Fizzy Fox

Today I tried Fox & Fox Mayfield Tradition 2014 Blanc de Noirs. It gets style points for the embossed fox on the neck foil - very cute. I really enjoyed the flavor, tart grapes and sour cherries, a bit of ripe apple, and just a touch of shortcrust pastry to balance the fruit. It was fizzy rather than bubbly, but it had loads of fizz that lasted through the glass and to the end of the bottle. This is a very fun English sparkler, one that I would drink again and would recommend to others.

A number of notes

I'm behind in my blogging, so here are notes on a few bottles we've had over the past weeks, lots of English sparklers: Hundred Hills Blanc de Blanc 2017 - fantastic, tart, fresh-lemon flavor, incredibly refreshing. Sadly, not enough bubbles, a very light fizz, but not enough to justify the price of this bottle. Rathfinny Blanc de Noirs 2016 - lots of orchard fruit flavors, crunchy tart apples, juicy ripe plums. This wine had the bare minimum of bubbles that I find acceptable in a sparkling wine, so I would buy this again. Roebuck Estates Classic Cuvee 2014 - a very strong and crisp bramley apple flavor, loads of bubbles. This was good with food (we were eating dim sum with it), but it might have been a little too one-note and heavy to enjoy on its own. Coates & Seely Rose NV - This is a favorite that we discovered when we lived in the UK 10 years ago. It was just as lovely as we remembered. Very fine and plentiful bubbles, lots of summer fruit but not sweet, and a crisp finish. I'm so excited to be able to buy this wine again.

Effervescent rather than bubbly

Last night I tried a bottle of cava from the mixed case we ordered from Hedonism Wines. This was the Cordoniu ARS Collecta 2015 Blanc de Noirs Gran Reserva. I selected this bottle because I have had good luck in the past with Cordoniu cavas. They tend to be good value and usually very drinkable. The inclusion of a blanc de noir grape mixed with more traditional cava grapes sparked my interest, too. This particular bottle had a lovely flavor - light, crisp, and very "cava-y" with a note of spearmint that I associate with cava. Despite the cork being firmly stuck in the bottle and needing wrestling out, the bubbles themselves were disappointing, though. I'm actually hard-pressed to say this cava had bubbles - it was more effervescent/slightly fizzy, which is such a no-no for me. If you're not that keen on bubbly wines, this would be fine for you. If, like me, you like your bubbles bubbly, this is sadly not the wine.

Thank you, Pride Parade

It's been years since I posted...but I'm back where the blog started, in a country where the bubbles are interesting and the options plentiful. So, it's time to start tracking what we're drinking again. This weekend held unexpected surprises. We were trying to go shopping on Saturday, but needed to cross Piccadilly to get to the store. Little did we know there would be one million people in London for the Pride parade that took place on...Picadilly. GO PRIDE! But not so great for our shopping venture, as we couldn't get across the street and we were on a schedule. My brillant husband turned us back toward Hedonism Wines, a shop I had never visited. Fabulous place, incredible selection of bubbles. Instead of buying the tie that he needed, we ended up with a case of bubbles instead. As we were paying, I noticed their refrigerator case had half bottles of bubbles. While we can't remember whose idea this was, we decided to buy a half bottle of Mestres Visol cava to drink while we walked. Hey, it was Pride weekend, the two of us drinking cava out of the bottle while we walked up the street didn't attract the slightest bit of attention. We had high hopes, as the person who rang us up at the shop had told us that the Mestres brand was highly regarded in the world of cava. We didn't love it, though, as it was very heavy, with what I can only describe as an unclean taste. It had a little fizz to start, but didn't hold it's bubbles. I'm a little nervous, as we bought a bottle of the Mestres Rose in our case. Fingers crossed that we enjoy that one a little more. To make up for our disappointment, when we got home, we opened a bottle of Digby Leander Pink that I had purchased on sale at Waitrose for GBP24. We loved it. Crunchy, crisp red fruit, not at all sweet. Plentiful bubbles that lasted. I was pleased, as I knew nothing about the wine when I purchased it, and it was surprisingly good and great value for the price. Looking forward to trying more from this maker.

Not Prosecco

I spotted a bottle of voile blanche brut sparkling verdicchio in the store the other day. Somewhat unusual, so I had to try it. I liked it more than my husband did, he found it too acidic for his taste. It is a wine with bubbles (and decent bubbles!) rather than a champagne or a Prosecco. It had good orchard fruit flavor, with lots of crisp, juicy pear. This was complemented by a bit of mint, not too strong. It lacked finish, just disappearing fizzily from the mouth. It was a good accompaniment to some fresh apple crisp, with the sweetness of the dessert balancing the acidity of the wine. I don't know that I would buy it again, but it was interesting to try once.

Lovely Cava

My cousin very kindly treated me to take-out sushi for dinner, so I pulled a bottle of cava from the fridge to drink with it. This was Naveran Dama Vintage 2009, a pricey bottle for a cava, at $25, but totally worth it. Surprisingly for a cava, this is predominantly chardonnay mixed with a little bit of parellada grapes. You can taste this in the flavor - this wine reminded me much more of a champagne than any other cava I've ever had. It was crisp and apple-y, with tiny bubbles and a very clean but fruity finish. It had great balance, very little sweetness, and no sour or tart notes. The bubbles of this wine weren't bad, either, a steady stream that was just starting to disappear at the end of my glass. This was very good with our sushi, and would be equally good on its own as an aperitif. I liked this a lot, it is my new favourite cava.

A Good Week

I had a good week last week...two new sparklers to report, and one was really good.

The first was Scharffenberger Brut Excellence, a Californian sparkling wine made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. This had a nice start, with a bit of lemon meringue pie and yeast flavor and good bubbles. But it had a sweet finish, too sweet for my taste. A bit disappointing.

The second was a champagne, Bernard Tornay Brut Millesime 2002. This had the most wonderful ripe apple flavor with just the right amount of tartness at the finish. It was a fantastic match to the apple crumble with almonds that I made, the rich crispness of the champagne complimenting the oaty, nutty, sweetness of the dessert perfectly. This wine had good bubbles, too, so it was definitely a do-over. One to try if you haven't already.