Baseball Bubblies: Six for the World Series, Win or Lose

We understand that baseball and wine is, unfortunately, an odd pairing. We wrote last year that the NBA and many of its players have fully embraced wine. Baseball, not so much. While there are some players who love wine – Rusty Staub of the Expos and Mets was the first we recall, long-time manager Dusty Baker has a winery, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is a partner in the Red Stitch wine brand and former Cubs manager Joe Maddon is a huge fan -- baseball and beer seem synonymous.

But, as the players might say, not in our house, at least not always.

We are fans of the New York Mets. John came from a Yankees family and didn’t know much about other teams. In fall 1969, he flew to New York from Jacksonville, Fla., to enroll at Columbia. As he waited in line, it seemed like the entire dorm was crammed into a community lounge, watching the Miracle Mets. He could feel the electricity. He immediately became a Mets fan and, when we met in 1973, we became a Mets couple as we watched them lose the World Series. Such heart, though!

We have been fans ever since, through some good times and many bad times. This has been a good time. We believe every day should be celebrated. But the exciting events of the past month, however this ends, might never be replicated, so for all of the fans out there, whatever your team, we have some advice: Pop a cork.

The Mets did not make it into the World Series in 1985, but we still opened a magnum of Chandon Reserve for the seventh game of Kansas City vs. St. Louis. And when the Mets clinched their division on Sept. 17, 1986, we opened a 1974 Clos du Bois (“soft and lovely”).

This year, when it came down to the last day of the regular season, against Atlanta, we decided we needed to open a bubbly to cheer on the Mets. They won. So, like so many athletes, we got superstitious. We decided we had to open a bubbly during every game. (We recorded daytime games and didn’t look at the news, in case you were wondering about day drinking.)

We did not rush out and get special stuff. We thought that might jinx things. Instead, we chilled bottles from our own stash and that some wineries had sent as samples. The Mets kept winning so we kept popping corks for every game. Most of the wines were OK. In a recent column about California’s better sparklers, we quoted Arnaud Weyrich, vice president and winemaker at Roederer Estate, owned by Louis Roederer, saying: “I always like to say a sparkling wine made by a quality house is actually a very nice base wine to start with. There’s nothing magic about making bubbles. It doesn’t make a bad wine better because you have bubbles in it.”

Too many of the sparklers we had, and have had over the years, simply didn’t stand out as good wine. They were pleasant enough because sparkling wine is fun, but the wine wasn’t that interesting. We had six exceptions, all fairly reasonably priced and widely available. We understand the holidays are around the corner and we’d recommend any of these for that season, too. But New Year’s celebrations happen every year and your team in the championship is less common. So we’d recommend any of these for your World Series pleasure:

--Enrico Serafino “Oudeis” Brut 2019 Alta Langa, made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Alta Langa region of Piedmont. A home run. We’ve been fans of this certified sustainable winery for some time. This looks and smells like Champagne, with great little bubbles. Dry and focused, this is a serious sparkler that gives Champagne a run for its money. The bubbles are an integral part of the taste – it’s not just sparkling wine. At about $32, it’s a steal (feet first, please). We’ve read a lot about today’s consumers caring about the values of the companies they support. This winery is owned by the Krause Group. The Krause family of Des Moines, Iowa, who own convenience stores and other businesses, has for decades put money and time into efforts to improve people’s lives, including supporting the Center for Constitutional Rights. The New York City-based CCR says on its website that it is “committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.”

--Adami Vigneto Giardino Valdobbiadene DOCG Superiore 2022. Prosecco is a good choice for a game because when it’s good, it’s easy to like and not expensive. The problem is that too many are simple and sweet and easy to forget with each sip. Adami has been a favorite for some time and this is a good example why, with nice fruit, snappy citrus flavors and a base of minerality that works with food. And, even with its choice pedigree, Valdobbiadene DOCG Superiore, it’s only about $26.

