The Gift of Bubbly Making Holidays Merry and Bright

The gift of bubbly is sure to make the holidays brighter for all of the sparkling wine lovers on your list.

Sparkling wine gifts are also perfect for that person who is hard to buy for and you may not know exactly what to get. I mean, who wouldn’t love bubbly under the tree or in their stocking? Whether you need a stocking stuffer, secret Santa, or a way to say thank you to the hostess, sparkling wine gifts are are one of the easiest ways to make spirits brighter this season.

The gift of bubbly for all sparkling wine lovers on the list!

So people always ask me for recommendations. From what is the best bottle I can get at the grocery store to my favorite winery bottle and everything in between, And sometimes people are even very specific about the type of bubbly recommendations, like my favorite champagne, cremant, cava, prosecco or sparkling wine. And you might be thinking to yourself, hmmmm….what is the difference?

What’s the difference?

Here’s the scoop, in reality all bubbly is simply sparkling wine. The main difference is how it’s made, where it’s made and what grapes are used to make it. So technically, when people use the general term, “champagne” or a wine with bubbles, unless that particular bottle is made in Champagne, France, it’s not champagne.

If you have been around Bubbly Side of Life for a bit, you know I am a huge fan of sparkling wine and cava. I personally think these bubbles are underrated. These are less expensive bubbly options that are just as good (if not better, in my opinion) than some champagnes and cremants.

The fact is many sparkling wines are made using the exact same method as champagne, so unless there’s a specific reason you want champagne, there are lots of local options right here in our own backyard.

And so many people ask me for the bottle that they can open on a random Tuesday night and when you have a stash of sparkling wine and cava (with a spoon for any leftovers), you can enjoy it whenever you want and not feel guilty. Check out the blog for my favorite wineries here in the US…many of them have some great shipping deals too!

And since I get asked all of the time for recommendations not only for people looking to give the gift of bubbly, but for a fun girls’ night in or impromptu celebration, so I rounded up some of my favorites right here for you.

Sparkling Wine Gifts

When I was creating this list, I wanted easy to find bottles, relatively inexpensive bottles, but also my very favorites that are the ones I “treat” myself with.

Cava

Cava is a sparkling wine from Spain that is made is the same traditional method as champagne. If you ever get a chance, go take a trip to the Penedès region right outside of Barcelona.

Now one of my most favorites, we sadly can’t get easily here in the states, so here are two of my other favorites.

Poema Brut Cava
Freixenet Sparkling Cordon Negro Brut Cava

Prosecco

Prosecco is a sparkling wine out of Italy made in a tank. We did a taste test of 6 easy to find grocery store Prosecco back in August, and these were our top 2.

Josh Cellars Prosecco
LaMarca Prosecco

Josh Prosecco the perfect sparkling wine gift for the Prosecco lover.

I personally would buy Josh Cellars Prosecco over LaMarca, but if you are creating a fun gift basket, LaMarca does have splits which makes for a very cute single serving bubbly gift. Just attach a glass straw and it’s perfect.

Crémant

Crémant is sparkling wine from France, made outside of the Champagne region, but in the same method as champagne.

Typically a less expensive option to champagne, here are my top 2 picks

Amelia Brut Rosé
Lucien Albrecht Brut Rose Cremant d’Alsace

Champagne

Now you know I am not a champagne expert and in September I reached out to several people who are to get their recommendations. You can take a look at them all here, but here are two that I personally enjoy and are quite popular with champagne lovers.

Taittinger NV Brut
Louis Roederer Brut Premiere

Sparkling Wine

You know this is where I spend the bulk of my time because I love visiting wineries, especially family owned ones and tasting their sparkling wine. And here are two Oregon favorites.

Argyle Brut or Black Brut
Sokol Blosser|Evolution Brut which you have heard me talk about a million times, but just the label alone makes it the perfect gifting bottle!

Evolution Sparkling Wine the perfect gift of bubbly for any occasion!

So I chose all of the above because as I was thinking about finding these bottles, each of these can be bought online at places like wine.com or totalwine.com. And since it’s so much easier to have your sparkling wine gifts delivered this year, I wanted to make sure you could find them there.

Of course, I love supporting local wine stores too and many wineries do have good shipping deals this time of year, as well. So let me include some of my favorite sparkling wines that would make the perfect gift of bubbly, but might be a little more work to get.

Bel Vino Sparkling Red which is my favorites of all of their sparkling and you can shop it at this link.
Masía de la Vinya Magrana or Brut + Milenio combo (stay tuned for some bubbly cocktails with this one.
Eola Hills is the winery where we have the Very Bubbly Holiday Bundle, so you will get 4 bottles and how fun to keep some and share some.
Varnum Vintners has the perfect half bottles that would make an awesome stocking stuffer or bubbly themed gift basket.