Christmas Morning

The very first gift that I opened on Christmas morning was waiting for me in the fridge - a bottle of Krug Clos du Mesnil 1990 (thank you!!). What a wonderful way to start Christmas day!! We popped the cork and sipped it while we opened the rest of our gifts. It remains one of my favourite champagnes, with flavours of nougat and toasted, buttered bread (perfect for breakfast!). It also had a fantastic amount of bubbles, which almost made me forget that this champagne is 20 years old. Surprisingly for me, it was the only champagne we drank on Christmas, but it's so good that it's hard to follow with anything else.

More Bubbles Please

A while back, Jancis Robinson wrote up her top sparkling picks for the holidays in the FT. One of her recommendations appealed to me - the Eric Rodez Cuvee des Grands Vintages - because the winemaker used to work at Krug. How can you go wrong with that?

I tracked a bottle down from Gauntley's, and opened it last night to go with the lemon-caper chicken with broccoli risotto that my husband made. It was a very good match with the food, the 60/40 pinot noir/chardonnay blend of the wine making it weighty enough for a meal. It has a wonderful toffee-apple aroma and taste, a big, full mouthful of flavour. There are two drawbacks, though. First, it goes sour just after you swallow it, although for only a second, and then leaves a lovely, honey finish. Second - NOT ENOUGH BUBBLES.

To all of the sparkling winemakers out there - if you're going to make a wine with bubbles, please make sure they last through the glass. And if you're writing about wine with bubbles, please tell your readers when the bubbles don't hold up. It's so disappointing to spend £40+ on a bottle of bubbly only to be drinking something practically still after 15 minutes.

I Should Have Listened...

There's an excellent wine expert at Selfridges - a young woman - who has helped me before and has a pretty good understanding of what I like. The last time I was there, I spotted a bottle of sparkling wine from Brazil, Miolo Millesime 2006, and had picked it up. When the lady at the shop saw me with it, she shook her head and told me she didn't think I would like it, as it would probably be two sweet and too floral for my taste. So I didn't buy it then.

But curiosity got the better of me, especially since I haven't had a Brazilian sparkling wine before. I was in Selfridges earlier this week, and since the bottle is only about £16, I couldn't help but buy it. And the wine expert (who wasn't there that day!) was right - while I didn't find the wine offensively sweet, it was mustily-floral, leaving a very heavy aftertaste in my mouth that I really didn't enjoy. I'm surprised that so many reviews of this wine on the internet think it's a fruity wine, because I wasn't getting any of that (part of me wonders, too, how many of the reviewers actually tasted it rather than just repeating the company schpiel about the flavours).

So, wonderful wine woman from Selfridges - hats off to you for being able to accurately describe the wine and for knowing that I wouldn't like it. Next time I won't be so driven by my curiosity and will only buy what you tell me to : )

Let it Snow...

My husband is supposed to be away this week with a friend of ours, so I stocked up on some bubbles to enjoy while I was home alone. But the snow scuppered their plans, the flights were cancelled, and they're now here with me, helping me tuck into my champagne stash.

On Monday, we popped open a bottle of Francoise Bedel's Entre Ciel Et Terre. It is a predominantly pinot meunier champagne, being a 72/14/14 split of pinot meunier, chardonnay, and pinot noir. I bought this on-line from Gauntley's, having gone there to buy something else, but recognising this bottle from a trip to Epernay last year. I can't remember if I actually drank this champagne when I was there since I didn't blog about it, but it had a very distinctive label that caught my eye. I will remember it now. It started off well, having a slight whiff and taste of brine that opened into more honey-and-apple flavours. But the bubbles didn't last through the glass, a big disappointment for me. I will have to pass the next time this bottle catches my eye.