--Scharffenberger Brut, non-vintage, from Anderson Valley in California. Especially for about $25, this is an outstanding choice for a ballgame. It’s tasty to sip alone, but it also has enough yeasty body and underlying rich acidity to stand up to the sweet, smoky spareribs Dottie made for the game. Scharffenberger was a long-time favorite of ours, going back to its founding in 1981, but then it became Pacific Echo and we didn’t like it as much. Now Scharffenberger is owned by Roederer (Maison Louis Roederer, maker of Cristal champagne that John proposed with), and it’s lovely. We also tried the rosé, but it did not seem as focused as the Brut, 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, so we’d stick with that. Long known for its preservation of ancient redwood trees, in 1992, Scharffenberger Cellars gifted 63 acres to the Anderson Valley Land Trust to help its preservation efforts of Indian Creek. It’s sustainably and certified fish-friendly farmed. 

--Taittinger Brut la Française. We’ve opened this on special occasions since we met in the early 1970s. It was always the first wine we opened on our cross-country train trips. It’s the wine from our wedding and the birth of our daughter Zoë (we touched a drop of it to her lips as she came into the world). We hadn’t had it in a while, but the first game of the National League Championship Series seemed like a perfect time. This costs about $56, but reminds us what a fine Champagne should be. It has a certain amount of profoundness at its core, yet also life and light at the edges that makes it easy to enjoy. It’s 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, and 25% Pinot Meunier, and kept on its lees for almost four years, which contributed to its multi-layered complexity and great balance. Taittinger released its first sustainability report two years ago, setting goals and supporting biodiversity. It says it uses half the amount of herbicides as other Champagne growers. The game didn’t turn out well, but the wine helped.

--Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs 2021. We have been drinking this classic, pioneering California sparkler for many years and this did not disappoint. It has a beguiling mouthfeel and texture that make it special (likely from some barrel fermentation, a bit of malolactic fermentation, stainless steel fermentation and aging on lees). It was perfect with Dottie’s chicken scaloppini with sautéed peppers and green beans. This wine is so classy and so special that it would be a worthy accompaniment to Thanksgiving dinner, if you are thinking beyond the World Series (we are not). Everything about this belies its reasonable $44 price tag. Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs was the first sparkler Schramsberg made (in 1965) and in 1972 President Nixon served it in Bejing, in his “Toast to Peace.” The Schramsberg family still owns the winery and has committed to a robust array of environmentally progressive practices. The winery says this wine was America’s first commercially produced Chardonnay-based brut sparkling wine.

--Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard Cuvée Brut 2018. We support our home team and our local winemakers, too, so we opened this Finger Lakes bubbly from one of New York’s best-known wineries. It’s pleasant, a bit chewy in a good way (Chardonnay and Pinot), with a nice herbalness that goes well with food. It’s $41.99 and classy. Open it for the World Series.

Incidentally, what were the Mets drinking? After their victory in the Wild Card round, they gave each other showers in Korbel. That led to this interesting interaction on SportsCenter after the game:

“Look, it's Korbel.”

“Fine, but they are wasting it.”

“It’s Korbel.”

“Tonight I’ll make an exception.” 

“They ain’t stupid. It's Korbel.”

When the Mets won the division series on Francisco Lindor’s dramatic grand slam, they reverted to form, with a foamy ocean of Budweiser. We ordered a few more sparklers, but nothing too fancy. We didn’t want to jinx it.

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher conceived and wrote The Wall Street Journal's wine column, "Tastings," from 1998 to 2010. Dorothy and John have been tasting and studying wine since 1973. In 2020, the University of California at Davis added their papers to the Warren Winiarski Wine Writers Collection in its library, which also includes the work of Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. Dottie has had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer at The Miami Herald, The New York Times, and at The Journal. John was Page One Editor of The Journal, City Editor of The Miami Herald and a senior editor at Bloomberg News. They are well-known from their books and many television appearances, especially on Martha Stewart's show, and as the creators of the annual, international "Open That Bottle Night" celebration of wine and friendship. The first bottle they shared was André Cold Duck. They have two daughters.