The 12th Day of Christmas falls on Monday this year, a work-day, and back to work for me, blessedly off since Christmas Eve. Twelfth Night was traditionally a festive time, with feasts and music and plays, such as Shakespeare’s great comedy of ambition, crossed love, mistaken identity and chastisement, Twelfth Night, or What You Will. We live in a different world than that of medieval and renaissance England, however, less attuned to the year-long procession of holidays and fetes that once ruled the rhythms of people’s lives, even through the 18th Century.

Well, no matter. I suppose I try in my way to reinforce the sense of Yuletide gladness through this “12 Days of Christmas” countdown with Champagne and sparkling wine — because what beverage is more festive than a glass of pale, invigorating bubbly — though I have been deeply suspicious for decades about Christmas itself and its meaning and my place in it. A different bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine every day goes a long way toward dissolving end-of-the-year depression.

So, let’s close this second annual countdown with a glass of the delightful non-vintage Marcato i Prandi Durello, from the Lessini denomination of Italy’s Veneto region. Lessini is a hilly area lying between the venerable cities of Verona and Vicenza; it received official DOC status (denominazione di origine controllata) in 1987. This light, bright, uplifting sparkling wine is made primarily (85 percent) from the rarely seen durello grape; the rest is chardonnay.

The color is pale gold; the bead is flowing and nicely expressed. Scents of bread and biscuits, wet stones, lemons and almonds stir in the nose; the entry is soft, at first, but the wine turns austere toward the finish with steel and limestone, though the overall impression is of spicy citrus flavors and a hint of toast. The mantra here is “Easy to Enjoy,” and truly, the personality is gratifying for a sparkling wine made in tank, that is, not receiving a second fermentation (and bubbles) in the bottle. Very Good. About $16.

Imported by Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, Va.

The Marcato Durello Brut would be a good sparkling wine to sip while watching one of our favorite movies, the Twelfth Night (1996) directed by Trevor Nunn and starring Imogen Stubbs as Viola and Steven Mackintosh as Sebastian, the brother and sister separated on the coast of Illyria by a shipwreck, and Helena Bonham Carter as the aristocratic woman who is somehow in love with them both.

Let’s try a Champagne with a different emphasis from the three we’ve looked at in this “12 Days of Christmas” countdown with Champagne and sparkling wine. Those models, the A.R. Lenoble Brut Nature (4th Day of Christmas), Taittinger Brut 2002 (7th Day of Christmas) and Roland Champion Brut Blanc de Blancs (8th Day of Christmas), are notable for elevating elegance and high-toned, scintillating minerality.

The non-vintage Mumm Carte Classique, on the other hand, offers a sense of weight and dignity as well as abundant fruit.

The house of G.H. Mumm, founded in 1827, is among the most famous and prolific producers of Champagne. It’s fine, old reputation was marred in the 1980s and early to mid 1990s by a series of misjudgments in the winery and by a spreading of thinning resources. With a new cellarmaster, quality began to show a turn-around in 1995 and ‘96, and while Mumm champagnes will probably never possess the racy excitement and verve offered by some of the other venerable houses (not to mention many small artisan producers), they deliver on the promise of traditional virtues of freshness, structure and balance.

Mumm’s Carte Classique has always been my favorite of the firm’s non-vintage roster, and opening a bottle last night confirmed my bias. First produced in 1879, the Carte Classique retains its aura of 19th Century robustness and joie de vivre.

Dominated by pinot meunier grapes — 50 percent, to 35 percent pinot noir and 15 percent chardonnay — this Champagne is a burnished tawny gold color; tiny bubbles surge relentlessly upward. There’s a real fermented yeasty, bready quality in the bouquet, highlighted by scents of apple, guava and quince, etched with spice and caramel. The slight tension in the mouth between ripe sweetness and crisp dryness makes this product Mumm’s most appealing Champagne; notes of orange rind and crystallized ginger underscore elements of biscuits, wheatmeal and limestone, while the finish is long, dry, minerally and substantial. Excellent. About $35 is right, but you can find the Carte Classique anywhere from $26 to $45.

Mumm was acquired in 1999 by Allied Domecq, which in turn was bought by Pernod Ricard in 2005.

