Anderson Valley, Carneros and the Willamette
American sparkling wine
The best American sparkling wine is made the way Champagne is, fermented a second time in the bottle, and much of it by Champagne houses themselves: Moët, Taittinger and Roederer all built California wineries. It comes mostly from the cool corners of California and, more and more, from Oregon. Barello keeps a drinking window for it, set out below.
How it started
America's first commercially successful sparkling wine was an accident. In 1842 a batch of Nicholas Longworth's Catawba, in Cincinnati, Ohio, fermented a second time in the bottle. By the 1850s he was making more than 100,000 bottles a year, and Longfellow wrote a poem in its honour. Vine disease wiped the vineyards out in the 1860s.
California took over. Korbel opened on the Russian River in 1882, and Paul Masson made his first sparkling wine in 1892. The modern era began in 1965, when Jack and Jamie Davies revived Schramsberg in Napa, and in the 1970s the Champagne houses followed.
The regions
Anderson Valley, in Mendocino, is where Roederer chose to build over Napa and Sonoma: the coolest growing region in California, with a 22 to 28°C drop (40 to 50°F) between day and night. Carneros, where Napa meets Sonoma, is Taittinger's choice. Sonoma's Green Valley and Russian River are home to Iron Horse and Korbel. The Willamette Valley in Oregon is the region growing fastest: about 31,000 cases of sparkling in 2013, now an estimated 150,000 a year. And New Mexico has Gruet, founded by a Champagne family in 1984.
The Champagne houses in California
Moët & Chandon opened Domaine Chandon in Napa in 1973, the first French-owned sparkling winery in the US. Louis Roederer planted in the Anderson Valley in 1984 and released Roederer Estate's first Brut in 1988. Taittinger founded Domaine Carneros in 1987. The method, and often the know-how, came from Champagne.
Why some American bottles still say Champagne
US law treats Champagne as a semi-generic name: an American wine can use it only with its real origin beside it, as in California Champagne, and only if the brand's label was approved before 10 March 2006. No new brand can use it. Korbel is the best-known bottle still grandfathered in. A tank-fermented American sparkling wine has to say so on the label, with words like bulk process or Charmat method.
Producers worth knowing
| Schramsberg (Napa) | Founded 1965. Its 1969 Blanc de Blancs was poured at the 1972 Toast to Peace in Beijing. US$70 to US$150. |
|---|---|
| Roederer Estate (Anderson Valley) | Louis Roederer's California house. L'Ermitage 2019 was the first American sparkling wine Wine Enthusiast scored 100 points, and the 2012 was fifth in Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2019. L'Ermitage US$115 to US$120; the Brut is sold in the UK as Quartet, about £30. |
| Domaine Carneros (Carneros) | Taittinger's. Brut 2021 US$39, Le Rêve 2017 US$128. |
| Iron Horse (Green Valley, Sonoma) | Poured at the White House under seven administrations, starting with the 1985 Reagan Gorbachev summit. US$58 to US$62. |
| Argyle (Willamette Valley) | Oregon's traditional-method pioneer, since 1987. US$30. |
| Gruet (New Mexico) | Brut NV about US$15. |
| Chandon (Napa) | The first French-owned US sparkling house, 1973. NV US$26 to US$27. |
Prices in US dollars: Wine Spectator's US sparkling guide, 31 December 2025, except Gruet (a retailer) and the UK Quartet price (The Wine Society).
How long to keep it
Good American sparkling can keep a long time: Schramsberg says the best age for more than 20 years. Non-vintage bottles are made to drink within a couple of years of buying them.
These are the windows Barello runs on for a vintage bottle, counted from the vintage. Tell it where the bottle is kept and it moves them to match; a non-vintage bottle has no year to count from, so it gets none.
| American sparkling | from its vintage year, best around year 2, until about year 6 |
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How cold to serve it
6 to 10°C (42 to 50°F). Straight from a kitchen fridge a bottle is about 4°C (39°F), so give a good one ten minutes before you pour.
Questions people ask
Is California sparkling wine Champagne?
No. Champagne comes only from the Champagne region of France. A few American brands, Korbel the best known, may still print California Champagne because their labels were approved before March 2006.
What is the best American sparkling wine?
In Wine Spectator's December 2025 guide the top scores went to Roederer Estate L'Ermitage and Schramsberg J. Schram (95 each), then Domaine Carneros Le Rêve and Iron Horse Classic Vintage (94).
Is American sparkling wine made the same way as Champagne?
The best of it is: fermented a second time in the bottle, often by wineries Champagne houses own. Tank-made American sparkling has to say so on the label.
What cocktails can I make with american sparkling wine?
Any cocktail that calls for sparkling wine: the Bellini, Champagne Cocktail, French 75, Hugo, Kir Royale, Mimosa, Negroni Sbagliato, Pornstar Martini and Spritz. A non-vintage brut is the one to mix; keep the vintage bottles for the glass.
How long does it keep once it's open?
About two days with a proper sparkling stopper, kept cold: resealed bottles keep 90% of their pressure over two days, open ones lose half. The last glass or two make a good cocktail.
Keep track of what's in the fridge and when to open it. Barello holds the wine and the bar in one place the whole house shares.
Join freeSparkling wine from elsewhere: English sparkling wine and Australian sparkling wine.
More for an open bottle: wine cocktails, by the bottle they take.
Sources: 27 CFR 4.21 and 4.24 · 26 USC 5388 · Roederer Estate · Domaine Carneros · Chandon · Schramsberg · Iron Horse · Gruet · Wine Spectator on Longworth · Russian River Historical Society, Korbel · Wine Business on L'Ermitage 100 points · Wine Spectator Top 100, 2019 · Argyle · Wine Spectator US sparkling guide, Dec 2025.