Bubbly!
Well, I'm back after traveling for the Christmas holiday, and what a lot of champagnes and sparkling wines have been tasted! I'm sorry to report that I wasn't able to take notes on some, but I managed to jot down or remember a little bit from 2 champagnes and 3 sparkling wines that I tasted over the course of a solid week of revelry. So here we go:
Duval-Leroy Brut: Was good, but not the most memorable. Dry, peaches? but not a lot of fruit, rounded flavor. This one was a little hard to remember because I drank it at about 11pm on Christmas Eve, and so had plenty of other things on my mind. :-)
Piper-Heidsieck cuvée Brut: Mmmm, tasty. Very crisp, lots of big bubbles. Apricots, bread dough, something herbal. Again, I spent more time enjoying it than analysing it, this one having been opened about an hour before Christmas dinner. We drank it as an aperitif for the whole family. The only complaint: there was only enough for everyone to have just one glass!
Ferrari Brut: To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about this one either (and lost the notes I had on it), but I remember enough to tell you that it was darn good and thinking that I would buy some for myself if I found it at the price my mother got it for: $22, which was exceedingly reasonable for the quality of the wine. Sadly, I'm not sure how easy it will be, since the local wine shop had it for sale as an introductory promotional offer. It's always like that isn't it? They get you hooked and then they make you pay!
There was also an unfortunate incident with a sparkling rose that was sweet and had a strong smell of sulfur that drowned out anything else about the wine. It was like drinking a pink fart. I wish I could find the notes where I jotted down the name, so I won't ever make the mistake of buying it.
A very nice surprise, for a reasonable everyday wine price ($12), was the Gruet Methode Champenoise Brut. Green apples, sourdough bread, very bubbly with small bubbles. (The small bubbles in this one were an interesting comparison to the big bubbles in the Piper-Heidsieck.) I highly recommend this if you want a good sparkling wine without breaking your wallet's back. To be honest, I liked this one better than the Duval-Leroy, in spite of the modest price. The wine is from New Mexico, something I thought was kind of weird, but now I know better and will be keeping my eye out for more from the Gruet winery.
There was also a bottle of the infamous Gallo creation André, which my my ne'er do well college friends mixed with orange juice for mimosas, a perfect choice for such a raucous event. A little bit of peach schnapps in the mimosas put extra color in our cheeks. I have no idea how the wine itself actually tasted, but we had a hell of a lot of fun drinking it. (chuckle)
So there you have it, a rundown of the champagnes and sparkling wines of Christmas week. As you can tell, they ran the gamut. I'll admit, at the start of that week I wasn't much one for champagne or sparkling wines, but now that I've had more practice I've acquired a better appreciation and a genuine pleasure in drinking them.
Duval-Leroy Brut: Was good, but not the most memorable. Dry, peaches? but not a lot of fruit, rounded flavor. This one was a little hard to remember because I drank it at about 11pm on Christmas Eve, and so had plenty of other things on my mind. :-)
Piper-Heidsieck cuvée Brut: Mmmm, tasty. Very crisp, lots of big bubbles. Apricots, bread dough, something herbal. Again, I spent more time enjoying it than analysing it, this one having been opened about an hour before Christmas dinner. We drank it as an aperitif for the whole family. The only complaint: there was only enough for everyone to have just one glass!
Ferrari Brut: To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about this one either (and lost the notes I had on it), but I remember enough to tell you that it was darn good and thinking that I would buy some for myself if I found it at the price my mother got it for: $22, which was exceedingly reasonable for the quality of the wine. Sadly, I'm not sure how easy it will be, since the local wine shop had it for sale as an introductory promotional offer. It's always like that isn't it? They get you hooked and then they make you pay!
There was also an unfortunate incident with a sparkling rose that was sweet and had a strong smell of sulfur that drowned out anything else about the wine. It was like drinking a pink fart. I wish I could find the notes where I jotted down the name, so I won't ever make the mistake of buying it.
A very nice surprise, for a reasonable everyday wine price ($12), was the Gruet Methode Champenoise Brut. Green apples, sourdough bread, very bubbly with small bubbles. (The small bubbles in this one were an interesting comparison to the big bubbles in the Piper-Heidsieck.) I highly recommend this if you want a good sparkling wine without breaking your wallet's back. To be honest, I liked this one better than the Duval-Leroy, in spite of the modest price. The wine is from New Mexico, something I thought was kind of weird, but now I know better and will be keeping my eye out for more from the Gruet winery.
There was also a bottle of the infamous Gallo creation André, which my my ne'er do well college friends mixed with orange juice for mimosas, a perfect choice for such a raucous event. A little bit of peach schnapps in the mimosas put extra color in our cheeks. I have no idea how the wine itself actually tasted, but we had a hell of a lot of fun drinking it. (chuckle)
So there you have it, a rundown of the champagnes and sparkling wines of Christmas week. As you can tell, they ran the gamut. I'll admit, at the start of that week I wasn't much one for champagne or sparkling wines, but now that I've had more practice I've acquired a better appreciation and a genuine pleasure in drinking them.
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