Sisters behind new sparkling wine tasting room in Healdsburg

The new tasting room and Airbnb is set to open on Valentine’s Day.|

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

October 31, 2023

The skinny on sparklers

Champagne

Champagne, the most iconic bubbly, hails from the Champagne region of France and follows the strict laws of the appellation. It must, for instance, have its secondary fermentation in the bottle and follow the pressing regime of the region. The grapes used to produce Champagne are primarily pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay. Associated with royalty beginning in the 17th century, Champagne continues to have a regal appeal.

Crémant

Crémant is a French sparkling wine made outside of Champagne. Yet, like Champagne, crémant undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle. While it can be crafted from Champagne’s typical varieties of chardonnay, pinot meunier and pinot noir, Crémant also can be produced from pinot blanc, riesling or pinot gris. It is less effervescent than Champagne.

Cava

Spanish cava is a surprise to many because it’s a steal for its price. The name cava is reserved for wines produced like Champagne, with the second fermentation in the bottle. In Spain, those bottlings produced by other methods are called sparkling wines. The vast majority of cavas, 95%, are produced in the Penedes area in Catalonia. Two of the top producers are Freixenet and Codorniu.

Prosecco

Italian proseccos are crisp, fruity sparkling wines made in the Veneto region from Glera grapes. They are less expensive to produce because they undergo a secondary fermentation in a large tank, a process called the Charmat method. Prosecco falls short of the texture and toasty flavors you find in bottlings that have their second fermentation in the bottle.

Sekt

German sekt is not necessarily sweeter than Champagne, but it can be. Most sekt has its secondary fermentation in a tank using the Charmat method, like prosecco. But some sekt undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle, like Champagne. Deutscher sekt means the fruit is from Germany. This sekt often uses German grapes like riesling, although it can be crafted from grapes like chardonnay. Deutscher sekt is considered by many to be the best quality to buy.

Cap classique

South African cap classique refers to sparklers that are produced like Champagne with the second fermentation in the bottle. To distinguish themselves from lesser-quality sparklers, “cap classique” will be on the bottle. These wines are typically made from chardonnay and pinot noir, although sometimes you’ll find chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc in the mix. The category began with the release of Simonsig Wine Estate’s first sparkler in 1971, which mirrored Champagne with its traditional grape varieties and fermentation process.

With blueprints spread out on a table, Sarah Quider described the layout of her 400-square-foot Bubble Bar in Healdsburg, set to open on Valentine’s Day 2024.

“There’s something about sparkling wine,” Quider said with a broad smile. “It’s a happy drink, and I want to make people happy.”

Quider stepped over planks of wood to point out where shelving will showcase 3-liter bottles of champagne and magnums of sparklers.

The bubbly enthusiast and her sister, former restaurateur Samantha Tilley, are the duo behind the venture and its unique business model. The Bubble Bar at 134 North St. has an adjacent Airbnb called the Cuvee House.

Tilley will run the day-to-day operations of the enterprise, allowing Quider to keep her day job as the senior vice president of winemaking at Foley Family Wines. The winemaker oversees 15 wineries spanning the geographic reach of Washington State to the Central Coast.

Working 12 hours during harvest, Quider said, she reserved the 13th to work on her side business.

“You’d be surprised how much you can get done with one hour overtime,” Quider said.

One hurdle the winemaker had to jump was making a case for the tasting room at a Healdsburg public hearing.

“I was nervous,” Quider said. “Some people stood up and said, ‘Not another tasting room.’ But I told them I wanted to create a place that’s different than any other tasting room in town.”

The town of Napa has Be Bubbly and Sonoma has Sigh, she explained.

“Healdsburg doesn’t have a place where people can celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, a new job or just a Tuesday night,” Quider said with a laugh.

Parisian chic

Honoring the birthplace of champagne, the Bubble Bar’s decor will give a nod to France with the look of a Parisian bistro.

