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The merchants at Friendly Spirits Discount Wines & Liquors at 355 Halstead Ave. in the Harrison Shopping Center offered suggestions for New Year's Eve and beyond.
Champagnes from Italy, along with Proseccos rank high on their list. The folks at Friendly like Mionetto Prosecco DOC Treviso which sells for $15 a bottle and Iamarca Prosecco, at $16.
The Harrison store is selling a dry French champagne, Piper-Heidsieck, for $41 a bottle and for anyone wanting to impress the party host by bringing along a built-in cooler, Perrier Joeut sells for $45 a bottle. The cooler chills the champagne for about three hours.
Friendly Spirits also recommends two California champagnes: Korbel, for $16 a bottle, and Piper Sonoma for $18.
A bargain at $9 a bottle is the Ballatore Gran Spumante sparking wine. It's lower in alcohol content and fruity, so has been increasingly popular among young drinkers.
Sommelier Ned Towle of Hastings-on-Hudson, founder of Westchester Wine School which holds classes in White Plains and Manhattan, gave the Daily Voice some additional sparkling suggestions:
Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, either the vintage or non vintage varieties. "This is an outstanding champagne and features both delicacy and finesse," said Towle. It ranges from $70 to $120 per bottle.
He also likes Gruet, which is grown in New Mexico by a French family. "This slightly fruity medium to full body wine is less on the acidity and yeast side like champagne and more on the fruit and mineral side, and is consistently good," he said. It sells from $20 to 25 a bottle.
Two other favorites: Banfi Winery Rosa Regale 2012, at $15 a bottle, or Gruet Brut NV sold as a rosé or a "Blanc de Noirs," at $15 per bottle.
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