Folks, good thing you checked in! We’re having a giveaway! This week and next, we’re offering sets of tickets to an Appellation St. Helena tasting at Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards. Details:

WIN: two tickets
VENUE: Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards, 1978 West Zinfandel Lane, St. Helena
TIME & DATE: 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 10
DRAWING ENDS: May 7

Taste more than 90 wines from the wineries of Appellation St. Helena and enjoy scrumptious food prepared by the one and only Dean & DeLuca. Soak in the ambiance of the beautiful Flora Springs Winery, a 19th-century stone structure featuring fabulous views of the Napa Valley. Stroll in the vineyards, explore the caves, or simply relax as you enjoy the elegant wines of Appellation St. Helena. The two tickets are valued at $150.

You must be 21 to enter this drawing. This week, for two tickets, here is the trivia question: How many bubbles are in a bottle of champagne? How about in a flute? Deadline to email me your answer at jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com is Friday, May 2 at noon. Do not post your answer here.

Our second giveaway! We’re offering five sets of tickets to an Appellation St. Helena tasting at Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards on May 10. It’s a gorgeous property and so are the wines. Read below for more information and drawing details.

WIN: two tickets
VENUE: Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards, 1978 West Zinfandel Lane, St. Helena
TIME & DATE: 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 10
DRAWING ENDS: May 7

Taste more than 90 wines from the wineries of Appellation St. Helena and enjoy scrumptious food prepared by the one and only Dean & DeLuca. Soak in the ambiance of the beautiful Flora Springs Winery, a 19th-century stone structure featuring fabulous views of the Napa Valley. Stroll in the vineyards, explore the caves, or simply relax as you enjoy the elegant wines of Appellation St. Helena.

Join the fun of the blind tasting and be included in the drawing for your own wine cellar. The “instant cellar” is actually three cases of assorted St. Helena wines valued at more than $1,500. Hello! You don’t have to be a wine pro to enter the tasting. Good guesses are perfectly acceptable. And to help you out, many of the unidentified wines will be poured at the regular tasting tables so you can do a little detective work in advance. Each pair of tickets is worth $150.

You must be 21 to enter this drawing. I have five sets of two tickets to give away. I will give away one pair this week, one pair the next, and three pairs the week of May 5. Read the wine trivia question below and email the answer to me at jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com. Do NOT post the answer here. The winners each week will be selected at random.

This week, for two tickets, here is the trivia question: How many bubbles are in a bottle of champagne? How about in a flute? Deadline to email me is Friday, May 2 at noon. Good luck!

If you still need to pick up a few cases for a party tonight — New Year’s Eve, baby — try the NV Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve. Cellared in 2004, it’s got the creamy and yeasty robustness you come to expect from Champagne, but it’s not over the top. Neither is the price. As of late last week, Wine Thieves was selling it for $29.99 (normally $35).

For those who prefer California sparklers, try the NV Scharffenberger. It’s got the typical green apple crispness of sparkling wine and it’s only $15.99 (normally $18) at the Thieves’.

Above all, drink plenty, be safe and don’t go sabering any bottles with a chef’s knife. Unless you’re quite skilled.

I think one of the reasons the sparkling wine market is exploding across the world — we’re talking the U.S., Spain, Argentina, Germany, Austria, England and French regions outside of Champagne — is because the commercial potential of Champagne is maxed out to a certain extent. Where they can go is uncertain and leaves a hole for other sparkling producers to create an elegant yet accessible product.

So in my mind it’s the garagistes of Champagne who are continuing the region’s tradition. I am a huge proponent of underground boutique Champagne producers, those like Jacques Lassaigne in the Troyes/Montgueux region, who keep it small and true and have the time to churn out expressions of both time and place.

Lassaigne’s NV “Les Vignes De Montgueux” Blanc de Blanc has the most gorgeous nose of ginger and a texture that is equivalent to cashmere. It’s achieved by an extended “prise de mousse,” something the bigger houses have little time for. What’s more, instead of being reverse crafted in the cellar for that signature Champagne style (as many of the top commercial Champagnes are), this wine is precise and true to its vintage. As it should be.

I know someone so devoted to these emerging artists of Champagne that he hopes to start importing more here sometime in the new year. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, ask your merchant to keep you posted on allocations. They are rare and hard to come by but worth tracking down.

So I’ve probably suggested enough Champagne and sparkling wines on this blog to fill a small country, but since I’m not huge on sweet wines, I thought you could get your fill at Wine Thieves’ 6th annual Sparklings & Stickies party on Dec. 27. It’s from 7 to 9 p.m. in the downstairs Cellar of their Lafayette store at 3401 Mt. Diablo Blvd.

Rod and the boys are swell about helping people find under-the-radar wines at ridiculously low prices. I think I first discovered Gruet New Mexico bubbly there, as well as Sigura Vidas Cava.  I’m sure they’re on it with stickies too, from Sauternes to Port.

You can always default to my Cline Late Harvest Mourvedre or Meyer Family Port — two sweet wines I do admittedly enjoy –  but I’m sure the Thieves can hook you up with so many more options at prices that are less than these wines.

The event costs $20 per person. Be sure to register via their Web site by Dec. 26. This thing fills  up every year.

Happy Hanukkah! Time to shred potatoes and fry up some latkes with massive dollops of sour cream and homemade applesauce. The perfect pairing to this traditional holiday fare is sparkling wine. Here’s why:

Bubbly’s vibrant fruit flavors complement the applesauce, while it’s acidic punch and effervescence cut the crisp, fattiness of the fried potato and the dairy-laden sour cream, or, even more decadent, creme fraiche. Yum. I’m super glad I’m Jewish.

