Rosy Bubbles : Amid the Avocado Groves, a New Sparkling Wine Is Born

JUST IN TIME for Easter celebration, here is an advance, inside tip on one of the most beguiling, delectable, beautiful sparkling wines I’ve ever beheld or tasted. It’s in limited quantity, available only through the winery in Fallbrook, but a telephone call will bring it to you just in time for a Sunday gathering of friends and family.

Never mind the menu that you’ve planned. This wine will be perfect with eggs Benedict or traditional baked ham. What is this wonder wine? Wine maker John Culbertson calls it Cuvee Rouge with a subtitle, “California Sparkling Burgundy--Methode Champenoise.” Quickly, before any of that turns you off, a little background.

Professionally, John Culbertson is a diver, not like Olympian medal winner Greg Louganis, though equally daring. He plunges into the deep off the coast of such places as Singapore, the North Sea, the Santa Barbara Channel or wherever offshore oil exploration and drilling is in order. Needless to say, such an occupation is both demanding and rewarding. With his devoted wife, Martha, he decided to establish his home among the avocado groves in Fallbrook. Here they raised their family, and along the way, both John and Martha developed more than a passing interest in fine wines and epicurean foods. The latter led Martha to open a gourmet grocery store and deli-cafe with very upscale take-out foods, while John opted to plant grapes where avocado trees once grew and, beyond that, to pursue the goals of absolutely first-class bubbly. His first releases, both the 1981 Brut and 1981 Natural, came home with gold medals from both the Los Angeles County Fair and the San Francisco Exposition.

Alas, while the second vintage, 1982, was en tirage in temporary storage, the cooling system failed without warning on a hot weekend, resulting in an explosion of glass and wine that injured no one but caused a gap in the release schedules. The 1983s, though, went on their medal-winning ways with even finer Bruts, Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs. But with the demands for John Culbertson methode champenoise bubblies all across the land, John and Martha have recognized that the avocado-grove location is too limiting, and construction is already well under way for not only a new winery but also a restaurant, lodging facility and visitors’ center in Temecula, directly across the road from Callaway.

But now, back to the Fallbrook, home-grown Cuvee Rouge. Years ago, from his memories of tasting wines in Singapore, Culbertson recalled a wonderful “Sparkling Burgundy.” The idea haunted him. How was it made? From what grapes? Well into making classical sparkling wines, in the true traditions of the finest Champagnes, he had choice Pinot noir grapes at hand to make a base wine, fermenting it on the skins. But it needed lightening, in pursuit of that taste in his memory. Pinot blanc was added. The first edition, in 1985, was more ruby than he wanted, with an edge of the Pinot noir tannins. Then came the wine that elicited our raptured prose, the second cuvee of Pinot noir and Pinot blanc plus a touch of Chenin Blanc, in secret percentages, with a dosage just an edge above Brut.

The wine is redolent of strawberries, almost like a Beaujolais, but lively, with an effervescence of tiny beads threading to the mousse in classic style. Only 4,200 bottles were made, to sell for about $12 each (plus transportation costs). Of this present non-vintage disgorged lot, 100 cases remain. (In 1987, 4,000 cases were made.) But for your Easter celebrations, if you call Culbertson today at (619) 728-0156, either Culbertson or his champagne master in residence, John McPherson, will speed this Culbertson Cuvee Rouge on its way to you.