If you want to celebrate the holidays with affordable bubbly, look to Prosecco. It’s great for toasting, for serving with lighter courses—from seafood to chicken and turkey to pasta—and for enjoying as an after-dinner drink. It’s a wine that pairs well with spicy foods, including Chinese, Indian, Thai, and other Asian cuisines. And because of its lightness and high acidity, it can easily be drunk with a vinaigrette-dressed salad.

For cocktails, you can enhance Prosecco:

 
Add the liqueur to a flute or tulip glass, then top it with the Prosecco. Give it the lightest stir: You don’t want to break the bubbles.

Prosecco (pro-SEK-o) is the name of a village in the Veneto region of northeast Italy (photo #2). It’s located in the hills of the province of Treviso, between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.

The town gives its name to the Prosecco sparkling wines that are made in the area. The wine is often labeled Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene, after its the hilly area where the two towns are situated. The Prosecco grape—now known as the Glera grape†—is the principal grape grown there.

Glera, a thin-skinned green grape, has been grown in the regions of Veneto and Friuli for hundreds of years†. Prosecco wines must contain at least 85% Glera.

Here’s more about Prosecco.
 
 
LA GIOIOSA PROSECCO

La Gioiosa (joy-OH-suh) is one of Italy’s leading producers of Prosecco. The name literally means “the joyous one.” We recently tasted two varieties from the line: La Gioiosa Prosecco Treviso DOC and La Gioiosa Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG.

 
While the Prosecco Treviso was light and charming, the Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is a heavier-body, more nuanced wine. We enjoyed it with every course at Thanksgiving dinner, including the turkey, and will be having it at Christmas dinner as well.

La Gioiosa Prosecco Types

While we only tasted the two Proseccos above, the La Gioiosa line includes other styles of Prosecco, including brut, dry, extra dry, and rosé.

See the whole line here.

Discover more on the company website.
 
 
DOC AND DOCG PROSECCO: THE DIFFERENCE

Most Proseccos are DOC wines, Denominazione d’Origine Controllata/ This designation attests that the grapes were grown, and the wine was made, in the Treviso area of the Veneto.

Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, on the other hand, is produced exclusively with grapes in the hills of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene zone, an area with superior terroir* (photo #3).

Under Italian wine law, DOCG is the highest designation of quality among Italian wines. It stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PROSECCO
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPARKLING WINE

[1] La Gioiosa Prosecco: sparkling wine for any celebration (photos #1, #3 and #4 © La Gioiosa).

[2] The Veneto region of Italy, home to the towns of Belluno, Padua, Rovigo, Venice, Verona and Vincenza—and most important for this article, Treviso, the home of Prosecco (image © Vonvikken | Wikipedia).

[3] The hills of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene zone, home to the town of Prosecco and to the DOCG grapes.

[4] La Gioiosa Prosecco is available in 750 ml bottles and 187 ml splits.

*Terroir, pronounced tur-WAH, is a French agricultural term referring to the unique set of environmental factors in a specific habitat that affects a crop’s qualities. These include climate, elevation, proximity to a body of water, slant of the land, soil type, and amount of sun. These environmental characteristics give the wines produced from these grapes a unique character.

†The Glera grape is of Slovenian origin. It was brought to the village of Prosecco from the Karst region, a plateau that extends across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. The variety was formerly mostly referred to as Prosecco, but in the EU was renamed “Glera” in 2009 to make room for the protection of “Prosecco” as the name of a geographically-protected wine [source].

[1] Lovers of California and Washington wines can find great values from de Négoce (photo © Kym Ellis | Unsplash).

[2] De Négoce’s value proposition (photo © de Négoce).

[3] There are excellent values in red, white and rosé wines (photo © Ray’s Boathouse) .

[4] 2018 Napa Valley Mountain Meritage, a $98 value* for $29, 56% off (photos # 4, 5, and #6 © de Négoce).

[5] 2019 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, $50 value* for $19, 70% off.

