Mumm’s the word to celebrate Cubs spring training

One of the most soul-stirring phrases a major league baseball fan can hear in the wintertime is “Pitchers and catchers report on …”

The phrase is always followed by a calendar date — the date that the first players on any major league team are required to be present and accounted for at spring training. It sets in motion yet another season of America’s pastime. The slate has been wiped clean and everyone is equal again, despite the towering odds in favor of some teams. At least everyone has zero wins and zero losses, and no one has a crystal ball. Hope springs eternal in Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Man,” and in baseball, spring is an eternal source of hope.

For the World Series champion Chicago Cubs, pitchers and catchers report Feb. 14, and it’s safe to assume that dozens of readers’ hearts just swooned for one of two reasons — either for the phrase, “pitchers and catchers report on …” or for the mention of “Feb. 14.” More on that date later, but first, weren’t the Cubs goggled-up and spraying each other with fizzy wine just a few months ago? And now we’re starting up all over again? Scenes from a good old locker room wine fight never get old — as long as your team is doing the spraying. For wine people, though, it’s enough to cause a shiver. We love to celebrate as much as pro baseball players do, but we’d rather drink the bubbles than wear them.

All of that good wine hitting the floor and the ceiling? Imagine how well it would have paired with oysters or some canapes? Those guys have to be hungry after a game, don’t they? The winners in every sport are going to continue to spray and guzzle bubbly, and the Indy 500 winners are going to keep taking a healthy swig of milk. After all — they’re driving. If you’re like me, you probably don’t care whether that Indy milk is whole, 2 percent or skim, but you do wonder exactly what kind of bubbles the Cubs half-wasted on that historic November night in Cleveland.

Was it Dom Perignon or Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame? This was the World Series — are we talking Louis Roederer Cristal or Krug Clos du Mesnil? Sweet heavens, just what kind of precious fizz were they spraying? It turns out that it was none of those rare and precious bottlings. It was Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, and it retails for $22 a bottle.

In case you were wondering — and you were because you’re into wine — it is made of 45 percent chardonnay, 45 percent pinot noir and 10 percent pinot gris/pinot meunier, in the traditional method. According to my sources close to the matter, this is also the bubbly the San Francisco Giants celebrated with when they won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and if Napa and Sonoma had an official baseball team, it would be the San Francisco Giants.

For the sake of research, I tracked down a bottle of my own Mumm Napa Brut Prestige. I stuck it in my fridge for a few hours, imagined that I had reached the pinnacle of my chosen profession, and then shook it up and sprayed it all over my kitchen and myself. I chugged some of it, poured some on my head, then stood for an imaginary interview, pretending to be harassed from behind by fellow revelers and supporters as I struggled to maintain my composure and strained to hear the interviewer’s questions. Actually, most of that is untrue, but I did open the bottle and taste it.

How to open a Champagne bottle with a steak knife

Sommelier Belinda Chang, a partner at Gold Coast steakhouse Maple & Ash, demonstrates how to saber a bottle of Champagne. Dec. 28, 2016 (Roger Morales / Chicago Tribune)

It was fresh and citrusy, with notes of bread crust, apples and pears. It had zingy acidity and a lively, creamy mousse of bubbles. It was refreshing and fun — perfect for celebrating a world championship. Plus it’s American, like baseball. At 12.5 percent alcohol, the bigger guys on the Cubs, like Rizzo, Heyward, Lester and Bryant, could have drunk a bottle each and barely been buzzed. They probably didn’t smell or taste much that night except for victory and satisfaction, but if you are one of the many who have vowed to drink more sparkling wine this year, this is a good place to start, no matter which team you’re rooting for this summer.

If you do happen to be a Cubs fan, now you’ll know exactly which bottles to stock come fall, especially if you believe the early hype that favors the Cubs to win it all again. I mean, you buy the hats and jerseys they wear. You bought the T-shirt they donned after Game 7 of the World Series and then soaked with fizz. Why not buy the actual sparkling wine too?

Start things off right by opening a bottle Feb. 14 — the day pitchers and catchers report to Arizona — or because of the other celebration that occurs on that day. Bubbles go great with flowers and lovey-dovey greeting cards. If Cupid has stung you deep and you’re thinking about a lifetime contract for your star partner, when the Cubs do their World Series ring ceremony on opening day at Wrigley Field, do a ring ceremony of your own, accompanied by a bottle of World Series fizz.