Corrupt Review: Westborn

Celebrate Our 250th with a Truly Great Sparkling Wine

In 1978, Sir John Bagot Glubb, who served in the British military from 1915 to 1956 to intimidate people from making fun of his name, wrote The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival. In that book, he posits that empires don’t make it past ten human generations, or 250 years.

He predicted the same for America, which was generous, considering 1978 was stagflation, the Love Canal disaster, John Wayne Gacy, and the Harvey Milk assassination.

“The life history of the United States has followed the standard pattern which we shall attempt to trace—the periods of the pioneers, of commerce, of affluence, of intellectualism and of decadence.”

That’s right, decadence! This is the best period to live in America. To do American decadence correctly, we’ll need sparkling wine. A homemade one befitting our late-stage empire: Westborn.

California winemaker Russell Bevan teamed up with nearly as famous winemakers Weston Eidson and Nathan Reeves to make a sparkling wine. These are badass winemakers who don’t care about stuff like backlighting.

They bought grapes from prestigious vineyards that they have access to largely because of their reputations. Then they had endless discussions about how to blend this ridiculous number of different growers’ grapes.

Their goal was to make wines that compete with Champagne. And they really did. Better yet, unlike most Champagnes, Westborn bottles come tightly wrapped in paper, which is the best way to receive anything. It’s basically how they hand you a baby in the hospital.

They call their basic sparkler Perpetual Reserve, since they’re using a solera system. So each year has a little bit of the previous years’ blends, which they hope will build complexity. I had their second bottling, the NV 02, and it had Champagne-level tiny bubbles and precision. It still tasted a little like California, with the rich fruit, though it’s got the acidity to balance it. It’s not malty brioche toasty, but so clean. Not to question Sir John Bagot Glubb, but it’s more classy than decadent.

They also sent me a 2018 Brut, a 2019 Blanc de Blancs, and a 2019 Rosé, which are their premium wines. The Blanc de Blancs (100% chardonnay) was maybe a little more lush and apple-y than the Perpetual Reserve, but it seemed pretty similar. Which means that there’s a house style, but also that I don’t know much about sparkling wine.

There’s not much of it out there, and it’s not cheap ($75 for the Perpetual Reserve if you shop well; up to $150 for the others), but hey, it’s America’s birthday. And we don’t have much time.