This is the season for lists of Best of This and Best of That, and I’m not immune to the disease. Here, then, is my roster of the Great Wines of 2008, taken from wines reviewed on this blog. So as not to be hierarchical (or not too, I mean a list of “The Best” already creates a hierarchy), anyway, the order is chronological, from when the wines appeared on BTYH. I indicate the rating — Excellent or Exceptional — but in no other way make distinctions; these were just the best damned wines I tasted and wrote about last year.
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O.K., I take that back. I will make one distinction by naming a Debut Wine of 2008. It’s the Phifer Pavitt “Date Night” 2005, Napa Valley. Here’s part of my review of this first-release cabernet sauvignon (with a touch of petit verdot) from October 3: “Almost the most notable aspect of this wine is its complete sense of confidence and presence, its liveliness and vitality, its supple expressiveness, its dark and statuesque charisma; there’s something of the ultimate reaches of the cabernet sauvignon grape about it, it’s that pure and intense.” Phifer Pavitt “Date Night” 05 the best debut wine I’ve tasted from Napa in the 21st Century. 300 cases were made. I rated it Exceptional. About $75.
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Here are my “50 Great Wines of 2008.” In a few days I’ll deliver “25 Unbeatable Bargains of 2008.”

>Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle Brut. Exceptional. About $110. (Laurent-Perrier US, Sausalito, Ca.)

>Casa de la Ermita Crianza 2004, Jumilla. Monastrell (40 percent), tempranillo (25), cabernet sauvignon (20), petit verdot (15). Excellent. About $19. (Opici Imports, Glen Rock, N.J.)

>Vidussi Podere di Spessa Ronchi di Ravez Collio Bianco 2002. 45 percent ribolla gialla, 30 percent malvasia Istriana, 20 percent friulana. Excellent. About $23. (Opici Imports, Glen Rock, N.J.)

>Morey-Blanc Meursault Boucheres Premier Cru 2005. Exceptional. About $110. (Wilson-Daniels, Napa, Ca.)

>Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc 2006, Central Coast. 75.3 percent grenache blanc, 24.7 percent roussanne. Exceptional. About $23.

>Landmark Damaris Reserve Chardonnay 2005, Carneros. Exceptional. About $35.

>Adegas d’Altamira 2006, Rias Baixas. 100 percent albarino. Excellent. About $25. (Quintessential, Napa, Ca.)

>Heller Estate Chenin Blanc 2007, Carmel Valley. Includes 11 percent riesling. Excellent. About $25.

>Henry’s Drive Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Padthaway. Excellent. About $37. (Quintessential, Napa Ca.)

>Figuero 15 Months in Barrel Reserva 2004, Ribera de Duero. 100 percent tempranillo. Excellent. About $55. (Quintessential, Napa, Ca.)

>Taconius Crianza 2002, Vinos de Madrid. 45 percent tempranillo, 40 percent cabernet sauviignon, 15 percent syrah. Excellent. About $35. (Well-Oiled Wine Co., Leesburg, Va.)

>Fournier Pere et fils Les Belle Vignes Sancerre 2005. Excellent. About $26.

>Truchard Chardonnay 2006, Carneros-Napa Valley. Exceptional. About $30.

>Truchard Pinot Noir 2005, Carneros. Excellent. About $35.

>Cavallotto Riserva Barolo San Giuseppe Bricco Boschis 2001. Excellent. About $100. (Marc de Grazia Selection for Vin DiVino, Chicago.)

>Serramarrocco Grillo del Barone 2006, Sicily. Grillo is an up-and-coming white grape in Sicily. Excellent. About $26. (Marc de Grazia Selection for Vin DiVino, Chicago.)

>Loring Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006, Santa Rita Hills. Exceptional. About $50.

>Hendrey Barrel-Fermented Chardonnay 2004, Napa Valley. Exceptional. About $26.

>Nickel & Nickel Medina Vineyard Chardonnay 2006, Russian River Valley. Exceptional. About $45.

>Renaissance Carte d’Or 2007, North Yuba, Sierra Foothills. 60 percent semillon, 40 percent sauvignon blanc. Excellent. About $20.

>Domaine Latour Beaune Vignes Franches Premier Cru 2005. Exceptional. About $55.

>Louis Latour Chambertin Grand Cru Cuvée Héritiers 2005. Exceptional. About $220.

>Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Ice Wine 2006, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario. Excellent. About $95 for a half-bottle. (Icon Estates, Napa, Ca.)

>Sausal Vineyard & Winery Zin XXXV 2006, Alexander Valley. Excellent. About $35.

>Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc 2006, Paso Robles. A Rhone-style white blend of roussanne (65 percent), grenache blanc (30) and picpoul blanc (5). Excellent. About $45.