[6] 2020 Russian River Rose of Pinot Noir, $30 value* for $14 (53% off).

Cameron Hughes has been working in the wine industry for more than 20 years. In his newest venture, de Négoce, négociant Hughes buckles down on his goal of offering high-quality wine at deeply reduced prices. (There’s more about that below). But first: What’s a négociant?

Négociant means trader in French. A wine négociant is a wine trader, better known as a wine merchant. There are two types of négociants:

 
If you’re a fan of French wines, some of the best-known Burgundy producers are négociants: Maison Louis Jadot, Maison Joseph Drouhin, and Bouchard Père & Fils, for example.

These brands own their own vineyards, but also buy grapes from neighboring growers to increase their output.

While the title of négociant is most closely associated with France, there are négociants all over the world, from California to South Africa.
 
 
HOW DO YOU BENEFIT FROM NÉGOCIANTS?

A good négociant is able to sell higher-quality wines at lower prices than a vineyard or winemaker can sell directly.

They work with smaller, family-owned vineyards that don’t have the resources to bottle and sell their wines at a reasonable price.

Négociants have economies of scale.
 
 
DE NÉGOCE NÉGOCIANT

Cameron Hughes founded de Négoce in 2020, offering wine lovers a unique opportunity for buying luxury wine at affordable prices.

De Négoce became the #1 direct-to-consumer wine brand in the country in just one year of business.

De Négoce was named 2021 Wine Company of the Year in the 18th Annual Critics Challenge International Wine & Spirits Competition. The company also received an unprecedented 53 medals, 35 of which were platinum and gold with 90 to 94-point scores for wines priced from $12 to $29.

The brand’s focus is sourcing excess exceptional wines from iconic and boutique wineries, and selling them directly to consumers at prices of 60% to 80% off.

How can the prices be so low? As a négociant, de Négoce cuts out the middlemen.

Most of the wines are from California: Alexander Valley, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Sonoma Mountain and others. There are also wines from Washington’s Columbia Valley and Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Just a few examples of the wines and values*:

 
Wine Futures

In addition to purchasing bottles of wine, de Négoce also sells “wine futures,” where you can save 60% or more by buying wine before it’s bottled.

This practice, known as en primeur (wine futures in English), is well established across many wine regions in France: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Piedmont, and the Rhône Valley, as well as Port in Portugal.

You pre-purchase bottles at very deep discounts before the wine is ready to be bottled prices. You rely on the reputation of the winery or the négociant to sell you a quality wine for 70-90% off retail.

Here’s more about de Négoce wine futures.

Here’s a beginner’s guide to wine futures.
 
 
NEXT STEPS

The wines are offered by email, and can sell out in an hour. Head to the website to sign up.

Check out the Bottle Shop: wines in bottles currently for sale.
 
 
________________

*Discount reflects percent off comparably priced products.

December 14th is National Biscuits & Gravy Day. Biscuits and gravy emerged as a Southern regional dish after the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), when foodstuffs and cash were in short supply. Breakfast was the most substantial meal of the day, to fuel people for the hard work ahead. Biscuits covered in gravy made from meat drippings, and possibly bits of meat, fit the bill.

Nowadays there are different types of gravy and different types of biscuits for your consideration.

We’ve got a classic biscuits and gravy recipe for you, as well as something a bit different:

Biscuits with seafood gravy.

Check out more biscuit recipes below.. You can match a gravy or sauce with them—for example, bacon and sweet potato biscuits with blue cheese sauce, or Reuben biscuits with horseradish sauce.

> The history of biscuits.

> The history of bread.

> The different types of bread: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 8 biscuit holidays.
 
 
TYPES OF BISCUITS

 
There are numerous variations on the above. Self-rising biscuits are made with self-rising flour. Cream biscuits are made with heavy cream, Sourdough biscuits are made with sourdough starter.

