CHAMPAGNE vs Sparkling WINE from Around the World…

[@freddieslaughter1107]

I love your wine reviews, they are so refreshing to so many other reviewers.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thank you so much, means a lot!

[@solomonmengeu1003]

Great video. For value, Cremants and Cremant Reserves are a great option. Cava Reserva can be good QPR, but not quite amazing. Corpinnat and Pendenes are exciting new categories but haven't made it to export markets yet. Here in Hungary, Torley is the biggest producer with a range from entry-level level to zero dosage long aged lees wines. Most of the bigger wineries all have a sparkling wine or two in their portfolio. Two houses focusing mainly on sparkling are Kreinbacher and Fehervari both in Somlo, I think. Pretty amazing stuff and made with Tokaji varieties is the Chateau Dereszala Methode Traditionnelle which is quite Champagne-esque, IMH0. I am happy that a German Riesling Winzersekt came 3rd in the tasting. Cheers!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks as always and I’m such a huge fan of Kreinbacher’s Prestige sparkler and the Sausa Rosé

[@vincentjugeau-hilding3586]

I always reach for vouvray's bubbles when I find some here in Sweden but Contratto Pas dosé from Alta Langa is always a must buy for the new years eve🎉

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I do LOVEEEE Vouvray Bubbles. Unfortunately they are not widely exported

[@devriesedo]

Alta Langa is the future! Fell in love with it last summer and have had a fair few since. Wonderful!!

[@whitelightning2291]

Great video! Thanks for bumping up Piper Heidsieck on my list! Have to try Raumland and a Cap Classic now too. Was just in Penedes and the Gramona Lustros was my favorite, super yeasty and deliciously oxidative in style. Stood up to a Larmandier Bernier Longitude that was a mineral spaceship with the most ethereal texture

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Gramona is sooooo stellar!

[@cesarmacias3175]

What a coincidence. My wife and I celebrated our anniversary Friday with a bottle of Piper Heidsieck. It is definitely our favorite non vintage champagne. Our local Costco had for $39.99. Such a steal for that price. Taste better than the more popular non vintage that costs almost twice as much. Thanks for having great content. Love your channel.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It’s such a stellar wine for sure and many 🙏

[@AHG1347]

Thanks for posting this tasting. I rarely have sparking wines, so this lineup was helpful. I am interested in trying out a VDP sparkling Riesling if I get the chance. How much more of a challenge is it to preserve/enjoy those sparklers thst you opened for this tasting since the bubbles fall off so quickly? Do you invite your neighbors or family over as to not waste the wine?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Some get saved w Coravin Sparkling or other closures, some get shared, some get dumped

[@adamsmith85]

Where has your channel been mate? great content!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I’ve been here a while! Thank you

[@larsio72]

Thanks for another great video!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏🙏

[@LadyAceRoxy]

Love Cremant - have tried all the regions in France except Savoie so far. The only Franciacorta I tried was a Blanc de blancs and it was excellent. Dry Lambrusco has also been a revelation for both taste and cost!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes it can be soooo good

[@marciobukowski9836]

Brazilian sparkling wines are very good. Casa Valduga and Cave Geisse are greats. Piper Heidsieck is always my choice for champagne here in Canada

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes they are getting better and better! Good choice

[@ray4sp]

Excellent presentation - thanks. I recently tried the L'Ormarins Special Cuvee from S.A. = they bught the Graham Beck operation some time back. This was fabulous. Being a champagne fan, my favorite is still the vintage Dom Ruinart - recently had the 2006 and 2007 ( preferred ) vintages. Have a small selection of growers champagnes and looking forward to getting into these over the summer.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhhh lucky you! Good call on Ruinart, I love their classic BdBs

[@nigelgreenhalgh4316]

Great video. For me, if you can get any, English bubbly is now outstanding! And such great names!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It can be good! I’ve had plenty

[@swjmbj]

It's always prosecco, cava or cremant for everyday drinking but for something special it's always champagne which tends to have more complexity. It's interesting the Italians have renamed the prosecco grape, glera and then created a new DOC region named Prosecco as a trade barrier to other world. producers. Australia is likely to take Italy to the World Trade Organisation because it produces a lot of Prosecco now. We love our local King Valley Dal Zotto prosecco and col fondo.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhh a Col Fondo from down under??!! Ohhh snap!