Anyway, as an added bonus, if you go with Champagne, its bread-like flavors will bring out those similar nuances in the crunchy coating on the outside of latkes.

If you’re switching up your applesauce to include berries or switch to a mango chutney, step up the bubbly to a sparkling rose. It’s gorgeous strawberry and cranberry fruit will dance with the dipping sauce.

Here are three sparklings ideal for latkes. You pick your price:

Nicolas Feuillate Brut Champagne ($42). Apple, pear and other stone fruits mingle with croissant goodness from the original land of bubbles. Added bonus: It’s kosher.

Mirabelle Brut Rose ($24). Young yet elegant with strawberry, watermelon and guava flavors. This is Schramsberg’s value-tier sparkling. Can’t go wrong.

Gruet Brut ($13.50): Crisp and full-bodied with aromas of grapefruit and a complex, toasty finish. This New Mexico sparkling is a steal and shows what can be done outside of California.

Happy noshing and swirling!

Have you heard the news? An all-sparkling winery is moving into the Livermore Valley.

I recall rumblings of Wente starting a sparkling facility but never got confirmation on why it tanked. Little Valley makes three sparkling wines, but they’re flavored and not particularly serious. Battaion’s will be, or so winemaker Dustin Battaion and his wife Chandra promise.

They will focus on traditional and contemporary sparkling wines using only the finest local grapes. Dustin’s background is in organic grape growing with an emphasis on producing traditional sparklings in the French method.

Battaion Cellars’s tasting room is currently under construction, but you can taste the wines in their all-bubbly portfolio by calling 925-245-9242 and making an appointment. Their temporary digs are at 8626 Lupin Way in Livermore.

The winery currently offers four sparkling wines available for purchase. Traditional styles include a 1996 Vintage, a Non Vintage Brut, and a Blanc De Noirs; a pink California Sparkling wine, made entirely with Pinot Noir grapes. For those who like sparkling Shiraz or Lambrusco, their Cuvee Rouge, an aromatic red sparkling made with Syrah and Grenache grapes, should be just the ticket. Wines go for $24 to $35.

I’m interested in speaking with Dustin, given Livermore’s heat and the early harvest necessary for making sparklings.

Get more info at their web site.

Is it just me, or is there something inherently magical about drinking a glass of Champagne? It certainly looks glamorous in your hand; it’s silvery glint a hint of what’s to come. When it coats the sides of your mouth, the tingle is impossible to ignore. It wakes you up. Almost instantly, you lengthen your spine. And that aroma. Anything from citrus fruits to a must that reminds you of vintage couture. Of course, there is no discussion of Champagne’s effect without the mention of bubbles. The transformations are Cinderella-like.

I drank a bottle of 2001 Clover Hill, a Tasmanian sparkling, the other night with a couple very much in love, and a friend of theirs, who was suffering from a wounded heart. The wine wasn’t cold enough, yet the bubbles put up quite a fight, resisting escape from the stemless tumblers we drank from. With every sip, the couple told us of their courtship. They did all the things you’re not supposed to do. Meeting the parents on the second date. Saying ‘I love you’ in the second week. We laughed; I mean the three of us did. But the sad friend seemed to sink deeper into a pensive state, all the while commenting on the rigor of the Tasmanian bubbles.

I think the wine provided some kind of hope for him. I know it did for me. Because I realized it’s not just the Champagne that’s magical, but the situations it brings you to. I loved every minute of that meal, and the hope that this couple gave me. It’s a juju I just can’t put my finger on.

Steak and champagne. There, I said it. Anyone who thinks the two are not a pair probably have their head buried under an old vine somewhere.

Our first winemakers dinner — last night at Bridges in Danville — sold out, and it’s no wonder. People were there to find out how to enjoy bruts with seared pork and crusted beef tenderloin. The whole champagne and strawberries thing is so ‘87.

Executive Chef Kevin Gin showed us how. Boy, did he. As our MCs, BevMo cellarmaster Wilfred Wong and Roederer Estate winemaker Arnaud Weyrich, exchanged California-France cheap shots (all in fun, good taste, of course) we nibbled on four mouthwatering courses and learned a lot about the production of bruts.

The Roederer sparklings are known for their smooth, clean, taste — what the French call ‘finesse’ — and it became clear early on that light sweet touches like cranberry-ginger chutney and caramelized onions help bring out the full-bodied flavors of the bruts, particularly the roses. The Estate L’Ermitage Brut ‘99 made Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 last year.

Our next winemakers dinner is June 6 at Wente Vineyards in Livermore. The restaurant was recently voted one of the best in the East Bay. Don’t miss it!

Corkheads alert: Our first winemaker’s dinner is on March 16 and it’s almost sold out. So if you want to go, best reserve your spot!

Here are the deets: It’s a five-course meal (including hors d’oeuvres and dessert), prepared by Chef Kevin Gin at Danville’s Bridges restaurant. Each course is accompanied by a Roederer Estate wine. If you’re not familiar, they were at the Dozen Roses event and make fabulous sparkling wines.

That’s the focus of this dinner — proving that sparkles don’t mean celebration — and that you can drink them on a Tuesday night with a crab sandwich. That said, I’ve seen the menu and it looks fabulous. Sea scallops, rock shrimp, caviar, chocolate mousse.

Tickets are $75. The wine reception starts at 6:30 p.m.; dinner’s at 7 p.m. For more information, call Rachel Armstrong at 925-952-2639.