Ruinart Blanc de Blancs in second skin packaging
The first and most important thing to note is this: your mom wants a really, really, good bubbly to open (and maybe share) on Mother’s Day. Check. Now, consider celebrating your mother with a sparkling wine that does good things before you even open a bottle. Producers are going beyond organic viticulture and doing things such as becoming Certified B Corporations, installing solar rooftops and creating sustainable packaging. It’s easier than ever to do right by mom and the environment; here’s a list to get you started:
Try a B Corp Sparkling
Brooks Extended Tirage Sparkling Riesling, 2017: This marvelous sparkling gets a whopping 40 months on the lees—that excess yields a rich palate of ripe pear and apple with a hint of orange peel and lemon, followed by toasty buttered biscuit. They practice organic and biodynamic farming and are a Certified B Corporation—oh, and it’s their 25th anniversary this year. Made from 100% Riesling, this is a really cool, expressive sparkling wine that celebrates the elegance and complexity of this under-rated varietal.
Champagne Piper-Heidsieck, Rare Champagne, and Charles Heidsieck are now officially B Corp Certified—the first in the Champagne region to achieve this certification. All three brands are part of the family-owned EPI Group. They are focused on utilizing 100% renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions by 61% by 2030, as well as helping all wine-growing partners achieve VDC (Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne) status by 2025. And, of course the expressions are delicious but I’m partial to the decadent, complex brilliance of The Rare Champagne Millésime 2008, which won the “Best Champagne of the World” by the Best Wine of the World Competition in 2021.
Or, A New Generation Cooperative
Champagne De Saint-Gall Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs: Union Champagne, the brand that is responsible for Champagne De Saint-Gall, is a self-described “new generation” cooperative – combining the collective resources of its over 2,300 laborers, winegrowers, winemakers, and oenologists to craft this utterly refined expression. Leveraging the access that Union Champagne has to some of the region’s finest vineyards, they are able to compose a sparkling of delicacy and balance with richly textured mouthfeel, notes of white peach and cream, citrus and ginger.
Solar Powered and Sustainable
Fesstivity Brut Cuvee, St. Rita Hills, 2020: The portfolio from the Fess Parker family of wines is a worthy one to explore; the winery recently installed a new solar power system on the roof of its Santa Maria production facility that will provide for approximately 98% of the operation’s total energy consumption each year. Their sparkling is crafted with cool climate pinot noir and chardonnay from the Santa Rita Hills. All Fesstivity wines are made in the méthode champenoise and this one shows notes of orchard fruit and citrus on the palate along with a nice creamy mouthfeel.
MacRostie Brut, 2019: Winemaker Heidi Bridenhagen blended pinot noir and chardonnay and let it rest for three years on the lees, imparting a lovely complexity in the final wine. This one brims with ripe pear, buttery biscuit and a creamy texture. It is the winery’s second vintage of sparkling, and, on top of all that, the winery is a both a certified Green Business and California Sustainable Winery.
Champagne De Saint-Gall
Clever & Sustainable Packaging
Laurent Perrier Cuveé Rosé Bamboo: The beautiful limited-edition bamboo “jacket” on this bottle can be reused and it makes for a nicely packaged gift of sustainably made Champagne. Laurent-Perrier operates their own water treatment facility and bottles are lighter-weight to reduce carbon footprint per shipping. This one is made with the House’s proprietary maceration technique involving 10 Grand Crus – an elegant, layered and flavorful Champagne.
Ruinart Blanc de Blancs: Aesthetics meet sustainability with this bottle’s stylish Second Skin – an entirely recyclable, 100% paper case that reduces the bottle’s packaging carbon footprint by 60%. The sleek paper wrap pays homage to Champagne’s chalk caves with its creamy white color, but it’s what’s in the bottle that matters most. This one is 100% chardonnay blended from various reserves and select vineyards – it is fresh and creamy on the palate with white peach and ginger spice notes on the finish.