{"id":217,"date":"2007-07-02T11:48:06","date_gmt":"2007-07-02T18:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danthewineguy.com\/?p=217"},"modified":"2007-07-08T11:51:58","modified_gmt":"2007-07-08T18:51:58","slug":"champagne-and-sparkling-wine-can-be-enjoyed-any-time-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/?p=217","title":{"rendered":"Champagne and Sparkling Wine Can Be Enjoyed Any Time of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s no reason to wait for a special occasion to serve Champagne and sparkling wines. They can be enjoyed year-round and are especially nice to have on hand during the summer months.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.imagevortex.com\/stock\/small\/6\/1\/1\/611134806.jpg\" alt=\"null\" \/>One reason they\u2019re a natural choice is their versatility. They can be paired with a variety of foods including light appetizers, cheeses, shellfish, salmon and fresh berries. And is there anything better than a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine on a warm summer day? You\u2019ll find many of them to be crisp, light and refreshing when served well chilled in a fluted glass to enhance their presentation.<\/p>\n<p>As with all wines, reading the label is paramount in making a specific selection and helps to avoid the \u201cgrab and go\u201d trap many of us fall into when at the store. First, remember that true Champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France and the bottle will be labeled as such. Everything else falls into the sparkling wine category, no matter which country it comes from.<\/p>\n<p>Second, if you prefer dry wines, you\u2019ll need to purchase Champagne or sparking wine labeled as \u201cbrut\u201d rather than \u201cextra dry\u201d. This is because the level of dryness \u2013 or absence of sugar \u2013 goes from brut (dry) to extra dry (off-dry) to sec (slightly sweet) to demi-sec (sweet). This can be a bit confusing if you usually drink dry, non-carbonated wines, but with a little practice you\u2019ll learn to distinguish the difference.<\/p>\n<p>Next week I\u2019ll offer a few personal choices of sparkling wines that make great summertime beverages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s no reason to wait for a special occasion to serve Champagne and sparkling wines. They can be enjoyed year-round and are especially nice to have on hand during the summer months. One reason they\u2019re a natural choice is their versatility. They can be paired with a variety of foods including light appetizers, cheeses, shellfish, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-bellingham-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}