>Vérité Le Désir 2001, Sonoma County. A blend of 48 percent merlot, 42 percent cabernet franc and 10 percent cabernet sauvignon. Exceptional. About $200.

>Louis Jadot Domaine de la Chapelle aux Loups Saint-Véran 2006. Excellent. About $18.

>Girard Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Napa Valley. About $17.

>Clos du Val Chardonnay 2006, Napa Valley. Excellent. About $24.

>Sanford Pinot Noir 2006, Santa Rita Hills. Excellent. About $34.

>Domaine Faiveley Mercurey “Clos Rochette” 2006. A white wine from this primarily red wine village. Excellent. About $34. (Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, Ca.)

>The Yard Pedestal Vineyard Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2005, Willyabrup, Western Australia. 83 percent semillon, 17 percent sauvignon blanc. Exceptional. About $25. (Tom Eddy Wines, Calistoga, Ca.)

>Bunnell Family Cellar Boushey-McPherson Syrah 2004, Wahluke Slope, Yakima Valley. Exceptional. About $44.

>Nickel & Nickel Darien Vineyard Syrah 2005, Russian River Valley. Exceptional. About $48.

>The Lane “Beginnings” Chardonnay 2005, Adelaide Hills. Exceptional. About $45. (Tom Eddy Wines, Calistoga, Ca.)

>Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005. Exceptional. About $100. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, Ala.)

>Tom Eddy Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Napa Valley. Exceptional. About $90.

>Oakville Ranch “Robert’s Blend 2004, Napa Valley. The blend is 83 percent cabernet franc, 17 percent cabernet sauvignon. Excellent. About $90.

>Mazzocco Maple Reserve Zinfandel 2005, Dry Creek Valley. Excellent. About $60.

>Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Napa Valley. Excellent. About $85.

>Foursight Wines Charles Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006, Anderson Valley. Excellent. About $46.

>Henriot Brut Millésimé 1998. Excellent. About $95. Henriot USA, New York)

>Grgich Hills Estates Merlot 2005, Napa Valley. Excellent. About $42.

>Gérard Raphet Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru Cuvée Unique 2005. Exceptional. About $125. (North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, Ca.)

>La Pousse d’Or Volnay “Clos de la Bousse” Premier Cru 2006. Excellent. About $125. (North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, Ca.)

>Amicus Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley. Excellent. About $55.

>Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon 2000, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley. Exceptional. About $39.

>Robert Weil Kiedrich Grafenberg Riesling 2005, Rheingau. Excellent. About $60.

>Robert Keenan Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Napa Valley. Excellent. About $45.

>Frank Family Vineyards Blanc de Noirs, Napa Valley. 100 percent pinot noir sparkling wine. Exceptional. About $35.
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We continue with reasonably-priced alternatives to Champagne.

The non-vintage Charles Duret Crémant de Bourgogne is composed of 70 percent pinot noir and 30 percent chardonnay grapes. Made in the venerable champagne method — or méthode traditionelle — this delicate, taut and paradoxically creamy sparkling wine offers uplifting aromas of biscuits and hazelnuts and enticing meadowy scents. It’s fashioned in a light, tight, satisfyingly effervescent manner, with a sense of lovely well-knit tone and presence. Flavors of toast and lime zest lead to a slightly spicy, limestone-etched finish. Very Good+ and Great Value at about $20.

Imported by Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, Va.

Our revels now have sort of ended, meaning that Christmas and New Year’s are over, but the Yuletide season continues until January 6th, the day of Epiphany — and boy, I could use one of those this year! — hence this “12 Days of Christmas” countdown with Champagne and sparkling wines, Twelfth Night being Epiphany Eve, if you will.

So, let’s tamp things down a bit and relax with a glass of Prosecco, the sparkling wine from northeastern Italy, mainly from the Veneto but produced in other close-by regions too. Prosecco is made in tank, that is not in the traditional champagne method, and is always non-vintage. At its worst, Prosecco, named for the grape from which it is made, is bland fizzy plonk that features a few wobbly bubbles of unseemly size; at its best, while still basically a simple quaff, it displays keen acid, bright citrus flavors and a fine mineral edge.

Such an example is the Dom Bertiol Proseccco Veneto, a superior rendition of the genre that offers a pale straw-gold color and a persistent cloud of tiny bubbles. Aromas of almond blossom and apple lead to a sparkling wine that’s clean and fresh and nicely defined. Citrus flavors are highlighted by snappy acid and a characteristic nutty-metallic blade as limestone takes over from mid-palate back through the finish. This is as close as Prosecco gets to elegance. Very Good. About $16 but often discounted to $14 or less.

