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“L’Ermitage is not made every year, but when it is, it’s perhaps the most graceful sparkling wine made in California.”

California’s Roederer Estate should be one of the more familiar names if you’re a fan of fizz. Former Louis Roederer president Jean-Claude Rouzaud founded the winery in 1982 in a then-remote and unrpvoen Anderson Valley. The winery has been one of California’s leading and most consistent domestic sparkling wine producers ever since. Case in point, its precise and pristine Brut Anderson Valley NV has achieved 90-plus ratings for the past ten releases.

“Champagne has a finite acreage in the appellation,” Weyrich said. ​“The family felt that creating its own estate in California with a similar philosophy of its farming and winemaking in France would help expose Louis Roederer to a new generation of fine-wine drinkers in the U.S.”

Guest of honor French President Emmanuel Macron will be treated to an all-American menu featuring U.S. wines with a noteworthy French connection. 

Redwood trees are like skyscrapers in the mountains around Anderson Valley, a remote slice of Mendocino County in California that seems unblemished by civilization. It was an unlikely location for Louis Roederer to establish a California outpost in 1982. Back then, most Champagne houses were investing in Napa or Sonoma, and Anderson Valley was a farflung and untested location, with only a handful of wineries and vineyards.

When Champagne Louis Roederer set up shop in California’s Anderson Valley four decades ago, it was a bold move. It’s paid off with delicious wines and a bit of a sparkling boomlet in the valley.

This trove of great sparklers from around the globe is reason enough to celebrate this year. Put a few bottles on ice and toast to better times on the horizon. Happy New Year to you!

Wherever you are, your local wineries are producing sparkling wines from unconventional grape varieties or unconventional methods such as pétillant-naturel. If you’re feeling conservative, there are always reliable bubblies from California that put American flair on the traditional model.

Bloomberg’s wine critic takes on the assignment of finding American wines that go well with the holiday feast, are surefire crowd-pleasers, and were made with sustainability in mind.

Illustrious winemaker Arnaud Weyrich crafts some incredible wines in the Anderson Valley at Roederer Estate, as we taste his very special 2013 L’Ermitage bottling.