Winemaker Notes
The Bluebird Cuvée Sparkling is designated as a Brut level of sweetness. It comes across as dry due to the bubbles and acidity in the finished wine, making a vibrant wine that dances on the palate. This sparkling wine expresses aromatics of apple blossom, lychee, and hints of white peach. The mouth feel is bright and vibrant with notes of unripe pear and lime zest. Dry on the palate, it finishes crisp with a lingering mineral flavor.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
From Alabama to Wyoming, each of the fifty United States produces wine—with varying degrees of success. Many of the colder northeastern states focus primarily on American or French-American hybrid varieties like Concord and Vidal, while Muscadine is the grape species of the warm, humid southeast. In Alaska, grapes are grown indoors in greenhouses; other states specialize in fruit wines, like the pineapple wine of Hawaii. New York and Virginia have thriving wine industries, and New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, Idaho, and Ohio are all worth keeping an eye on.