One note about American biscuits: These do not exist in the U.K. There, a biscuit is a cookie or a cracker. What we think of as a roll or biscuit is a scone in the U.K. Our roll is their cob. There, a bun may look like a kind of American roll, but it is sweet. A burger bun is called a bap. And so on, and so forth. Here’s a longer discussion.
 
 
MORE BISCUIT RECIPES

 
 
 
 
CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Biscuits and gravy. You can make the dish more substantial by adding a slice of ham (photo © Betty Crocker).

[2] Biscuits and gravy topped with a fried egg. You can also add a slice of ham (photo © St. Louis Magazine).

[3] Biscuits with tomato gravy. Here’s the recipe (photo © Whitney Miller | Vidalia Onions | Facebook).

[4] A different approach Thanksgiving leftovers on a biscuit with gravy (photo © Mason Dixie Foods).

[1] Mingle Mocktails are available in individual cans (all photos © Mingle Mocktails).

[2] The line is also available in 750ml bottles.

[3] You can drink Mingle from the can, or from a cocktail glass.

[4] The recipe for this Jingle Berry Mojito is below.

You don’t have to be a drinker to enjoy Mingle sparkling mocktails, but for those who aren’t drinking alcohol, they are a delightful treat. The line was founded by a woman who gave up alcohol, but then felt out of place at social events when everyone else was drinking. Her line of alcohol-free mocktails lets non-drinkers feel “part of the group.”

Often, people who aren’t “drinking” are limited to sparkling water or carbonated soft drinks. Mingle provides something festive that makes guests feel like they’re drinking something special.

Mingle Mocktails can be turned into cocktails with the addition of gin or vodka.

Mocktail or cocktail, you can drink Mingle from your favorite cocktail glass (photo #3), or from the stylish 12-ounce can (photo #1). There are 750ml liters to sit on the bar, or to pour into a pitcher (photo #2).

Whether you’re giving up drinking for the night, for a week, for Dry January, impending motherhood, or as a lifestyle choice, you can be a celebrant at any event or occasion. And because it’s a holiday season…

There’s a Jingle Berry Mojito Mocktail recipe below (photo #4).
 
 
MINGLE MOCKTAILS FLAVORS

The flavors are sweetened with organic cane sugar and fruit juices, and include:

 
Basically, these are popular crafted cocktails, minus the booze.

The mocktails are:

 
 
GET YOUR MINGLE MOCKTAILS

Buy Mingle Mocktails for your own home, or make them a gift. You can add a greeting message in your Cart under “Order Note” section on MingleCocktails.com.

Here’s the full selection.

A partial selection is available on Amazon, Whole Foods, and other retailers/etailers. Here’s a store locator.
 
 
RECIPE: JINGLE BERRY MOJITO MOCKTAIL

There are more mocktail recipes on the company website.
 
Ingredients

1. POUR the Mingle Mojito into a shaker. Add the cucumber juice, 1 sprig of chopped mint, and a dash of simple syrup. Blend with a stirring spoon.

2. ADD ice to a Tom Collins glass, and garnish with the cranberries and the second mint sprig.

One of our favorite experiences this year was an introduction to Rhum Clément, a premium distiller on the beautiful island of Martinique in the West Indies.

Rhum Clément was established in 1887 when Homère Clément purchased a distillery in Le François, Martinique. There was a sugar crisis* in the Caribbean at the time, and the economy was in trouble.

Homère Clément was a prominent member of the Martinique community and the mayor of Le François. He is believed to have been the first Black person to receive his doctorate in medicine in France, following which he returned to Martinique to work in both medicine and politics.

His innovative thinking resulted in a unique type of rum—rhum agricole**—which helped to stabilize the island’s economy.

Today, Martinique’s rhum agricole is considered among the finest in the world [source].
 
National Rum Day is August 16th.
 
 
RHUM AGRICOLE

Rhum agricole is not made from molasses, the byproduct of sugar refining, which is the basis of many rums. Rather, it is distilled from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice (see photo #6 below).

