Cooking & Entertaining

Better with Bubbles: An Effervescent Education in Champagnes & Sparkling Wines

A deep dive into the world of Champagne and sparkling wine, with tips, information, and irreverent inspiration that will empower you to pop some bubbly anytime, anywhere.

"Champagne and I have something in common: What if anything is possible?"
In the hands of Air's Champagne Parlor owner Ariel Arce, sparkling wine is magic: It makes music sound better, clothes feel sexier, people look hotter, big ideas seem possible. It's a legal drug that lets you get a little loose, fly high on effervescence. It's a mischievous potion that was created out of an accident in the 1600s, whose mysteries we are still drawn to today. Drawing on Arce's decade of experience selling, tasting, and proselytizing, Pop Bottles educates, amuses, inspires, and empowers us to make Champagne and sparkling a go-to.
Divided into two sections (one for Champagne, the other on sparkling wines from around the world), Pop Bottles dispenses with dry backstory and tedious tasting notes in favor of a rollicking, visual tour of the universe of bubbly. Discover your palate through a choose-your-own-adventure tasting guide; learn what to wear (and not wear) to a vineyard; and learn how to throw a Champagne pizza party. The sparkling section will cover dominant sparkling regions (Italy, Spain, and elsewhere in France), along with exciting newer players like England, America, Australia, and Japan.

About The Author

Dubbed the "Champagne Empress of Greenwich Village" by the New York Times and a "Champagne mogul" by Vogue, Ariel Arce is a restauranteur and owner of Air's Champagne Parlor, Tokyo Record Bar, Niche Niche, and Special Club in New York. She previously worked as the wine director of Birds & Bubbles, and at cult Chicago cocktail venue, The Office at the Aviary.

  • Publish Date: November 03, 2020
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Category: Cooking - Beverages - Alcoholic - Wine
  • Publisher: Universe
  • Trim Size: 8 x 10-1/2
  • Pages: 192
  • US Price: $39.95
  • CDN Price: $53.95
  • ISBN: 978-0-7893-3957-7

Reviews

Better with Bubbles is meant to keep you up at night—writing a grocery list for your next bubbles-inspired soirée, updating your Spotify with Arce’s sparkling soundtracks, booking your plane ticket to the motherland to follow her road map of the best sips and eats, and compiling a wish list of bottles from her recommendations. What’s most refreshing is how Arce approaches a product that is viewed as a luxury. Her personality is what ultimately sets this book apart: outgoing, humble and witty.
— WINE & SPIRITS MAGAZINE

"For many of us, the holiday season is, among other things, an excuse to up our intake of champagne. Content to just grab the nearest bottle of Möet, most people don't bother to do much research on the subject prior to quaffing it, however. Ariel Arce is here to change that. Arce, who was once dubbed the "Champagne Empress of Greenwich Village" by the New York Times, is a restauranteur and owner of Air's Champagne Parlor, Tokyo Record Bar, Niche Niche, and Special Club in New York, among others. And now she's an author as well, with a cool new book out from Universe called Better with Bubbles: An Effervescent Education in Champagnes & Sparkling Wines."
—AIROWS.COM 

"To say that restaurateur Ariel Arce knows champagne would be an understatement. As the owner of New York City’s Tokyo Record Bar, Air’s Champagne Parlor, Niche Niche, and Special Club, she believes that sparkling wine shouldn’t be reserved just for life’s most important moments but should instead be enjoyed on a regular basis. Champagne, in Arce’s expert opinion, can transform the most mundane of activities into one of pure magic, and her new book “Better with Bubbles” shows exactly how. Drawing on a decade of experience tasting, selling, and learning about champagne, the book educates readers on the beverage’s illustrious history and how it differs across various regions, entertains and inspires with a choose-your-own-adventure tasting guide, and empowers us to make sparkling wine a bigger part of our lives." —FORBES.COM 

"A magical deep dive into Champagne and sparkling wines from Ariel Arce, owner of NYC's Air's Champagne Parlor, this book is a visual tour of all the bubbly to know and choose-your-own-adventure tasting guide. Cheers!" — MARTHA STEWART LIVING

"...this must-have addition to your wine book library is a fun read. You won’t even realize how much you’re learning, since you’ll be laughing so much. The book is chock full of interesting facts and stories about Champagne and its bubbly cousins from around the world." —THE WINE CHEF

Author Bookshelf: Ariel Arce