Affordable holiday champagne and sparkling wine (greaterseattleonthecheap.com)

If you are looking for some bubblies to celebrate the New Year, there are many deliciously frugal alternatives. Local Seattle wine shops offer a great selection of sparkling wine offering good value and quality at very affordable prices. The selection includes local and domestic wines, as well as sparkling wines from Spain, Italy, Argentina, and elsewhere. We suggest stopping by any local wine shop (see suggested list below) and perusing their selection for a bottle of bubbly to ring in the New Year and send out the old one in grand style. Before you go, read our glossary below to educate yourself about some of the terminology you will find on the labels of sparkling wines.

About champagne and sparkling wines

Sparkling wine is produced in just about every country that makes wine, and comes in a wide range of styles and prices. Sparkling wines contain bubbles (carbon dioxide). However, most countries also stipulate that the bubbles must be a natural by-product of fermentation in order for the wine to be officially considered a sparkling wine rather than added, like a can of soda. France, Italy, and Spain are perhaps best known for sparkling wines but California, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are a few places that also produce very good sparkling wines.
Champagne is a sparkling wine that comes from the region of Champagne in the Loire Valley in France using six specific grape varieties (primarily chardonnay and pinot noir). Period. The technique “methode champenoise” for producing sparkling wine was originally perfected here. All sparkling wines produced anywhere else should be called sparkling wine and never “Champagne”. However, the term is not regulated outside of the European Union. Suffice to say that a sparkling wine made anywhere else but France but carrying the term “Champagne” on its label, is not a true champagne. However, there are a few other famous regions throughout the world where sparkling wine is produced, that also carry a special designation, which you can read about below.
Crémant are sparkling wines made in France, but outside of Champagne, usually with regional grapes.
Prosecco is a white sparkling wine made from Glera grapes and produced near Venice, Italy. Prosecco can be a relatively dry to slightly sweet.
Spumante and Frizzante are Italian words to describe sparkling wines. The frizzante style is less fizzy. So, you might find a Prosecco Frizzante as well as a Prosecco Spumante.
Lambrusco is traditionally a dry red, sparkling wine from the Emilia Romagna and Lombardy regions in Italy. Red Lambrusco is usually dry, but sweeter white. Rosé versions also exist.
Asti is a sweet white sparkling dessert wine from Piedmont, Italy, the same region as red Barolo. Moscato d’Asti is a frizzante that is sweeter than an Asti Spumante.
Cava is a sparkler produced in Spain from several local grape varieties. Cava DO (Denominación de Origen) denote Spanish sparkling wines made by the traditional French method.

Styles of sparkling wine

Brut Nature or Extra Brut is bone-dry wine with little or no residual sugar. Brut means “raw” or “rough” in French.
Brut is dry sparking wine. The vast majority of sparkling wine and Champagne is made in the Brut style.
Extra Dry or Dry or Seco contrary to logic is less dry wine, meaning it is dry but slightly sweeter wine than Brut.
Demi-sec (“half dry”) or Doux (“sweet”) is decidedly sweet, intended as a dessert wine.

Other descriptive terms on the sparkling wine label

Still wine is regular wine, i.e. without bubbles.
Blanc de Blancs are white sparkling wines made primarily from white grape varieties such as chardonnay, chenin blanc, and reisling.
Blanc de Noirs are white or blush sparkling wines made from red grape varieties such as pinot noir.
Rosé (row-ZAY) wines have a slight pink tint that comes from the skins of red grapes. Roses can be found both still and sparkling.
Cuvée (kew-VAY) is a blend of several still wines into a sparkling wine.
Cuvée de prestige is a blend that a winery feels is their best sparkling wine, like a Reserve still wine would be.
Non-vintage or NV is a cuvée containing wine from several years.
Vintage refers to the year all of the grapes in the wine were harvested.