[@swjmbj]

@@drmatthewhorkey Quite a few Australian Col Fondos now available. Not only using prosecco grape, but also aglianico rosato, sangiovese and zibibbo. Most sell for US $15 to 25 Having secondary fermentation in bottle on lees with no disgorgement give a more funky yeasty notes. flavour

[@vittoriopiovesan9692]

Love Raventós, in the lower end, the De Nit, which adds Monastrell into the classic blend, is great for the price! And actually, Raventós left Cava and founded their own apellation, Conca del Riu Anoia, so officially, they didn't join Penedés Classic ☺️

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohh the beauty of Spanish Sparkler classifications…

[@Guidosvinos]

Recently had a 2018 Alpine Valleys (Victoria, Australia) Prosecco that was better than any champagne I’ve ever tried. Absolutely delicious and I was of the understanding Prosecco didn’t age.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

😮😮😮

[@stroopwafel6141]

I just had a Valdobbiadene prosecco. Not super refined but for 12 euro quite pleasing. I tend to go for cava's and cremants when it has to be bubbles. I guess a lot of cava's offer great value for the price, especially compared to champagne.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Cremants are a good call too!

[@jlynn1304]

Since you can't get a bottle of Champange in Canada for less than $60 I go with Cremant or Cava to get those toasty Champange like flavors.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@fredericperrin3279]

I have never tasted a proseco that was anywhere near a decent champagne. I had some good ones, but they were almost as expensive as champagne, so why bother? I am told that Southern England now makes good bubbly. I have never tried one, but in terms of climate and soil, it's easy to see that it could be pretty close to the real thing. Otherwise, the best non-champagnes I have had are those made in the US and belonging to a French house. Roederer Estate in CA is one, Gruet from NM is another. These come very close to real champagne, for less than half the price.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Gruet and Roederer do fantastic things indeed!

[@jacob9540]

Agreed, never had a Prosecco that rivaled Champagne at all. Same with Cava, even though Cava is made in the traditional method. But I also agree, some of the best champagne alternatives are US sparkling wines. Schramsberg BdB is *really* good

[@Matt_Bykowski]

Well done video. Definitely educated me. Thank you! Just curious, where do you live? Thanks again.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks! In USA half the year

[@roarkdoubt1365]

Where does Cooks Brut stand on points?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I haven't tasted that since my college days... So I couldn't tell you on that one.

[@annaralas6998]

At similar price level, Jeeper and Ch. Heidsieck are my preference, Piper is somewhat unripe, sharp and grassy, although when in magnum it is much more balanced. I do enjoy Rare and Hors from Piper, but that's another story :)

[@drmatthewhorkey]

You'll see Jeeper and Rare in upcoming videos ;) I do love Charles H too

[@certisko1]

For me Cava is the best alternative. We really likes cavas from Bohigas or Agusti Torello Mata at home. But i had really good sparkling wines from Hungary - Kreinbacher from Somlo or Sauska from Tokaj. 👍

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Both the later two Hungarians are excellent especially Sauska Rose and Kreinbacher Prestige!

[@CrescentRollCarl]

Nice tasting. I love Champagne. Maybe I need to re-visit Prosecco and look for a quality producer. Usually I think of Prosecco as suitable for mimosas only. I tend to get stuck in my wine prejudices. When I'm looking for value I'll usually go with German sekt or Cremant de Limoux.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Sekt and Limoux are good ways to go!

[@andrewkarl5174]

My 3 favorite sparkling wines that aren’t Champagne, from Tasmania, Jansz, from Italy, Ferrari, and from the USA Schramsberg, the first two are amazing value.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

All three are great choices

[@melsialiaj]

Is there any automation used for disgorging thousands of bottles, or is it always done manually, by hand?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes it is done mostly by machine with any producer doing larger volumes

[@spinatwachtelxy0089]

Huge fan of german Sekt. Apart from Raumland and Vaux I can really recommend Sekt from Aldinger, Rebholz, Griesel, Schnaitmann, Bardong and Christmann & Kaufmann to name a few great producers

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Some fantastic producers there!

[@jacob9540]

Do you ever buy the wines for the videos or will you only do a tasting video if they’re provided by the producers?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Mix of both! Although I would be unable to do a lot of these videos without samples

[@timpete6361]

Ha, funny that you showed the Raumland Sekt. I picked a Raumland as a reward for when i will hand in my dissertation (which will happen soon, at least i hope so haha).