Opici Import Co., Glen Rock, N.J.

Usually I cook a Southern breakfast — eggs, grits, country ham and red-eye gravy, biscuits — on Christmas morning, but this year there was some confusion about Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas Day and going to visit people Christmas afternoon, so I postponed the Big Breakfast until this morning. Before doing that, however, I got up early, fed the dogs, read the newspapers and cooked the black-eyed peas with hog jowl and greens for good luck in 2009.

Later, though, we sat down to breakfast, brunch, I guess, since it was 11:30, with a bottle of the sublime Roland Champion Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru Champagne. Yes, we always have Champagne with the Big Southern Breakfast, with orange juice and coffee, too.

Roland Champion is a small family-owned producer, now with the fourth generation, in the village of Chouilly (”shoo-ee”), which has only Grand Cru vineyards. Made from 100 percent chardonnay grapes, this Champagne offers ethereal grace and poise and harmony; if I were fighting a duel tonight, I would ask for this Champagne as my last beverage. The nose here is about the richness of warm biscuits and hazelnuts, dried fruit and spice, like a Platonic, ineffably light fruitcake; in the mouth, however, it’s about a structure that encompasses an incredible marriage of power and elegance, like the delicacy and strength of the finest bone china. And there’s something porcelain-like about this Champagne, in its notable crisp, lively character, its transparency and its slightly chalky, shale-like mineral elements. Forget the Champagnes that come on with heavy toasty, caramel qualities; here, instead, is a wealth of subtlety and nuance touched with a racy, dynamic edge. Exceptional. About $65.

Imported by Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, Va.

… I’ll post an entry about these sparkling wines from Frank Family Vineyards in Napa Valley (separate from the “12 Days of Christmas” series) because the quality is extraordinary. These sparking wines are available only at the winery or through the winery’s website, so if you live in one of the states in which direct shipment is permitted — and it should be permitted in all states — here’s your chance. Each is produced in amounts of about 400 cases.
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LL took one sniff and sip of the non-vintage Frank Family Vineyards Blanc de Noirs, Napa Valley, and said, “Can this be our house champagne?” I couldn’t disagree. Made completely from pinot noir grapes, it offers an enticing color of tarnished gold infused with pale silvery-peach; the bubbles thrust upward in a constant stream. Aromas of fresh biscuits, hazelnuts and toasted almonds, lime blossom, cinnamon toast and orange zest are irresistible. In the mouth, this sparkling wine is very crisp, very taut, to the point of austerity. It presents that paradox of warm toasty spice and yeasty elements with cool finesse and nuance. It’s almost creamy yet vibrant with acidity, and in the finish, limestone and grapefruit take over, for an exquisite frisson of spare elegance. Exceptional, balletic, inspiring, and a steal for about $35.
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The Frank Family Brut 1997, Carneros, a blend of 60 percent pinot noir and 40 percent chardonnay, rested on the lees for eight years before being disgorged and readied for release. This is a substantial sparkling wine, dense with dimension and detail, yet never heavy, never obvious. It’s very individual, with that tannic sense of hazelnut and almond skin. a whiff of resin, an astringent herbal note, like dried thyme or rosemary, but with fatness of hazelnuts, the richness of fresh-baked bread and nutty yeast. it’s certainly full-bodied yet with real acidic edge and effervescent vibrancy, bright, crisp and clean. It might be lacking a tad in the finesse department, but it’s quite impressive, regal, dignified, except for a wild, untamed note of happy eccentricity. You sort of have to smell and taste it to believe it. Excellent. About $65.
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So, it’s a little after 6 on New Year’s Eve. This is my final post for 2008. Happy New Year! Keep those cards and letters coming in for 2009. And … be careful out there tonight.
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The first person who made hash must have thought, “O.K., I have these leftover potatoes and some leftover roast, now what?” And he or she diced those leftovers, fried ‘em up together with a little onion, and voila! there was the first hash, certainly a stable of the dinner table when I was a lad.

So, I had the leftover rib-roast from Christmas dinner, with the chopped carrots and onions it had cooked in, as well as a bag of raw shredded sweet potato from a dish LL had made. “Eureka!” I thought. So, borrowing a few tips from The New Best Recipe (America’s Test Kitchen, $35), I boiled some diced potatoes in salted water with a bay leaf, and rendered some chopped bacon for the fat and flavor. Into the pan with the bacon went some chopped onions and then after five or six minutes some thyme and garlic. Then the meat, which I had diced, the potatoes, the roasted carrots and onions and a handful of the shredded sweet potato. I poured a little, I mean just a little, heavy cream into the mixture to help bind the material and then pressed it down into the pan, a non-stick skillet, with a spatula. The first image shows the hash at this stage.

