Battle of The Bubbles – English Fizz vs Champagne vs Cava vs Trento DOC

An epic battle is about to take place, one of cosmic proportions, these fine examples of Sparkling Wines have been chosen to represent their country and battle it out over which pairs best with a Pizza.

After looking through the internet to find which dish is widely the most popular meal to eat, the top result for the majority of the time is Pizza. So to celebrate National Pizza day on the 9th of February we’re going to be enjoying a pizza with 4 different Sparkling Wines.

After we confirmed Pizza was going to be the meal of the tournament, we needed to figure out what topping to use, after some more research on the internet I found that the Cheese Pizza and the Pepperoni Pizza are considered the most popular Pizza topping, so we decided to use both Pizzas in this tournament.

Now you may be thinking, this is an unfair fight, as Pizza and Trento DOC are both from Italy, and you might be right, if we were going to use a Prosecco then it would have been a bit biased as Prosecco and Pizza are match made in heaven, but as we set the rule of traditional method only, that means Prosecco is cut as it is made with Charmat Method / Tank Method. I am confident that even though Trento is playing on its home turf, the others will deliver the experience required to put up a fair fight.

The way this will work is that both Christopher Walkey and myself Oliver Walkey will write down our tasting notes on all Sparkling Wines and the pairing with both Pizza’s and along with Eve Walkey writing down her tasting notes on the Sparkling Wines and just the Cheese Pizza as she is a vegetarian, we will each be giving our own opinions and tasting notes, plus at the end decide which was our favourite pairing. While Eve focuses on the cheese pizza, Christopher and I will explore various toppings to find the perfect match. In our quest to discover the best pizza in Houston, we’ll evaluate how each wine complements the unique flavors of each slice.

Time To Introduce The Contestants

The English Fizz

From our homeland, England, it’s Fox & Fox Inspiration 2014 from Sussex which won a Gold Medal in the Creamy Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2021

The Champagne

Hopping over the pond down to France, may I present Champagne Vincent D’Astrée – Eclipse Zero Dosage NV which won the Trophy in the Gastronomic Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2021

The Cava

Flying over to Spain with catch some sun and find a bottle of Cava from Cavas Naveran, with their Brut Nature 2019 Vintage, which won a Silver Medal in the Gastronomic Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2021

The Trento DOC

Heading further South we slip into our boots and pick up a bottle of Trento DOC from Cantina Rotaliana with their Trento Doc R Extra Brut which won a Gold Medal in the First Date Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2021

Now that we have our collection of Sparkling Wines it’s time to prepare the Pizzas, while we do that, you continue reading and find out a bit more about the Sparkling Wines, where they’re from, who makes them and our tasting notes.

An In-depth View on the Sparkling Wines

It would have been awesome to do this on unbiased ground, by heading to somewhere like Switzerland, but unfortunately, it’s not in the budget for this article, so we’ll be doing it in the Glass of Bubbly Studio in England, as an avid taster of Sparkling Wines, I, of course, have my personal favourites, but I’ve learned to turn off favouritism and taste simply what’s in the bottle, so although our tasting notes are our own, our tasting notes are very much unbiased, we try and identify all the aromas and flavours we can in the bottles and relay those to you, so we can help you make the best decision on what bottles of Sparkling Wine your taste buds are most likely to enjoy at home.

Champagne Vincent D’Astrée – Eclipse Zero Dosage NV

Oliver’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Creamy cheesecake, cheese, hints of freshly baked pastry and zesty notes on the aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “Dry flavours, crisp and high acidity, you get some lime and lemon, with minerals flavours.”

Christopher’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 ” Subtle young floral, citrus, lemon curd pastry, green apple flesh aromas.”

Flavour 👅 “Crisp and high acidity. Citrus, gooseberry, grapefruit, saline, mineral flavours. Fully get why the gastronomical theme is theirs.”

Eve’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Pastries, marzipan, brioche, croissants and oily fruits on the aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “Soft lime, smooth green and citrus fruits and mineral in flavour.” 