Wine stores north of Seattle

Arranged roughly from north to south

Compass Wines, 1405 Commercial Ave, Anacortes, WA 98221
Town & Country (formerly Central Market), 15605 Main St., Mill Creek WA 98012
Cost Plus World Market, 18205 Alderwood Mall Parkway, Lynnwood, WA 98037
Total Wine & More, 2701 184th ST SW, Lynnwood, WA 98037
Rain City Wines, 10131 Main Street, Ste A, Bothell WA 98011
Liquor & Liquor (Proper & Ernest), 13317 NE 175th St, Woodinville, WA 98072
Cost Plus World Market, 13990 NE Mill Place, Woodinville, WA 98072
Arista Wine Cellars, 320 5th Ave S, Edmonds, WA 98020
Town & Country (formerly Central Market), 15505 Westminster Way N., Shoreline WA 98133

Seattle wine stores

Arranged roughly from north to south

Total Wine & More, 525 NE Northgate Way, Seattle, WA 98125
Champion Wine Cellars, 8515 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Portalis Wine Shop, 6754 15th Ave NW, Seattle WA 98117
Ballard Town & Country Market, 1400 NW 56th St, Seattle, WA 98107
Total Wine & More, Interbay, 1550 West Armory Way, Seattle, WA 98119
Pete’s Wine Shop, 58 E Lynn Seattle, WA 98102
Wine Outlet, 946 Elliott Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119
Cost Plus World Market, 2103 Western Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
Pike & Western Wine Shop, 1934 Pike Place, Seattle, WA 98101
Wines of Washington, The Tasting Room at Pike Place Market, 1924 Post Alley, Seattle, WA 98101
DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine at Pike Place Market, 1435 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
Downtown Spirits, 1813 7th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
The Shop Agora, 346 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112
Bottlehouse Wine Bar, 1416 34th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Leschi Market, 103 Lakeside Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Mad Wine (formerly Esquin), 2700 4th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98134
Vino Verité in Columbia City, 4908 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118

Eastside wine stores (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond)

Arranged roughly from north to south

The Grape Choice, 9 Lakeshore Plaza Kirkland, WA 98033
Cost Plus World Market, 7214 170th Street Northeast, Redmond, WA 98052
Fruit Wine Co (formerly Seattle Wine Co), 1950 130th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
Total Wine & More, 699 120th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
Cost Plus World Market, 15600 NE 8th Street, Bellevue, WA 98008
Lakemont Town & Country Market, 4989 Lakemont Blvd. SE, Bellevue, WA 98006

Wine stores south and west of Seattle

Arranged roughly from north to south

Cost Plus World Market, 10315 Silverdale Way NW, Silverdale, WA 98383
Total Wine & More, 11066 Pacific Crest Place NW, Silverdale, WA 98383
Town & Country (formerly Central Market), 20148 10th Ave. N.E., Poulsbo WA 98370
Town & Country (formerly Central Market), 343 Winslow Way E., Bainbridge Island, WA 9811
All Things Wine, 4605 NE 4th St, Renton, WA 98059
The Wine Alley, 14276 SE 176th Street, Renton, WA 98058
Cost Plus World Market, 721 N Landing Way, Renton, WA 98056
Total Wine & More, 300 Andover Park West, Tukwila, WA, 98188
Cost Plus World Market, 17680 Southcenter Parkway, Tukwila, WA 98188
Total Wine & More, 32095 Pacific Hwy S, Federal Way, WA, 98003
Total Wine & More, 120 31st Ave SE Unit E, Puyallup, WA, 98374
Cost Plus World Market4036 Tacoma Mall Blvd, Tacoma, WA 98409
Tacoma Wine Merchants, STADIUM: 23A North Tacoma Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98403
Tacoma Wine Merchants, OLD TOWN: 2112 North 30th Street, Suite C, Tacoma, WA 98403
Black Door Wine Company, 1215 Earnest S. Brazill Street (aka S. 12th St.), Tacoma, WA 98405
Cost Plus World Market, 2401 4th Ave W, Olympia, WA 98502
Total Wine & More, 625 Black Lake Blvd SW STE 405Olympia, WA, 98502