On our recent visit to Majestic Wine, my husband selected a bottle of champagne that I ordinarily would not have bought - the demi-sec Carte Blanche from Louis Roederer. I'm not a big fan of sweet champagnes, but he was keen to try it, so we put a bottle into our mixed case.
We drank it on Saturday with a flavour-ful red Thai chicken curry and it was a surprisingly good pairing. The champagne had a clean, fruity-sweetness to it - tasting of very ripe fall fruits like apples and pears - and lots of bubbles so that the sweetness didn't cling to the palate for too long. While I don't think I could just sip this wine on its own, it was a great match with the mild spice and coconut of the curry. I was amazed that I liked it as much as I did. Well done to my husband for insisting we try a bottle.
Monday, 13 July 2009
Monday, 6 July 2009
An Explosive Bubbly
I was at Selfridges the other day, and had a quick look around their wine department. It's the sort of place that I like, as they always have something a little different. On this occasion, I received high praise when I took my selected bottle, a blanc de noirs champagne called Inflorescence to the register - apparently it's the most interesting bottle of bubbly they have at the moment, with Bouchard, the maker, having produced only 2000 bottles.
We opened it yesterday, as my husband was trying out the new smoker equipment he bought for the BBQ and had prepared some absolutely amazing and perfectly cooked smoked duck legs (the skin was crunchy, the meat was tender, moist, and well-flavored, I can't wait for him to make them again!). The wine didn't let the food down. It was very clean, with the complex flavours of honey but none of the sweetness. It had a creamy-smooth and very long finish with a mild toastiness to it. The only down-side was that it was so bubbly it literally exploded in my hands when I opened the bottle (and trust me, I've opened enough bottles that my technique is pretty good!) - I wound up drenched in champagne which was such a waste.
I'll be buying another bottle of this the next time I'm at Selfridges, hoping that they don't sell out before I get back!
We opened it yesterday, as my husband was trying out the new smoker equipment he bought for the BBQ and had prepared some absolutely amazing and perfectly cooked smoked duck legs (the skin was crunchy, the meat was tender, moist, and well-flavored, I can't wait for him to make them again!). The wine didn't let the food down. It was very clean, with the complex flavours of honey but none of the sweetness. It had a creamy-smooth and very long finish with a mild toastiness to it. The only down-side was that it was so bubbly it literally exploded in my hands when I opened the bottle (and trust me, I've opened enough bottles that my technique is pretty good!) - I wound up drenched in champagne which was such a waste.
I'll be buying another bottle of this the next time I'm at Selfridges, hoping that they don't sell out before I get back!
Lazy Days of Summer
I have to admit - I've been slacking. Not in drinking bubbly, of course, but in writing about it. Two bottles have gone unreported in June:
We had a friend from the US visiting, and although he's more of a pub-goer while he's here, in his honor we popped open our last bottle of Quartet to celebrate his last days with us. It seemed fitting to drink an American bubbly with an American friend.
About a week later, we drank one of our 2004 bottles of Maison Lenique. No special reason - the weather was nice and we were cooking a meal outdoors, and it just seemed to deserve some bubbles.
We had a friend from the US visiting, and although he's more of a pub-goer while he's here, in his honor we popped open our last bottle of Quartet to celebrate his last days with us. It seemed fitting to drink an American bubbly with an American friend.
About a week later, we drank one of our 2004 bottles of Maison Lenique. No special reason - the weather was nice and we were cooking a meal outdoors, and it just seemed to deserve some bubbles.
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