Schramsberg 2022 Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine, North Coast, California

This is the latest vintage of the classic Schramsberg bubbly that Nixon brought to China in 1972, establishing the lofty reputation of the estate.  I recently sampled this wine for the first time in years, and was impressed by its clean, focused flavors and frothiness that reminded me of an extra-brut Champagne (minus the tangy, super-long finish that can only occur in chalky soils.)  This dry, balanced wine, made entirely of Chardonnay, is impeccable.

A deep dive on Schramsberg by Randy Kemner: In the mid-1960s, after Jack and Jamie Davies decided they wanted to buy into the Napa Valley lifestyle, they had no idea they would eventually produce the region's most celebrated sparkling wines. It wasn't until they discovered an abandoned cave and acreage built by German immigrant Jacob Schram in the 1880s that the thought of creating a Champagne-styled, quality bubbly entered their minds.

Wine wasn't close to residing in America's mainstream in the early 1960s, so the new waves of wine pioneers that were about to descend on Napa Valley were really risking all to create their lofty dreams of high-quality versions. Jack, a resident of Los Angeles whose previous occupation was a vice-president of a metals firm, had no experience growing grapes and making wine and had to depend on the advice of the old guard winemakers to help pave the way into uncharted territory.

After a year of searching, the Davies' purchased the 200 acre estate in 1965. The 1967 vintage was their debut, making vintage-dated sparkling wines with high ambitions.

Then the big break occurred: in 1972 Nixon brought Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs with him to his ground-shattering visit to China. The recognition that followed put Schramsberg on the shelves of leading wine stores and the wine lists of top restaurants all over America. Schramsberg arrived.

Over the years, domestic bubbly with high ambitions, some sponsored by famous Champagne houses, had a rough go. Champagne is a celebratory drink in the U.S., not a beverage typically drunk all year round. And traditional fermentation in the bottle is a complicated, labor-intensive ordeal that is quite costly, and frankly, consumers preferred the exceptional original from the Champagne region, especially if the cost per bottle of domestic sparkling wine approached that of the masters.

Schramsberg continued to produce quality bubbly throughout, earning fans of its first-class sparkling wine. There were some stylistic changes over the years, going from its original bone-dry austerity to a softening of the fruit profile to try to appeal to sweet-toothed American palates for a while.

I'm happy to report that Schramsberg reclaimed its original style, and with a new distributor in California, it appears that the Schramsberg line is better than ever.