Last night, the guys were drinking martinis while I opened a bottle of Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2008 that I bought from Ocado. This maker has been racking up awards, including beating several big-name champagne houses to be named best sparkling wine of the year by Decanter magazine. The Bloomsbury is a chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier blend and I can see why the maker is winning awards. The wine had a clean floral aroma - a little bit like freesias - followed by a very pleasing grapefuit taste. It also had loads of bubbles, and it will be interesting to see how they hold up in the capped bottle in the fridge. Unlike some of the other English sparklers that I've had, this one wasn't distinctive because it had a strong or unusual taste. This one was much more polished and I think I would be hard-pressed to distinguish it from a French champagne. We'll have to include a bottle in our next blind tastings! I'm looking forward to trying more from this maker, and considering the bottles are in the low-£20 range, they won't break the bank.

First Batch

I finally, finally made my first batch of Christmas cookies yesterday - spiced prune drops and cranberry-pistachio biscotti. Since we sampled them after dinner, we opened the other bottle of Vilmart champagne that I ordered from Berry Brothers, the Grand Cellier, a 70/30 split of chardonnay and pinot noir. It was a nice-enough champagne, but a let-down from the description on the Berry Brothers website, which says that it tastes of praline and hazelnuts. It doesn't. It has more of a zesty floral nose, which turns into a slightly-sweet apple flavour. It doesn't have any of the richness that I expected, and was actually quite acidic in my stomach. At £35/bottle, I wouldn't buy this again, there are nicer sparklers out there and for better prices.

Birthday Bubbles

I had a great birthday yesterday, finished off with cake made by my husband and a very special bottle of cava from Bedales - Privat Opus Evolution gran reserva brut nature. I was fortunate enough to have tasted from this range of cava at the shop and really loved it, and my friend very kindly gave me a bottle (thank you!). Not only is the packaging spectacular, but the cava is unlike any other I've tried before. It has a rich, dried fruit aroma, tasting of candied figs (but without being too sweet) and toasted hazelnuts. It was perfect with my cake, although you could just drink it on its own.

This cava also has amazing bubbles - so much so that they almost mask the flavour. When I tried this at Bedales, we decanted it so that we could really appreciate the taste without getting distracted by the bubbles. I shouldn't admit this, but despite my friend's instructions to decant, I drank mine straight from the bottle because I really like the bubbles. But to get the best from this cava, you might want to decant and drink it at a slightly warmer temperature than other sparkling wines - you really want to enjoy all of the amazing richness in this cava.

Bedales has a limited number of bottles, I recommend you buy it before they run out!!

Indulgent

My husband has had business dinners the last couple of nights, leaving me to eat on my own. I often can't be bothered to cook for myself, but as you're well aware if you've been reading this blog, I will open champagne for myself : )

So last night was a bit of indulgence...my bowl of honey-nut Cheerios was accompanied by a glass of Billecart-Salmon rose. I can just see some of you, shaking your heads in horror.

But since the bottle's sitting capped in the fridge and since I just finished some drawings for my gardening homework, I'll have to have another glass tonight. Not sure yet what I'll be eating with it...hopefully something better than cereal.

Welcome Home

I was away last week, and came home to find that the order I had placed with Berry Brothers finally arrived while I was gone. This was good news because I had ordered two bottles of champagne along with the item I really wanted to make up the amount required for free delivery. It was bad news in that I had placed the order so that I could bring a gift to a friend of mine in the US but the order didn't come until after I left. For future reference, when Berry Brothers says '3-6 days' for delivery, they really mean 6+ days.

But it was nice to sit down at the end of the day after a red-eye flight, unpacking, running several errands, and then working all afternoon, to a lovely glass of champagne. I had ordered the Grand Cellier D'Or 2004 made by Vilmart & Co, thinking that I had not tried Vilmart before. I was wrong - my husband reminded me that we had actually tried other champagnes by this maker several years ago and liked them. This one was very good - a blend of 70% chardonnay and 30% pinot noir. It was too cold when I opened it, so all I could smell and taste was sour lemon. Things got much better as the champagne warmed, though, with lots of creamy yeast coming through, and the sourness disappearing. It was delicious and very well balanced, excellent as a sipping champagne.

