Producer: Schramsberg Vineyards
Wine: Blanc de Blancs
Vintage: 2000
Country: USA
Appellation: California (Napa County 54%, Sonoma County 22%, Mendocino County 16%, Monterey County 6%, Marin County 2%)
Wine Type: Sparkling
Varietal: Chardonnay
Grade: B+
Price: $25

According to Schramsberg, their Blanc de Blancs is the U.S.’s oldest sparkling wine made from Chardonnay grapes. First produced in 1965, it was a time when the U.S. didn’t have much to celebrate, due to great Civil Rights unrest and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Far off to the left, the Californians were wallowing in their hippie movement, and then they went and made sparkling wine out of Chardonnay. Now, forty years later, bellbottoms and patchouli may have gone out of style, but the unconventional Blanc de Blancs has become, well, conventional. Indeed, the Chardonnay grape makes its presence known in this sparkler, especially in the nose. Aromas of toast and nuts give way to ripe pineapple in the mouth, and then dissipate into luscious tart fruits—lemon, green apple, and kiwi. A slight whiff of fresh goat milk perhaps lends itself to a splash of cream in the body, which I wouldn’t mind being a bit more firm and crisp.

However, there were some groundbreaking events in 1965 that deserve the clinking of glasses filled with bubbly. Although this is always the debate with the telling of history—who tells it and what does that person have at stake? This armchair historian admits her bias and offers her version of the good news from 1965: Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” program declared war on poverty, the Beatles recorded “Yesterday,” and the Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of birth control by married couples. I’ll cheers to that.