What you want is for the hash to brown enough that it begins to form a crust on the bottom. Then you turn the hash over, not as one big cake but in segments, and mix the crusty part in with the rest. Do this four or five times over eight to 10 minutes so there’s a good proportion of crust throughout the mass of the hash. The second image shows the hash when the crust is starting to form and I’ve stirred it through the mixture.

When the hash gets to this point, you break an egg for each person on top, cover the pan, and let the egg cook until just set, so that when the diner sticks a fork in the yolk, it will flow across and into the hash. I like my eggs cooked more that “just set” — I’m an “over hard” egg guy — but anyway, this classic combination made a great dinner.

Thinking that a simple, delicious meal deserved a simple, delicious wine, I opened a bottle of Red truck Zinfandel 2006, Mendocino County, but it seemed out-of-character for the grape and close to bland, so we abandoned it and opened the Henry’s Drive Pillar Box Red 2007, from Padthaway in Australia. This is a shame. The Red Truck label was created by Cline Cellars in 2002 to handle an inexpensive blend of syrah, petite sirah, cabernet franc, mourvèdre and grenache; the wine was robust and flavorful and deservedly popular. The Red Truck brand was sold to 585 Wine Partners in 2005 and is now an expanded line-up that includes zinfandel, petite sirah, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio; do Americans love pinot grigio so much that every cheap label has to offer one? The Red Truck wines sell for about $11. The puzzle is that one of Red Truck’s stablemates at 585 Wine Partners is a winery, Picket Fence, where Don Van Staaveren crafts wonderful sauvignon blanc and pinot noir.

Pillar Box Red 2007 is a blend of syrah (shiraz) 65 percent, cabernet sauvignon 25 percent and merlot 10 percent. It’s hearty, spicy, dark and flavorful, bursting with intense and concentrated black currant, black cherry and plum fruit that becomes more roasted and fleshy as the moments pass. There’s a core of tar and bitter chocolate, and a sort of root tea element permeated by briers and brambles. It was terrific with the hash. Very Good and great value. About $12.

Numerous people, perhaps millions, will rush out tonight in a mad abandoned attempt to bring a dismal year to a close and welcome a year that has so many expectations attached to it that if it had any sense it would stay in its cave and never come out. If ever a year was required to be All Things to All People, 2009 is it. So good luck.

New Year’s Eve requires bubbles, and assuming that you’re not going to go out and get so drunk in your search for oblivion that you don’t give a good goddamn about what you slosh into your mouth, here are some recommendations.
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Say you’re hosting a party the size of which would accommodate the complete cast of The Wire (including Snoop, Chris and Omar), what you want is something decent, tasty and affordable to purchase by the case. Turn to the non-vintage Domaine Laurier Brut which, despite its French name, is from California and one of the better products of Fred Franzia’s Bronco Wine Corp. This sparkling wine, made in the traditional champagne method, is a medium gold color and offers a consistent and satisfying up-rush of tiny bubbles. Aromas of wheatmeal, lime and almond blossom presage a wine that is spare, clean, lively, citrusy and close to elegant. Very Good and a bargain at about $12. That’s the suggested retail price, but you find this sparkler discounted as low as $9.
Image from insidebayarea.com.
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Looking for more character at a higher but still reasonable price? Try the delightful “metodo classico” non-vintage Rotari Rosé, a blend of 75 percent pinot noir and 25 percent chardonnay from Italy’s northeastern Trento region. The color is an entrancing pale copper-salmon; the bubbles insist on pin-point persistence. The wine is unexpectedly (for the price) rich, meaty and earthy, with a bouquet of spiced apple, melon, blood orange and almond skin. The effervescence is giddy; the acidity clean and crisp; flavors tend toward fresh bread, lime and limestone, with the stony aspect increasing on the finish. Very Good+ and a Great Bargain at about $14.
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O.K., well, let’s forget all the freaking fiscal austerity and pretend that, as the old song from the Depression goes (you know, the other Depression), we’re in the money, and that maybe tonight’s festivity is aimed at a small group or even just two. It would be fitting, then, to open a bottle of the Taittinger Brut Millésimé 2002, a cool, elegant Champagne — half and half pinot noir and chardonnay –that will leave you feeling optimistic and (fleetingly) wealthy. The color is pale gold with a shimmer of silver; the bubbles are classically tiny, like seething flecks of celestial ore. Aromas of warm bread, dried spice, lemon pie and meadow honey draw you in. The texture is exquisitely poised between crisp nervosity and creamy lushness, with flavors packing hints of baked apple, lemon curd, crystallized ginger and orange rind wrapped in toasty bread, all of this subdued to the resonance of liquid limestone. A Champagne of tremendous breeding and finesse. Excellent. About $90.
Imported by Kobrand Corp., Purchase, N.Y.
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Since New Year’s Eve is the biggest champagne and sparkling wine night of the year, let me append some tips on proper serving.