Thanksgiving 2010

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and as tradition has it, I made apple pie for my husband to enjoy. It's always good for him to be thankful for a wife who makes the best apple pie in the world! He insisted that it needed to be eaten with champagne, the perfect match for apple pie, so he opened the bottle of Maison Lenique that was in the fridge. Another thing to be thankful for - a full champagne shelf!! It's been a good year : )

D-Fly In Da House

To set the scene for this post - Champagne Magazine recently released its annual list of the top 100 champagnes. I sent the list to a friend of mine who has an interest in champagne, saying that I was a little disappointed with it as it seemed like a marketing exercise for the big producers. I don't really need a magazine to tell me that the big brand names that cost hundreds of pounds are good. I also can't believe that there aren't any smaller producers who can't compete in that field, especially because I think I've drunk some. And to top it off, does anybody besides rap stars drink Cristal, so how relevant is all of this anyway?

Two days later I had to drink my words about Cristal. We were at Ransome's Dock for dinner with some friends. There on the wine list was a new addition - Louis Roederer Cristal 1996. Part of what we love about Ransome's Dock is that the chef doesn't believe in price gouging on wine. If he buys the wine at a reasonable price, he marks it up to a reasonable margin, so the Cristal was on offer for a far better price than any rap star is paying. Don't get me wrong, it still cost more than my entire outfit that night, shoes and handbag included. But comparatively, it was a bargain, so we ordered a bottle.

This champagne has the most unusual nose, which the chef helped us place - freshly-made cooking stock. It's actually a bit strange, because it's not what you expect from a champagne. The flavour is where Cristal hits the mark. It tastes like a perfectly made lemon tart, balancing buttery richness with tart (not sour) citrus and a creamy finish. It is incredibly well made, well balanced, and very, very good. It has interesting bubbles, too - big, fat, and plentiful on pouring, then calming down into a fine stream as you drink. This pleased me, as some of the other older champagnes that I've drunk have been lacking on the bubble front. I can see what the hype is about.

That said, it does still come down to a relative value proposition for me. While it was interesting to try this once, if I were spending the money again, I'd rather have three bottles of Billecart-Salmon than one bottle of Cristal.

Catching Up

My computer was down for a while as my husband and I painted our study, so I've been a bit remiss in reporting some bubbles that have been drunk. Of particular note was a bottle of Dosnon & Lepage champagne that my husband picked up from Roberson's wine shop on High Street Ken. We've not had champagne from this maker before, and the person at the store pitched this one - the blanc de blanc, Recolte Blanche - to my husband as Krug-like. How could we not try it?

While the champagne was very good, it was not at all Krug-like. It had a wonderful yeastiness on the nose, and lots of stong, fresh, clean flavour with a very long finish. But it lacked the richness and depth that you get with Krug. This isn't a criticism of the champagne, very few champagnes offer what Krug does which is why they're priced in the tens-of-pounds and Krug is priced in the hundreds-of-pounds. I just wish the people in the shops would stop making the comparison, as it's really unfair to what are otherwise pefectly nice champagnes. We still would have bought it had they just told us how good it was.

The other thing I really liked about this champagne was its bubbles. It had so many that the cork started to come out of the bottle the second my husband undid the wire cage. Big, fat, belch-inducing bubbles. My husband wasn't too sure about this aspect of the champagne, but it was right up my street!

Roberson's carries a couple of different varieties from this maker, including a Blanc de Noir, so the next time we're in the area, we'll be buying some more.

Bella in Brooklyn

My neighbour is an artist, and she found out this week that she has been named as a finalist in an international art competition, with an exhibit and final awards to be held in Brooklyn in Dec 2010. Since we're ex-Brooklyn, she came over last night for tips on where to stay, shop, eat, visit while she's in NYC. We're very excited for her, and had to toast her with a bottle of Maison Lenique 2004. Fingers crossed that she both enjoys her trip and does well in the competition!

Bonfire Night

Last night was bonfire night here in the UK - and since our dog is terrified of fireworks, we planned a nice evening inside with the TV on and lots of noise to distract her from what was happening outside. As part of that, I made a nice, satisfying meal of turkey meatloaf and roasted veg, including some Jerusalem artichokes that I dug out of my garden earlier in the day. The house smelled amazing, which did more to distract the dog than the TV noise!!

