Eugenio Jardim

Sparkling wine's rarely inappropriate for an occasion, but there's also hardly a time more fitting to drink it than during the holidays. For a particularly memorable gift, I'll occasionally indulge friends in an over-the-top bottle of bubbly, but with all the festivities that go down between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I typically turn to wines with value.

Overall, American bubbly offers more bank for your buck than French champagnes, and among West Coast sparkling wines, one can hardly get a better value than with Schramsberg. Vintage bubbly is less common and more expensive, but this wine house offers a reasonably-priced selection. Sommelier Eugenio Jardim recently turned me on to the 2006 Rosé ($30).

The blush-tinted bubbly is one of the few left to be hand-riddled in production, and it has a bright, yeasty nose that conjures images of the season's best harvest — apples, pears, cranberries. Like Jardim said, it'd be ideal with Winter squash soup — but it's great alone, too. What are your picks for sparkling wines with value?

If you want to feel the World Cup fever in a crowded bar, chances are, you have your pick of rowdy pubs to choose from. But if you're looking for a more refined way to watch the game, here's my suggestion. Settle in with an exquisite bottle of Cape Chardonnay. At a recent tasting, Jardiniere wine director Eugenio Jardim introduced me to 2008 Hamilton Russell Vineyards Chardonnay ($24), and I haven't stopped thinking about it ever since.It's a rich, nuanced Old World-style Chardonnay with a ripeness that sings of pears and apples. The complex flavors can be largely attributed to the southerly, cool Walker Bay situation of the Hamilton Russell estate, and owner Anthony Hamilton Russell's fastidious winemaking practices. All of the grapes are grown and bottled on premises. Why buy a white Burgundy when you can nab something just as extraordinary for a fraction of the price?

I'll be reaching for this even after the World Cup closes. Have you ever tried a Cape Chardonnay?

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and based on my initial experience with Portuguese sparkling wine, I've been very impressed. Recently I sipped a truly wonderful sparkling, Luis Pato Bruto Espamante ($17), at a tasting led by Eugenio Jardim, sommelier at Traci Des Jardins's San Francisco restaurant Jardinière. "To me, it's inexplicable why Prosecco and Cava would be more popular than this," he commented. I couldn't have agreed more.

The brut bubbly isn't overly perfumed, but just aromatic enough, with fruity-floral notes of apricot and peach and a nice dry finish. With its feminine flavors and pale straw hue, it brought to mind a ballerina fluttering in a tulle dress. It's rare in Portugal to see single-varietal wines, and this is no exception. I didn't recognize the grapes (Maria Gomes is a muscat-like varietal, and Arinto, a lemon-tinged, high-acid grape), but that was irrelevant after one sip. Have you ever tried a Portuguese sparkling wine?