A sparkling summer, more casual than Champagne

San Francisco has its share of kooks. Maybe you just walked by some wild-eyed dude, ranting about how you should drink bubbles all year long.

That might have been me. Sparkling wine brings out my Upper Haight side. Come summer, my zeal is only amplified.

I love fizzy wine, and I’m fine with that. But at the risk of drawing friendly fire, I’ll posit that now is not an ideal time for Champagne. Don’t worry, ye potentates of Reims: I still guzzle the stuff throughout the R-less months.

However, great Champagne comes with a gravitas that’s not entirely summery. It’s the difference between pleasure and fun.

Prosecco? Mebbe. Pop it by the pool on a sweltering day if you like, but Prosecco’s milquetoast ways don’t bring much else to the party. Its best summer argument? Peach season. Bellini Road should be lined with fresh peaches.

Right now, though, my thoughts turn to a broader diversity of fizzy wines. Today, most Old World wine regions have found a way to express themselves in sparkling form.

Same here in California. Homegrown bubbles have been a sleepy corner in recent years, in part because the equipment required to produce sparkling wine was expensive and in short supply. But a handful of new production facilities recently opened their doors. California bubbles are rapidly becoming a more populist product.

Suddenly we have a handful of small-production Golden State fizzes, sealed in crown caps more often than corks. They do both pleasure and fun, but fun leads. As evidenced by the fact that one describes itself as “bottle conditioned” on the back, these share as much kinship with good craft beer as with Champagne.

Many local winemakers got inspiration from counterparts overseas — not only in the use of random grapes (Carignane, Cabernet Franc) but also the process of petillant naturel. If Champagne is made by inducing a second fermentation in the bottle, followed by long aging, “pet-nat” is a wine of the moment: less aging, with the fizz from carbon dioxide naturally created in the bottle at the end of an original fermentation.

One final summer thought: You’ll notice a proliferation of red grapes here. That’s not because I heart pink wine (although I do). It’s because the tannins in red grapes are your friend in a season of barbecue and burgers.

These are made for an evening on the porch. Use as directed.

2013 Los Pilares San Diego County Sparkling Muscat ($24, 12% alcohol): It’s in short supply, but this team of SoCal pioneers decided to bottle a bit of dry Muscat — a grape with a long San Diego history, in fact — with bubbles. Don’t think Moscato. This shares a spirit with a great saison beer. Lees suspended in the bottle add the perfect weight to a balance of blossomy Muscat, nectarine and a watermelon-like ripeness.

NV Domaine Robert Serol Turbullent Vin Mousseux de Qualité ($22.50, 8.5%): Further evidence of Gamay Noir’s colorful life beyond Beaujolais. Stephane Serol and his family work outside Roanne, at the very eastern end of the Loire, and their pale pink off-dry fizz is pure joyousness. Its bounty of muddled raspberry flavors gets seriousness from a crushed-stone mineral side, and subtlety from apricot-pit and clove grace notes. (Importer: Joli Vin)

NV Filipa Pato 3B Rosé Metodo Tradicional ($18, 11.5%): Pato is the daughter of Portuguese wine talent Luis Pato, but decided to strike out on her own. Two of the B’s are red Baga and white Bical, key grapes of the Bairrada region, which constitutes the third B. It brings forward a mustard-seed and caraway savory side, and a salty kick, to add interest to almost meaty flavors: plump berries, fresh nectarine. (Importer: Winewise)

2010 Francois Chidaine Vouvray Petillant ($21, 12.5%): Chidaine is based in Montlouis, directly across the Loire from Vouvray, but either way, Chenin Blanc is his metier. This shows the grape’s warm apple skin aroma, with a great white-stone mineral edge and sweet lime, and just the tiniest hint of sweetness to soften Chenin’s bite. A traditional second fermentation has engendered a refinement to the bubbles. (Importer: Beaune Imports)

2011 Broc Cellars Alexander Valley Sparkling Carignan($30, 11.7%): More unexpected but happy triage from cold 2011. Berkeley’s Chris Brockway had a particularly lean lot of Carignane, so when it finally fermented, he bottled it with a spoonful of sugar to create the fizz, then waited for it to mellow. It falls between dark rosé and a light red, with a bone-dry quality — crushed cranberries, black sesame seeds, dried shiso leaves. Barbecue, sure, but also commend it to a good turmeric-accented curry.

NV Dominique Joseph Cab a Bulles Le Petit Saint Vincent Sparkling Rosé ($21, 12.5%): Joseph is based in the Loire’s Saumur, hence the use of Cabernet Franc. You see where that grape’s herbal ways could fail spectacularly in fizzy form, if not for the fact that this works charmingly well. A hint of sweet fruit — muddled blueberries — balances those Cabernet notes: ancho chile, carob, anise, crushed raspberry leaves. (Importer: Sacred Thirst Selections)