Champagne Vincent d’Astrée owes its creation in a big part to the 240 winegrowers who every day, take care and manage their plots of land, all doing their best to maintain the quality of this Champagne label. It was in 1956 that just a handful of winegrowers eager to add value to their grapes created the Pierry cooperative. For more than 60 years they have worked together, expanding and improving in creating Vincent d’Astrée’s Champagnes. They then decided to place their project under the patronage of St Vincent and the benevolence of the stars. Thus was born the Maison Vincent d’Astrée.

You can discover their full wondrous story here: Diamonds Are Forever – Champagne Vincent d’Astrée

Fox & Fox – Inspiration 2014

Oliver’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Ready salted crisps, English country garden, orchard fruits and hints of garden herbs, after a while in the glass it reminds me of a visit to sea world, exploring the aquariums. Also got notes of chips from seafront chip shops.”

Flavour 👅 “Fizzy delicate orchid fruits, with mixture of gooseberry, lime and lemon on the flavour.”

Christopher’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Oily green fruits, green fruits, ready salted crisps on the nose.”

Flavour 👅 “Dry and crisp flavours. A salty / saline gooseberry, lime, lemon. High acidity. Fab for food pairings IMHO.”

Eve’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Sweet cherry blossom, elderflower, red apple and peach aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “Tart apple, green fruits and lime zest flavours.”

Jonica Fox and her husband Gerard Fox planted their first vine in 2004, it was Gerard that inspired Jonica to get into the fizz business after he tasted some English Sparkling Wine at an event in London in 2003 and by 2009 they had started producing their own Sparkling Wine. They currently own 30 acres and grow the following grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

As well as offering enjoyable Sparkling Wine, Fox & Fox also offer bespoke wine tastings, either hosted by Jonica or Gerard, it’s perfect for any group of friends or even a birthday party, if you would like to find out more, just click here.

If you like the sound of this English Sparkling Wine, then you can check out more of their history and their Sparkling Wines in this article: Fox & Fox – Award Winning English Sparkling Wine

Cantina Rotaliana – Trento Doc R Extra Brut

Oliver’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Green apple juice, green pear, white floral on the aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “Fresh and crisp soft white and green fruit flavours.”

Christopher’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “White floral, green pear, bruised cooking apple on the nose. Fresh and crisp.”

Flavour 👅 “A moutain freshness from these high altitude grapes. Soft white and green fruit flesh, good acidity.”

Eve’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Green fruits and white floral aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “Green fruits, apple and pear flavours.”

Located in Northern Italy, at the foot of the breathtaking Dolomites, near the renowned Garda Lake and the city of Trento, Cantina Rotaliana has over 80 years of experience in creating great tasting Wines and Sparkling Wines.

The winery is called Cantina Rotaliana because of a merger back in 1968 when the winery was first created in 1931, it was called Cantina Cooperativa di Mezzolombardo, the winery joined forces with another winery, Società Enologica Rotaliana, to create the name we know today, Cantina Rotaliana di Mezzolombardo.

Cavas Naveran – Brut Nature 2019 Vintage

Oliver’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Green fruits, oily green apples, petroleum and various added green fruits on the aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “Green fruits again with petroleum, herbs and minerals on the palate.”

Christopher’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Faint petroleum, silky green fruit flesh, green candy fruit aromas. “

Flavour 👅 “Dry and crisp, though relaxes into green fruits, saline and herbaceous. A relaxing and calming glass of fizz.”

Eve’s Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 Petroleum and green fruit aromas.”

Flavour 👅 “Green fruits and lime flavours.”

Cavas Naveran was founded in 1984, it covers 110 hectares in the Alt Penedès in Northern Spain about a 1 hour drive away from Barcelona and can proudly state that its winery and wines are 100% organic.

Cavas Naveran produces around 500,000 bottles of wine annually, this production is split between 50% Cava and 50% other Spanish Wines. Their Grapes are picked in early August and are aged for at least 2 years before being ready to enjoy.