We debated on what to drink with it - red or bubbles - and for some reason, I was leaning toward bubbles. So we opened the Philizot et Fils numero 2 with some trepidation. It was OK, definitely less peppery than the first bottle we drank. It smelled of a combination of pencil eraser and sourdough bread - a raw, yeasty sort of smell. It still tastes very herbal, but this bottle had a sweeter finish than the first, which made it more drinkable. It's a go-with-food champagne, it's still much too harsh-tasting to sip on its own.

Celebrating Milestones

This month is supposed to be 'austerity November' - we had a pretty decadent October and really need to get re-focused on our healthy eating and exercise habits. Last night I had planned a tasty-but-healthy dinner of homemade chicken and vegetable soup with rice. But then my husband came home and reminded me that yesterday was his 5-year anniversary at the company where he works. In this economic climate, that really is something to celebrate. To top it off, we had a cold bottle of Billecart-Salmon rose in the fridge - the perfect celebration champagne - so how could we let the milestone pass without bubbles? The richness of the champagne was perfect for the evening, and actually went pretty well with the soup!!

Not a great start to 'austerity November', but we got my husband's sixth year at this company kicked off properly!

He's too funny, too. So we won't be tempted to celebrate too many more things in November, my husband filled the champagne shelf with a bottle of Philizot & Fils brut numero 2. Neither of us will be rushing to drink that anytime soon...

What Every Friday Night Needs

Cold, creamy, crisp, bubbly. On Friday we had a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs with our Thai-food dinner. It was heavenly, the perfect wind-down to the week. What more can I say??

The Bubbles Lasted

I'm happy to report that we finished the Cremant d'Alsace by Dirler last night (with the rest of the apple pie) and the bubbles held up overnight in the fridge. As I mentioned in my last post, they're definitely small, fizzy bubbles rather than great big, popping bubbles, but they were there through the end of the bottle. I'll have to start trying some more cremants now that I know they won't all let me down on the fizz factor.

Still Celebrating

On Sunday, to continue our anniversary celebration, we went to lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Ransome's Dock. You'll be surprised to hear that we didn't have any bubbles there, instead ordering a wonderful gruner veltliner from Austria and an unusal Spanish red wine made with mencia grapes. As always, we had a fantastic meal and walked away from the restaurant feeling stuffed and completely spoiled.

But we had fresh apple pie at home, and having skipped dinner, we ate pieces of that before bedtime with a glass of bubbles. To challenge me, my husband had bought Cremant d'Alsace by Dirler while he was at Green & Blue. I never, ever buy cremant wines because I am positive that they're not going to have enough bubbles. And to be honest, it's not really fair to the French sparkling wine makers, because I will buy cavas and proseccos knowing that they're not likely to have enough bubbles, either. My husband knows I tend to like Alsatian wines, so he decided to make me try this, a blend of pinot gris, pinot noir, and auxerrois grapes. The cremant was perfect with the pie having lots of soft apple and pear flavours. It had plenty of fizz, too, not big bubbles, but enough effervescence through the glass to keep it interesting. I'm curious to see how the capped bottle holds up overnight...

17 Years

Saturday was our actual anniversary, and despite a few showers in the afternoon, it was a lovely autumn day. We drove the dog out 'to the country' (in reality, 20 miles away from home, with most of the drive being through South London and Croydon) to go to a farm shop and garden centre that my husband found on-line. We bought apples and pumpkins and British cheese and meat, a lovely way to while away the afternoon.

When we got home I made pie with the apples. While I was baking, we nibbled on the cheese that we had bought and finished the bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 that we had opened the night before, a very good combination, and cosy with the scent of apples and cinnamon in the kitchen.

From there, we took the dog for her walk and then settled in for the evening with some movies and pizza and more chocolate cake - and a bottle of Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus that my husband had picked up from Green & Blue. We've had this champagne before and really liked it. It's a zero dosage blanc de blancs that has lots of lime and mineral flavours - completely different from the Maison Lenique that we had been drinking earlier, but every bit as good. This is one of those champagnes that we call a 'wine with bubbles', as it would be just as drinkable if it were a still wine. It was a lovely treat, something a bit different for our special day.

