It was the 19th century when sparkling wine from France’s Champagne region was used increasingly at festive gatherings. And according to Imbibe Magazine, sales of sparkling wine in the U.S. from 6 million bottles in 1850 to 28 million by 1900.
Fast forward to the 21st century where some 360 million glasses of sparkling wine are consumed in the U.S., and that’s only on New Year’s Eve, according to Salon.com. Suffice it to say, it’s an incredibly busy week for wine shops, across the globe.
“I know that we now have over 3,000 skews at the moment,” said Marcy French, manager of the Boise Co-Op Wine Shop.
Those skews include spirits of all kinds, but a lot of customers this week are in search of something… well, bubbly.
“Traditionally I would say a lot of people like to celebrate the New Year with bubbles,” said Barry Devine, specialty buyer at the Boise Co-Op Wine Shop. “And we have all sorts of bubbles, everything from $12 to $1200-plus.”
Morning Edition host George Prentice visited with Devine and French to get a few last-minute New Year’s Eve suggestions.
Read the full transcript below:
MARCY FRENCH: My name is Marcy French, and I am the wine shop manager at the Boise Co-op.
BARRY DEVINE: My name is Barry Devine, and I'm the specialty wine buyer at the Boise Co-op.
GEORGE PRENTICE: What is selling a little bit more now? Are they traditional products or are they new products? What's hot?
FRENCH: Mm. I think, you know, we've got a really nice selection of old world wines, and we've always prided ourselves on having a nice cellar selection. But, um, with the younger generation, natural wines have become really a hot item. And so we've seen that category really increase in the past few years. I don't it's not clearly defined, but it is considered minimal intervention of the winemaker. Very little added sulfites, you know, no pesticides. It's kind of organic and beyond where the they aren't really manipulating the wine at all. They're kind of letting the grape speak for itself. And so, yeah.
DEVINE: Kind of a pure expression of the terroir or, you know, the, the climate and the grape varieties themselves, rather than adding or subtracting things from that.
PRENTICE: And are they labeled as such? How would they know?
FRENCH: Well, that's the tricky part. We, we they are not labeled as such. So we have a couple suppliers in town that we get them through. But we have created a section of them in both our cold box and up in our front of our wine shop, and then we put little tags by them if they're mixed within like different categories like Italy or something, we'll have a little natural wine sign by it.
PRENTICE: Okay. So what can you share with me? Give me some ideas for New Year.
DEVINE: Well, traditionally I would say a lot of people like to celebrate the New Year or bringing in the New Year with bubbles. We have all sorts of bubbles, everything from $12 to $1200-plus. And that ranges from, you know, entry level bubbles that are injected or done in the tank method, like Prosecco and Italy, all the way up to fine champagnes that are done in the with secondary fermentation in the bottle.
PRENTICE: Can you be specific now? Can you name a few and maybe point us in in a direction?
DEVINE: So we have some Cavas from Spain. So Cava is sparkling wine from Spain. It is made in the same method as champagne. Secondary fermentation in the bottle. You know, you can get those from about $12 going up to the 30s or 40s. Um, yeah, those are great because they're typically vintage dated and they're made in that same method as champagne, but they don't cost as much. And then there's also Prosecco, which is Italian. It's from northeastern Italy. Um, those ones range anywhere from about 15, $16 up to around 30 or so, typically for a seven 50 milliliter bottle. Okay. Yeah. The high end stuff is typically going to be the champagne. Um, there's a little bit of stuff coming from northern England to, um, we have one here in the shop called Digby Cellars, and they're really great wines. They have a similar terroir to champagne. They have the chalky soils that they have there in champagne that are really rare throughout the rest of the world. So the wines are, um, they tend to cost a little more as well. Not as much as the really high end champagnes, of course, but uh, but yeah, so there is a really big range of wines for people that like bubbles are this.
PRENTICE: Can I assume that maybe most people who walk through your doors aren't exactly sure what they want, and therefore they do depend on you for recommendations?
FRENCH: I would say during this time of year, many don't know. They want help. They want selections to go with food for the holidays or for gifts for people. We do have a very knowledgeable clientele that come in on a regular basis who know what they want, and we know they want, know what they want. So we say hello and always offer, you know, assistance. But they tend to know exactly what they want and they go to it and get it. But this time of year, definitely more people come in not knowing what they want and really want your help selecting.
DEVINE: It's my favorite part of the job.
FRENCH: That's mine too.
DEVINE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, for me in the new year, really, it's just kind of about whatever you're into and whatever you like individually. And we have wines from all over the world, um, and a lot of stuff from here. There's a lot of, a lot of great wines from Washington. Uh, there's a lot of great wine from Oregon as well. And then, of course, here in. Idaho. We have a couple AVAs here in Idaho that produce lovely wines, and they're also very popular. We sell a lot of those. Um, Oregon has a lot of Pinot noir, and those are very popular. And it's world class Pinot noir, too. So I always like to point those out also for people because they're kind of crowd pleasers. They're elegant and pretty wines, and they go well with food. Okay.
PRENTICE: Talk to me about these giant bottles that I've seen. What's going on there? What are those?
DEVINE: Mostly for people that want to throw parties. And with the champagne especially, they're very popular. And there is people that believe that champagne tastes better the bigger the bottle that it comes out of. Well, there's magnums, which is 1.5l or a two bottle equivalent. And then there's the three liter, which of course would be four bottles. So that's a double of Magnum. And it goes up from there all the way up to, I believe, at least nine liters or more than that.
FRENCH: I've seen a six liter, but yes, I have not seen the nine yet. But I think you're correct.
DEVINE: I think we opened it. I can't remember when we opened the wine shop in oh seven. We opened a really big bottle of wine. It was at least a six liter. It might have been bigger. I mean, it takes. Yeah, it takes two people to pour into somebody's glass. Yeah. Wow, wow, wow.
PRENTICE: I know you don't have to, but can I assume that you love this?
FRENCH: Absolutely.
DEVINE: Yes yes yes, yes. It's a fantastic job. There's a lot of pluses to it. You know, there's really not much on the negative side. We get really busy and helping customers. There's nothing more. There's nothing better to me than when somebody comes in and they want help finding a wine. And I'm able to do that for them.
FRENCH: Yeah, it takes us places. We learn a lot. But as Barry said, I think the most fun is being out on the floor and helping customers and sharing that passion with them.
For the record, the Boise Co-Op is an underwriter of Boise State Public Radio
Find reporter George Prentice on X @georgepren
Copyright 2023 Boise State Public Radio