The style is common in the French islands of the Caribbean (Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique). The historically British and Spanish islands (Barbados, Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, etc.) make molasses-based rums (rum can be made anywhere, and the majority of the world’s rum is made from molasses).

As rum connoisseurs have learned to appreciate the style of rhum agricole, production has spread across the globe, to places as far apart as Australia, Hawaii, Mauritius, Réunion, and Thailand [source].

Compared with rums made from molasses, a typical rhum agricole yields more of the terroir† of the sugarcane juice.

Rum lovers enjoy rhum agricole for its flavors and aromatics, often described as earthy, vegetal, grassy, and herbaceous. They also can have banana, mango, papaya and pineapple notes.
 
 
WHAT ABOUT CACHAÇA?

Brazil’s national spirit, cachaça, is also distilled from sugarcane juice. Americans may be more familiar with it as the basis for the popular cocktail, the Caipirinha.

Rhum agricole and cachaça taste similar in their unaged, “white” or “silver” versions. The difference comes in the aged spirits.

 
Here’s a deeper discussion of the differences.
 
 
MARTINIQUE A.O.C.

Producers of sugarcane juice rums made entirely in Martinique and meeting certain production standards are entitled under French law‡ to the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée or A.O.C., which translates to “protected designation of origin.” It tells buyers that the product conforms to the rigid standards set for it.

 
 
RHUM CLÉMENT EXPRESSIONS

At Rhum Clément, all of the rums, both white and aged, are rhum agricole.

Rhum Clement Agricole Blanc, the entry-level expression we enjoyed, has a 40% A.B.V., which equates to 80 proof.

It’s a blend of several varieties of sugar cane and delivers floral and citric notes. At less than $30, it’s affordable for the home and for gifting (photo #1).

Rhum Clément also makes another white rum, slightly mellower in flavor and higher in alcohol:

Canne Bleue Agricole Rhum, A.B.V. 50%/100 proof. It is made from a single type of sugar cane called canne bleue (blue cane—photo #2).

The canne bleue cane delivers an intensely aromatic juice that’s reflected in the flavor of the rum.

Canne Bleue rum rests for more than six months in a stainless steel vat, and is slowly reduced over time with distilled volcanic spring water before bottling. It has a more mellow flavor, an A.B.V. of 50%/100 proof.

The line includes the two white rums, six aged rums, orange shrub, and coconut liqueur. We were also privileged to taste the aged spirits, at a tasting conducted by the brand. We’re now big fans.

See the whole line here.

Here’s a store locator.

Discover more at RhumClement.com.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF RUM

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF RUM

[1] Rhum Clement Agricole Blanc (photos © Woodland Wine Merchant).

[2] Canne Bleue, made from a single variety of sugar cane (photos #2, #3, #4, #5 © Rhum Clément).

[3] Rhum vieux is aged three years or more.

[4] Select Barrel is aged in heavily charred barrels, resulting in a soft, approachable rum that mimics the flavor profiles of American whiskey.

[5] Cachaca, Brazil’s national spirit, is made in a manner similar to rhum agricoler; but the aging technique is very different (photo © Novo Fogo).

________________

*When France began to make sugar from sugar beets around 1811, sugar prices dropped and the debt-ridden sugar factories in the French Caribbean could not survive solely on sugar production. That meant that much fresh cane juice was now available for fermenting and distilling into rum.

**Agricole is French for agricultural.

†Terroir, pronounced tur-WAH, is a French agricultural term referring to the unique set of environmental factors in a specific habitat that affects a crop’s qualities. These include climate, elevation, proximity to a body of water, slant of the land, soil type, and amount of sun. These environmental characteristics give the rum, wine, cacao, or other product its character.

‡In 1946, the French National Assembly voted unanimously to transform Martinique from a colony of France into a départment, known in French as a Département d’outre-mer or DOM.
 
 

[6] The sugarcane from which rum is made. The cane is pressed to release the juice inside.