On the 8th day of Fizzmas, I give you the 2010 Esporão Espumante (sparkling wine is called espumante in Portuguese, if you hadn’t figured that out).

I haven’t had much sparkling Portuguese wine, but I liked this. It’s from Herdade do Esporão in the Alentejo region. Alentejo’s pretty warm and mostly known for red table wine, but Antão Vaz is the one white grape that does well there – so obviously, that’s what this white sparkler is mostly made with (some Verdelho is in there too).

It’s probably weird to start with this as my intro to Portuguese sparklers since it’s not from the most common sparkling region (most are from Bairrada or Távora-Varosa), but Esporão is a well-known producer of good wines. Their espumante is made in the traditional Champagne method, and it’s very clean, crisp, and almost lemony with a hint of green apple. Would be great with shellfish, like a ceviche or something.

And – yet again during Fizzmas – we have a sparkler for $19.99. Check it out.

Click on Fizzmas to see all the fizz and fun in these 12 days! And let me know what your favorite bubbly is below.