Who put the fizz in the Shiraz?

At a dinner party on the terrace of their hillside Silver Lake home, some friends served a prettily fizzy Moscato d’Asti with dessert, a dreamy strawberry shortcake. The whole evening was effervescent -- the table lovely, the company wonderful -- and we could hear fireworks going off, where, Dodger Stadium?

But this summer, there’s far more that sparkles than magical Moscato evenings. And no, I don’t mean Champagne. Or Cava. Or Prosecco.

It’s the summer of crazy bubbles. Sommeliers are pushing sparkling reds from Lombardy by the glass. Music fans take fizzy roses from an obscure French region to the Hollywood Bowl. And now, even sake -- yes, sake! -- sparkles.

Okunomatsu Formula Nippon is regarded as the Champagne of sakes. Just as Formula One Grand Prix drivers celebrate by dousing each other with Champagne, at the annual Formula Nippon race, the winners shower each other with Okunomatsu, which fizzes prolifically from its striking cobalt-blue bottle.

As I was about to sample it, the Belgian-ale-type closure opened with quite an unexpected loud pop -- if it hadn’t been attached to the bottle, the thing would have flown across the room. Fantastically frothy as it was poured into the flute, the alabaster-white sake appeared to be unfiltered. (Most sparkling sakes are cloudy because of the sugar and yeast added to start the secondary fermentation.)

Okunomatsu is a junmai daiginjo sake, which means it is a pure sake to which no alcohol has been added, and the rice used in brewing has been polished so that no more than 50% of each grain remains before brewing.

This was the most intriguing wine I’ve tasted in years. The aromas were alluring -- a little cucumber, apple and soft plum, with an appealing faint funkiness. Very inviting. On the palate, a vigorous bubble attack, then the sake quickly become soft and velvety. Altogether, it was complex and delicious, with a lovely finish.

Toro, I thought -- fatty tuna belly. Spanish mackerel. This would be absolutely marvelous with sushi.

Alas, sparkling sakes are just coming into the L.A. market, and Okunomatsu is locally available only in two sushi bars. As far as retail goes, I found it in only one wine shop in California, True Sake in San Francisco.

At the moment, only two sparkling sakes are available in local wine shops. Poochi-Poochi comes in a three-pack, in a cute plastic carrying case. Milky-looking and very fizzy, it smells like pear blossoms, and it’s light and fun. Just the thing for takeout Japanese food.

The other, Harushiko, is soda-pop sweet; it tastes as if it has some kind of fruit juice added to it. Awful.

Sparkling Shiraz

I had my first taste of sparkling Shiraz a few weeks ago, when I decided to bring some to a barbecue (the wine is supposed to be great with grilled foods).

I thought this would be a cinch -- after all, these red sparklers from Down Under have been media darlings this season. But finding them was easier said than done. Although quite a bit of sparkling Shiraz is produced in Australia, little of it makes its way to the U.S. Some are quite expensive -- many non-vintage versions retail for more than $40; a Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Sparkling Duck sells for $80. But the price tag’s largely moot, since they’re so difficult to find.

I did get my hands on a $22 Rumball non-vintage Special Cuvee, touted as reviving the lost tradition of sparkling Australian “Burgundy” dating to the 1880s. I snapped it up and chilled it down.

Then an item in the newsletter from Wine Expo, the West L.A. wine shop specializing in Champagne and Italian wine, caught my eye. It described a 2004 De Falco Gragnano della Penisola Sorrentina from the Campania region as a deep, dark sparkling red, with deep berry and volcanic earth flavors. “We cannot wait to put this up against expensive sparkling Shiraz from Down Under at $40+ per bottle!” said the newsletter. “Try it, it will not hurt you and your Mom will love it too.”

Perfect, I thought. The barbecue was to be at my mom’s, and the wine was only $16.99.

At the barbecue, everyone was more than game to taste the Rumball and the De Falco sparkling red.

First I popped the Champagne-style cork on the Aussie. A clear, dark purple-red, the wine frothed up enthusiastically in the glass. Next the De Falco, with its regular cork. This one was also purple-red, but it was more lightly fizzy.

We swirled, then sniffed.

Hmm. From the Rumball, we got ephemeral floral aromas -- not really what you’d expect from a wine that color. We tasted. Hmm. Odd. Wrinkled brows all around. The bone-dry wine wasn’t giving up much on the palate, except a kind of uneasy dance between the tannins, which were substantial, and the fizz. Hardly a word was spoken, the wine was so weird.

“Blecchh!” said my mom, finally. Up until that point, she had never met a wine she didn’t like. Not even Manischewitz.

“Give it a chance,” I said. “Maybe it’s going to be great with the burgers.”

Next, the Italian. This one had a slightly musty aroma, then some herbal notes. This too was bone-dry. There was some nice fruit, some earthiness. “I liked the Australian one better,” said my mom. Everyone else agreed. I wanted to like it. But frankly, it was off-putting. Again, maybe it would be swell with dinner.

I grabbed my flutes of sparkling reds and brought them outside, where the burgers were about to come off the grill. Everyone else left theirs behind, switching to Pinot Noir or sangria.

With the grilled burgers and sausages, the wines were OK, but they just weren’t appealing. Uncharacteristically, I didn’t even finish either glass. Between these and the soda-pop sake, it was starting to look as though some discretion would be advised when it came to unusual sparklers. I’d have to seek out the good ones.

Next, the roses

I had high hopes for a couple of inexpensive, lightly sparkling roses called Bugey Cerdon. Made from Gamay (the Beaujolais grape) and an obscure light red grape called Poulsard, the wine is from Bugey, a tiny region bordering France’s Savoie region, near Lyon.