The cozy nook will be a house of mirrors, with four on the west wall and six on the east to give it an expansive feel. A focal point of the room, just outside the preparation area, will be a lineup of sparkling wines and an array of glasses.

“With my background in winemaking, I wanted to create a place where people can learn about wine,” Quider said. “I’ll have an ongoing blind flight, like three cavas and three crémants from Alsace.”

The winemaker said she’s ecstatic with her role, which will be to create the wine list. She plans to include traditional sparkling wines while shining a light on more obscure labels.

“Some of the grower champagnes are off the charts,” Quider said. “Why not have fun with them and those people who geek out on sparkling wine?”

Running the gamut, the wine list will include cavas, proseccos, champagnes and crémant. (See the sidebar to learn about the variations among these and others.)

Quider said she’s an unabashed geek with a curious palate.

“Being a winemaker for 28 years, I like to try new wines,” she said. “There are so many beautiful wines in the world.”

Food, wine and fashion

As they grew up in Sonoma County in a family of seven kids, Quider remembered, her older sister Samantha often took it upon herself to cook for her siblings.

“She was always coming up with new ways to cook Top Ramen, sometimes with mushrooms,” Quider said.

Tilley grew up to be an athletic fashion designer in New York City, but it turned out food was her muse all along. She ultimately opened a restaurant in Bantam, Connecticut, in 2013 called the Mockingbird Kitchen & Bar, where she was also the executive chef.

“While fashion allowed me to express myself through fabrics and designs, food offers me the chance to weave stories with aroma, flavors, color and textures,” Tilley said. “The artistry of plating, the joy of experimenting with ingredients and the profound connection between food and culture all captivated me.”

Embracing cuisine from all over the world, Tilley offered an eclectic mix of dishes that included French, Italian and Mexican at her restaurant.

With her culinary background, Tilley will curate appetizers at Bubble Bar which will include caviar, pate and charcuterie plates. Quider will lead the drinks menu.

Quider, 56, and Tilley, 58, had been playing with the idea of creating a business for the past several years. They explored a teaching school that would be focused on food and wine. It was Quider’s idea to create a tasting room focused solely on bubbly.

“It came down to me, living in Healdsburg,” she said, “and saying, this is a niche we need to fill.”

A ‘happy drink’

The pandemic, Quider said, led us all to ask ourselves, are we happy?

“I began drinking more bubbly during COVID,” the winemaker said. “Why not? It’s a happy drink, and COVID was such a hard time. It was a time of struggle.”

Meanwhile, the pandemic spurred introspection for Tilley on the East Coast.

“With COVID, the restaurant had challenges. So my sister decided to sell the restaurant and come home,” Quider said.

Imagining a post-COVID world, the sisters began developing their enterprise.

Once they agreed on a tasting room to showcase bubbly, Quider began looking for real estate. She found the property in January and made an offer the very same day. She could see the potential. All she needed to do was convert the office space into a tasting room and the residential space into an Airbnb.

“We were always planning on doing a tasting room and, because the building came with a commercial residence, it was an added bonus,” Quider said. “It will be available for everyone who wants to visit Healdsburg and/or the Bubble Bar, and guests will get complimentary tastings at the Bubble Bar.”

The Queen Anne Victorian dates back to 1906. The two-bedroom flat with white wainscoting is light and breezy and ready to open its doors.

The Bubble Bar, however, will be under construction for the next few months with its build-out including an outdoor patio. But Quider and Tilley are not the least bit discouraged by their long to-do lists.

“Together we’ll create a warm and inviting space where people can come together to savor and learn about the curated collection of bubbles,” Tilley said. “It will be a place where memories will be made one sip at a time.”

The sisters say they’re driven and they get their stamina from their 94-year-old mother, Gail Roper.

“My mother was 23 years old when she went to the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, to compete in the 100-meter butterfly race,” Quider said. “She was also inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1997.”

“Mom was a go-getter,” the winemaker said. “She taught us, if you want to get something, you go after it.”

You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pegmelnik.