Review: Toast Sparkling wine by Jam Cellers

For New Year I purchased two bottles of bubbly to try. As you recall I wasn't much of a fan of the Blanc de Bleu a blue sparkling wine. The other bottle I purchased was one that I've wanted to try for a long time. Jam cellars makes a number of wines including Butter (chardonnay), Jam (Cabernet), and Toast (sparkling wine).  A while back I did a sparkling wine comparison and was blown away with how toasty the champagne we had was. I was hoping to have a similar experience with Toast at a better price point. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I didn't get much of a toast flavor at all. The wine itself was good, it just didn't live up to its name, or what I wanted. I've similarly heard that their Butter is good, but not as buttery as you would expect given the name.

From the Jam Cellars website you can purchase a bottle for $25 and I purchased it from our local wine store in Hawaii for about that same price. It is made with Chardonnay grapes with the traditional Methode Champenoise techniques.


Toast Sparkling Wine from Jam Cellers

Now how does a sparkling wine develop that toasty flavor? It has to do with how it is made and stored. The toast flavor, which sometimes also comes across as a nut flavor (hazelnut, almond,etc), comes when the wine has extended contact with the lees. The lees is the collection of dead yeast cells that accumulate after fermentation. When the yeast breaks down (autolysis) it releases enzymes and cellular parts which interacts with the wine.

For most wine they rack, or transfer, the wine into a new container to minimize exposure to the lees. But for some wines, particularly some whites and especially Champagne they want that flavor and will try to maximize contact with the lees. Champagne is required to spend at least 12 months on the lees, but many stay 'sur lie' (on the lees) for years. The time and storage requirements is one reason why Champagne is so expensive and why it is unlikely that Jam Cellers would be able to mimic that toasty flavor.