A Nice Surprise

Majestic Wine has been having special offers on champagnes and sparkling wines recently, so my husband and I went there to see if we could find enough interesting or good bottles at the right price to buy in the quantity that Majestic requires. While we didn't have any problem filling our quota, we were stumped by one of the wines on offer - Greenpoint's Brut Rose, a chardonnay/pinot noir blend. It goes back to our being reverse wine snobs. Techically, Greenpoint is a Moet & Chandon wine. While we always know in our heads that it will probably be very nice, in our hearts we think that we should buy something from a smaller maker because it will be more interesting.

The price point sold us, though and we bought two bottles for around £22.

I'm not sure why, but out of all of the different bottles we bought, the Greepoint was the first thing my husband put in the fridge when we got home. So on Friday, having had a long and busy week, and having agreed that we'd order in some curry for dinner, we popped it open while we relaxed and waited for our food.

What a nice surprise! Out of all of the bubbles we've drunk recently, and despite this being a rose, on opening, this was the yeastiest wine we've had in a long time. As it warmed up, the summer berry flavours took over, with a very strong raspberry coming through. Not only was this a great sipper, but it stood up well to our curry, not a small feat for a sparkling wine. Oh, and I can't forget to mention, this had great bubbles!

Ordinarily, a single bottle of this would cost about the same as a vintage Pelorus. My husband and I decided that at that price, we might prefer to sip on the Pelorus. But the Greenpoint was pretty unbeatable with strongly-flavoured food, so I would definitely purchase and serve it again. I'm glad we have another bottle tucked away!