1. Champagne and sparkling wine should be served chilled, straight from the refrigerator.

2. They should be consumed in tall “flute” glasses, not the shallow “coupe” glasses said to have been modeled on one of Marie Antoinette’s breasts. I wonder which one.

3. Never try to open a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine with a cork-screw. Strip off the foil capsule and untwist the wire cage that surrounds the cork. With a dish towel or napkin over the bottle, grasp the cork in one hand and the bottom of the bottle in the other. Extract the cork by twisting the bottle, not the cork.

4. Now matter how plastered you are or how much hilarity you anticipate, NEVER push the cork out with your thumbs, hoping for a loud POP, a gush of foam and a cork careening about the room. The pressure inside a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine is enormous, and the cork will rush out at great speed and force, enough to damage an eye.

5. Champagne and sparkling wines are versatile enough to be served with all sorts of party foods and dinner courses, but the best beverage to go with caviar is chilled vodka.

Must the world be one big freaking conundrum?

Example. Many authorities say that cachaça (”ka-SHA-zha”), the national spirit of Brazil, should not be called rum, or a kind of rum, because it’s distilled from pure sugar cane juice and not from molasses. Many rums, however, are made from sugar cane juice, and, besides, the bottle of Leblon Cachaça that I used to make caipirinhas (kai-pur-EEN-ya) this weekend says, very clearly, “Brazilian Rum.”

O.K., here’s another. The two books I consulted on making a caipirinha — New Classic Cocktails by Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan (Macmillian, 1997) and Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century by Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead (Viking, 1998), each excellent in its way — took different approaches to the drink, the first recommending granulated sugar and the second simple syrup, while each book offered a radically different method of making simple syrup. The Regans call for two cups of granulated sugar and two cups of water, and the water is not to boil. Harrington and Moorhead call for two cups of sugar and one cup of water that boils. Hmmm, must we do thermal violence to create simple syrup? I chose to follow Harrington and Moorhead’s proportion of sugar to water, but heeded the Regan’s injunction against boiling the water. I allowed the water to simmer and stirred the entire time, so the sugar dissolved and the mixture thickened and clarified. Simple syrup keeps in the fridge, in a tightly closed glass jar, forever.

No Brazilian would make a caipirinha with simple syrup, but granulated sugar in Brazil is more finely granulated than its counterpart in the U.S., akin to what we call superfine sugar, so the simple syrup came in handy. To test a theory, I made two caipirinhas, one with sugar and one with simple syrup. The glass with the cut limes and granulated sugar required pretty strenuous muddling to get the sugar to dissolve. In truth, the caipirinha made with simple syrup was more intense than the one made with sugar.

Thousands of brands of cachaça are available in Brazil, in styles ranging from raw, rustic and fiery to more elegant artisanal efforts. The stuff used to be hard to find in the U.S.A., but “drink-builders” around the country have come to value its versatility in the creation of signature cocktails and its relatively light fruitiness compared to rum, though don’t mistake cachaça for a wallflower; it’s powerful goods.

Leblon Cachaça is a fairly new brand in this country. The distiller is Gilles Merlet from Cognac, and indeed the distillate, after going through the copper alembic pot stills, ages six months in used Cognac barrels. The result is a cachaça that seems smooth and concentrated and slightly spicy. While elegance and seamlessness may be the target, this product still retains something wild and florid, grassy and earthy; it hasn’t forgotten its roots in the sugar cane fields of Patos de Minas.

The caipirinha itself presents a conundrum. The combination of the keen acidity of the limes and the sweetness of the sugar is a paradox of bracing effect, sending the taste buds into search-and-rescue overdrive before you say, “Whoa, that’s incredibly refreshing!”