The Pizza’s are Hot, the Bubbly is Chilled, Time to Pair…

The Champagne & Pizza

Oliver

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “The Champagne cleans the greasy flavours away, leaving solid Pepperoni, cheese and pizza dough flavours, the Champagne is strong throughout, not overpowering the dish, simply cleaning it, leaving the pizza with all its goodness,”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “The greasiness from the cheese is eliminated, you just get the enjoyed cheese flavours, combined with enhanced flavours from the Champagne, a fine Pairing that readies you for the next bite.”

Christopher

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “Champagne cuts through all greasy textures to leave a cheese, saline savoury mid length and close.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “Champagne easily cuts through the greasy texture of the pizza to leave soft citrus and olive flavours.”

Eve

Cheese Pairing Notes – “The Champagne becomes an almost savoury pairing with the pizza, both complimenting each other.”

The English Fizz & Pizza

Oliver

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “The Sparkling Wine overflows the pizza with delightful orchard fruits, lime and lemon flavours, bringing zesty and zingy notes to the pizza.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “Prominent sparkling wine that showcases its own flavours over the cheese pizza, the sparkling wine is brilliant, adding a selection of green fruits to the pizza.”

Christopher

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “Pizza is bolder initially, then the Fox & Fox takes away some of its oily/greasy texture to leave mostly savoury notes. Length is a subtle mixture of soft citrus and saline pepperoni.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “Pleasantly of salty citrus when paired. Palate cleansing to a point, then savoury, oily flavours return to give a cheesy/oily close. Wine just not bold enough against the pizza.”

Eve

Cheese Pairing Notes – “The first mouthful is greasy cheese and then the wine comes in and cuts through the grease bringing a green fruit flavour to the pizza.”

The Trento DOC & Pizza

Oliver

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “Trento coats the Pepperoni pizza with clean fruit flavours, adding a spiciness to the Pepperoni which lingers at the back of the throat.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “The Trento ignites doughy and cheese flavours that loss their greasiness while adding in fruity flavours.”

Christopher

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “A quick attack of acidity and zesty burst from the sparkling wine, then the savoury flavours from the meats return. A great pairing.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “Pairing ignites a fruity/sweeter expression from the sparkling wine, then quickly drys, leaving a saline palate experience.”

Eve

Cheese Pairing Notes – “This pairing is a bit muted, the cheese pizza is lessened in flavours and the wine is softened as well.”

The Cava & Pizza

Oliver

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “The greasy cheese flavours are turned into clean cheese flavours while adding green fruits to the mix, you don’t lose from either in this combination, you just get a clean cheese pizza and green fruit sparkling wine flavour.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “The greasy Pepperoni is taken away leaving a cheesy and pizza base with a mixture of green fruits from the Sparkling Wine, the Pepperoni makes a small come back near the close.”

Christopher

Pepperoni Pairing Notes – “Brings a green fruit, saline pepperoni flavour initially then relaxes to a meaty pepperoni in the length.”

Cheese Pairing Notes – “A nice, equal balance. A refreshing hit from the Cava initially then softens, almost silky flavours of cheese in the length.”

Eve

Cheese Pairing Notes – “The pizza and the wine both hold their own, they don’t overpower, but sit side by side.”

Are There Ever Any Winners In War?

The battle is over, the war is done, time to deliver on what has become.

Oliver Walkey – “For me, the stand out was Champagne Vincent D’Astrée, a well worthy Trophy in the Gastronomic category, it can defiantly stand up to even the greasy food, while not losing out on any of its own flavours.”

Christopher Walkey – “Champagne Vincent D’Astrée – Eclipse Zero Dosage NV.”

Eve Walkey – “Champagne Vincent D’Astrée – Eclipse Zero Dosage NV.”

Thank you for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself, learned something and found a bottle of Sparkling Wine you would like to try, you can contact any of the Sparkling Wines directly by the links in this article, they would be more than happy to help you.

Image Credit: POW – ZAP – BOOM – KAPOW