2010 Gloria Ferrer Anniversary Cuvée: Plus Waffles & Bacon

Waffles, Bacon & Bubbly: The Lunch of Champions

This past Sunday, I enjoyed a delectable lunch of home-made waffles and bacon, accompanied by a bottle of Sparkling Wine. First, as I've long said, traditional breakfast dishes taste just as good if you serve them for lunch or dinner. Who says you can't have a stack of blueberry pancakes for dinner? It isn't easy finding restaurants serving such breakfast items for lunch or dinner, but you can always prepare them at home. I love waffles and I'll eat them at any time, whether it's noon or nine in the evening.

Second, I've also said on multiple occasions that more people should drink Sparkling Wine with food. It can make an excellent pairing for a wide diversity of dishes. Unfortunately, many people primarily see bubbly as a celebratory wine, something to have before you begin eating. It most often is the opening toast to a dinner and other wine is brought out for the actual meal. However, we have to get over that preconception and embrace Sparkling Wine and food pairings, drinking bubbly during the entire course of your meal.

It doesn't have to be a special occasion when you break out a bottle of bubbly. I opened a bottle of Sparkling Wine on Sunday just because a friend came over for lunch. That was special enough for me. And I also thought it would go well with Waffles & Bacon! Bacon & bubbly is an easy pairing, as bubbly often goes well with salty dishes, from oysters to potato chips. And as for my waffle, smothered in butter, the crisp bubbly cut through the fat of the butter. It was simply a fun and tasty pairing, not a usual pairing, but experimenting with wine pairings is a worthy endeavor.

For my waffles and bacon, I chose a sparkling wine from Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards, a media sample I received. The roots of this winery extend back to the 16th century, to the Ferrer family which would eventually produce Sparkling Wine, creating the Freixenet Cava in 1915. During the early 1930s, Pedro Ferrer Bosch traveled to the U.S., desirous of producing Sparkling Wine there but had to return to Spain near the start of the Spanish Civil War. It would be up to his son, José Ferrer, and José's wife Gloria, to follow Pedro's dream.

In 1982, José and Gloria purchased 160 acres in the Carneros region of Sonoma County, planting about 75% of the land with Pinot Noir and the rest with Chardonnay. Four years later, they opened as Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards, being the first Sparkling Wine producer in the Carneros region. Since then, their holdings have grown to about 335 acres, and they produce a number of still wines as well. Sustainability is very important to them, and they were among the first wineries in California to implement the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices.

The Gloria Ferrer 2010 Anniversary Cuvée ($40) was produced from a blend of 67% Pinot Noir and 33% Chardonnay, the grapes from their estate vineyards in Carneros. Only the first press of the grapes was used for this wine and it is also a blend of 14 separately fermented lots, all from the 2010 vintage. The 2010 vintage was one of the coolest on record, and produced excellent grapes with plenty of concentration and character. The lots were fermented about 6 months prior to that blending and then the blended wine remained in the bottle, on the lees, for another five and a half years before it was disgorged.

This Sparkling Wine presents an alluring aroma, enticing fruit flavors with a hint of vanilla, as well as tiny and persistent bubbles. On the palate, it is elegant and crisp, with a creamy mouthfeel and delicious tastes of pear, green apple, vanilla, and light spice notes. There are even subtle red fruit flavors flitting within your palate, especially on the lengthy and satisfying finish. Plenty of complexity, bright acidity, and pure hedonistic pleasure. And this Cuvée paired very well with the waffles and bacon, elevating that simple lunch. The Cuvée would pair well with many different dishes, from oysters to lobster, burgers to pizza. Highly recommended!

The next time you're planning a wine pairing for your lunch or dinner, consider a Sparkling Wine. And then consider the bubbly from Gloria Ferrer.