have bubbles with every meal.  

Ah, a girl can dream.