According to Joe Dressner of Louis/Dressner Selections, his firm was the first to import Bugey Cerdon to the U.S. Seven years ago, he says, New York chef Daniel Boulud asked him to track down the charming sparkling pink wine the legendary (and since departed) Alain Chapel was serving as an aperitif at his then-three-star restaurant in Mionnay.

The answer was the Bugey Cerdon of producer Alain Renardat-Fache.

Equal parts Gamay and Poulsard (the latter adds finesse), Renardat-Fache’s Bugey Cerdon owes its bubbles to a spontaneous refermentation in the bottle referred to in Bugey as the “methode ancestrale.” As with the sparkling sakes, fermentation of the Cerdon is stopped, but the secondary bottle fermentation happens naturally, without the addition of sugar or yeast. The wine doesn’t ferment completely; some of the residual sugar remains. That’s why they’re demi-sec, or off-dry, and low in alcohol. The wines are fragile, and meant to be drunk fresh.

“They’re flying off the shelves,” says Jim Knight, manager of Wine House in West L.A., which carries two Bugey Cerdons. “They’re the ideal Hollywood Bowl wine.”

The Renardat-Fache, with 7.5% alcohol, has a Champagne-style cork. When poured, it’s frothy white-pink, then deep pink, with biggish bubbles and bright acid. It tastes like a fizzy glass of raspberries.

I really fell for the light salmon pink Clos de la Bierle. Very drinkable, with just 8% alcohol, it’s nicely fizzy and lightly sweet, with pretty strawberry flavors.

From Germany’s Pfalz region, I found a delicious sparkling Riesling, a 1999 Von Buhl Forster Pechstein Brut. In Germany, sparkling Rieslings are known as Sekt; this was delicious -- lively, fresh and crisp, with a lovely, lingering finish. It would be a sensational aperitif, especially with something salty and fatty to eat, like spiced nuts or little cheese tartlets.

Sparkling reds

Finally, back to the sparkling reds. Determined to find some I liked, I tasted half a dozen from Italy, but none slayed me. A Villa di Corlo Lambrusco Grasparossa was corked; bad luck. I found the two Oltrepo Paveses I tasted (one of which is offered by the glass at Norman’s on Sunset Boulevard) to be too grapey.

I did like a 2004 Cascina Fonda Brachetto from Piemont. Cranberry in color, with a happy 6.5% alcohol level and an alluring berry and plum nose, it had just the right fizz, terrific fruit and silky, unobtrusive tannins.

And then another sparkling Shiraz fell into my lap. And guess what? I loved it. The Fox Creek Vixen from McLaren Vale is actually 54% Shiraz, 32% Cabernet Franc and 14% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep, dark, fizzy red, this sparkler was strong stuff, at 14%. But this one was somehow harmonious, with its nice, bubbly texture, yummy fruit -- everything came together, and the bubbles didn’t seem out of place.

Bring on the grilled ostrich.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Favorites, from the Champagne of sakes to the deepest purple sparklers

These unusual sparklers are all over the map, both in terms of geography and quality. Here are my favorites:

Okunomatsu Formula Nippon, non-vintage. This junmai daiginjo sake is frothy as it’s poured, with intriguing attractive aromas -- apple, cucumber and plum. It’s a bit yeasty and a little funky, but quite complex and delicious, with a beautiful, lingering finish. The bubbles prickle seriously when the wine’s first opened, then it becomes soft and velvety (13% alcohol). Available by phone order at True Sake in San Francisco, (415) 355-9555; about $115 for a 720-milliliter bottle, plus next-day shipping. Also on the sake menu at I Love Sushi in Costa Mesa, (714) 540-6195, $165, and at Ami in Westwood, (310) 209-1994, $210.

Poochi-Poochi sparkling sake, non-vintage. Slightly hazy, lightly frothy on the surface, this happy-go-lucky sake has aromas of pears and Brie. Lightly sparkling, fairly sweet and low in alcohol (7% to 8%), it’s not a serious wine, just fun. Comes in a pack of three 330-milliliter bottles with plastic-ringed pop-tops. Available at Mel & Rose Wine & Spirits in Los Angeles, (323) 655-5557. About $40 per three-pack.

1999 Von Buhl Forster Pechstein Riesling Brut (Sekt). Very pale straw color, with tiny, Champagne-like bubbles. Lively, crisp and very vivacious, with a wonderfully minerally earthy nose, some complexity and a long finish. From Pfalz (12% alcohol). At Wine House in West L.A., (310) 479-3731, about $29.

Clos de la Bierle Bugey Cerdon, non-vintage rose. Very light salmon pink and nicely fizzy. Off-dry with a pretty strawberry flavor. Fun and attractive, very drinkable at 8% alcohol, a super aperitif. Available at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, (949) 650-8463; Vendome in Studio City, (818) 766-5272; and Wine House, about $17.

Renardat-Fache Bugey Cerdon, non-vintage rose. Deep pink and frothy, with generous bubbles. Off-dry, with a little more acid than the Clos de la Bierle, with bright fruit -- like a fizzy glass of raspberries (7.5% alcohol). At Wine House, about $17.

2004 Cascina Fonda Brachetto. A pretty, cranberry-colored sparkler with intense berry and plum aromas. Appealingly fruity and fairly sweet, with light tannins (6.5% alcohol). Available at Wine Expo in West L.A., (310) 828-4428, about $16.

Fox Creek McLaren Vale Vixen, non-vintage. This blend of Shiraz (54%), Cabernet Franc (32%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (14%) is deep, dark purple and nicely fizzy, with generous, warm blackberry aromas. A harmonious sparkler with nice texture (14% alcohol). Available at DuVin in West Hollywood, (310) 855-1161, about $23.