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Congrats! You’ll see some soon on the channel ;)

[@fiddleronthebike]

the only sparkling wines I have found able to compete with good champagne where those from Raumland in Germany - truly exzellent wines! Overall for me your ratings in this tasting all are too high; I‘m about with you at the ranking, but I would give the Valdobiadene 86 or 87 points and the Piper 90

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Raumland is good! I’ve been there before

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Funny as often people comment on how I score too low

[@fiddleronthebike]

@@drmatthewhorkey really? That's funny indeed... I mean, when we give 93 points to Piper we don't have very much room to those above - how shall we rate Charles Heidsieck, Roederer, Gosset, Ruinart aso, and the great vintage Champagnes of those brands which are even better and then Belle Epoque, Comte de Champagne, Cuveè Winston Churchill, Krug, Dom Perignon aso, which again are better? 85 points and above should be a very good wine, 90 + an outstanding wine and 95 till 100 the very best in the world. I understand the relations between producers and critics - they both depend on one another; producers will only use ratings above 90 for marketing, but when ratings are not used the critic is not often mentioned, and so tendency is to higher ratings (that's why fx Suckling rates so high and is so successful and influential). And in fact today there are much more very good wines then a few decades ago... nonetheless imo it would be better if critics where a bit more cautious with high rankings. ...that said, I enjoy your videos very much and I like how your love and for wine can be seen in every one of them!

[@matthiasmartin4355]

The producers who are the closest to Champagne in the world are in my experience the British. I would try out one of their sparkling wines if I was you.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I have, there are some very good ones and some disappointing ones IMO

[@numanuma20]

I did have a Prosecco once that was aged on the lees for a few months a few years as part of a tasting with a wine club. The title is misleading 😂. Anyway, I do like to drink Franciacorta and I do like crement de Bordeaux. I need to try other sparkling wines from Italian besides Lambrusco.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Trento DOC is a good place to start for you

[@nasos00]

Karanika sparkling Xinomavro

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhhhhh nice

[@freddieslaughter1107]

Is XXL wine real wine?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

XXL???

[@freddieslaughter1107]

@@drmatthewhorkey XXL Blackberry is one of the new wines by this company, I guess you have not heard of it, just Google XXL Wine.

[@mattestilo8841]

I prefer English sparkling wine. It's made huge milestones recently

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes agreed!

[@josedejesus5865]

I love Ferrari from Italy ❤

[@drmatthewhorkey]

The top cuvées are very good!

[@GlassOfBubbly]

We must do a joint tasting together - We've got some great bubbles to share with you hitting the benchmark of Champagne (Christopher) ❤🥂

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Maybe in the future!

[@AnarchoKapital]

Haven’t watched the video yet. Had you said Cava or German Sekt, ok. Edit: just saw the first reveal. The de la Finca is nice, but Textures de Pedra is where it starts to become Champagne level: much more of the brioche/bread notes that we are all looking for.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

German Sekt included!

[@shonatabaki]

Actually champagne only requires 12 months on the lees…15 months total aging. (For non vintage that is) 😉

[@drmatthewhorkey]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@gabe7455]

"The dark side of the champagne industry" documentary is available on KZbin.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

😮😮😮🍾

[@hocheye]

Not a fan of bubbles! Pop made from grapes!!!😂😂 Had a bottle of DP once! Meh!!😮

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhhhhh hot take!

[@peruser1258]

Aren't all bakeries in France, French, like French champagne, lol?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

hahahahah

[@csalcedo57]

Valdobianne!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Like in the video!

[@welshtoro3256]

Well you know what I'm going to say and that was sheer clickbait. Cards on the table, I love Champagne and always have. However, there's plenty of mediocre Champagne on the market. Quality Cava is seriously underrated. I opted for it at my wedding in Pais Vasco (The Basque Country) instead of Champagne and nobody was any the wiser. The reception was in a large Basque restaurant for weddings in Getxo and none of the British guests had eaten food like it. We all know that quality English sparkling wine is giving Champagne a run for its money these days and it often fools people in a blind. Personally, I don't like Prosecco. It's just too sweet. High end cider undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle as well and that is a very dry drink.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

There are some brilliant dry Proseccos now. I personally like the Col Fondo ones with the sediment in tact

[@welshtoro3256]

@@drmatthewhorkey I pretty much thought that might be the case. It's tough for me to go there though.

[@csalcedo57]

Why do you give points ? You are blind tasting not rating.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Why not?

[@marcofinolio7945]

Both overrated in their own way! But a comparison can't be made. It's like saying oranges are better than apples or viceversa.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🍊🍎😮

[@Ruirspirul]

sparkling wines, also known as wine so bad that they had to add bubbles to make them drinkable😅

[@drmatthewhorkey]

LOLOL

[@MrJcalvino]

Nahh most Prosecco are boring as fuck.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🤣😂

[@dr7246]

“Sham pain” is what you have when you’re looking for sympathy or a day off work! ;-)

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hahahah