A refresher on sparkling wine

For the New Year all you need to remember is this:

Elvis Belts Exciting Songs.

That four-word mnemonic device I just created will help you remember the first and most important step of picking out a sparkling wine, how sweet it is. There’s seven classifications on sparkling wine but the four common ones from dry to sweet are:

Extra-Brut (Elvis): Very little sugar, not enough to make it taste sweet in the slightest.
Brut (Belts): Technically supposed to taste sugarless but usually the sugar is slightly noticeable. Think pop mixed with three-quarters club soda.
Extra-Dry (Exciting): The middle of the pack and the most crowd-pleasing. You’ll definitely notice the sugar but shouldn’t be overwhelmed by it.
Sec (Songs): Definitely on the sweet side, this is going to taste like a bubbly, alcoholic fountain drink.

To make it even more fool-proof, just remember brut means dry and anything starting with the letter “D” is sweet. (The two sweetest classifications are semi-dec and doux.)

Here’s three more steps for picking a good sparkling wine cheaply.