16 Years, 364.5 Days

It was our wedding anniversary this weekend - needless to say we drank a bit of bubbly : )

We had originally thought that we would go away for the weekend, but that didn't work out. First off, the start of half-term coincided with the date, so airfares were outrageous and there was nowhere we wanted to go THAT badly. Secondly, many of the hotel-restaurants in the UK that we would have gone to required two nights stay on the weekend, which gets difficult for us with animal care. We really only wanted to go away for one night, and just couldn't be bothered with their greediness. So we stayed home.

I cleaned the house all day on Friday until it was 'hotel clean' so that it would feel even better than having gone away. My reward for that was that my husband cooked a huge pan of chicken nachos with homemade guacamole, and served it with our last bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse - La Farra Rose Brut which is a mix of prosecco, chardonnay and raboso grapes. This prosecco was a wonderful surprise, mixing the crisp tang of pink grapefruit at the start with the smoothness of pears and orchard fruit on the finish. It had lots of fizz, as well, and really didn't last long because it was so good! For around £11, this is another little gem and real bargain from the Champagne Warehouse.

Since the prosecco disappeared well before we were ready to eat the chocolate cake I had made, my husband popped open one of the other bottles that was in the fridge so we could have a glass of bubbly with cake. He made me guess what it was...no problem there as it had that distinct yeasty-apple aroma of Maison Lenique 2005. We were good and kept it to a glass each so that there would be more for the actual anniversary...

My Husband's The Best

My husband noticed that I've been a bit stressed this past week with everything I've got going on at the moment. He's such a nice guy that while he was out at Portobello Market yesterday, he stopped and bought me cupcakes, flowers, and a bottle of Egly-Ouriet grand cru VP champagne from Lea & Sandeman. On top of that, he made dinner to go with it - sourdough-crust calzones, stuffed with all of my favourite things. He is absolutely the best!!

Dinner was wonderful, as was the champagne. It's a pinot noir blend that's been left on the yeast for an extra long time, giving it a perfectly balanced flavour - not too sweet, not too acidic, not too yeasty, not too dry - and a slightly petrol-y nose. It's very much the style of a 'wine with bubbles', and an exceptionally good wine at that.

That said, it didn't have quite as many bubbles as the last time we drank it, so disappointed slightly in that arena. But really, how can I complain when the rest of it was so lovely?

Champagne Budget, Beer Taste

Friday came so quickly! I've been head-down most of the week between the scholarship programme I work with and getting my gardening coursework done. I spent all day yesterday drawing (and most of the night, too) so I was very happy to say 'yes' when my husband asked if I wanted some bubbles with dinner.

There was both a bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse on the champagne shelf as well as a bottle of champagne in the fridge. We had ordered in some Japanese food and thought the prosecco might be a better match with the sushi and rice, so we opened the La Farra Extra Dry made from 100% glera grapes, the traditional prosecco grape. It smelled like an orchard on opening, with a very strong pear scent. It was so yeasty, though, that it tasted like beer, something that didn't go away until the middle of my second glass when the fruit flavours started to come through. I would recommend drinking this prosecco slightly warmer than I like so that you can appreciate the flavours in the wine. It was very good with our food and went down quickly, but I haven't been able to get rid of the (probably unfair) impression that it tasted like something from a pub.

Mixed Feelings

Sunday was a busy day for me as I had to prepare for some meetings that I have today. And knowing the Tube strike would be going forward, I cooked not only a big pot of chilli to eat yesterday, but also a pork, apricot, and prune stew for this evening since I have no idea how long it will take me to get home tonight. But partway through the flurry of the day, I remembered that a while ago we had put another bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse on the champagne shelf. This one was La Jara's Pinot Grigio Rose Brut, something I was very keen to try because I often like pinot grigio wines, but had never had a sparkling one before. My husband and I opened the bottle, and sipped as we got on with our respective Sunday activities.

For those of you who are American and reading this, you'll understand when I say that it smelled like raspberry ginger-ale (which is one of my favourite non-alcoholic drinks, in diet form). Like the smell, it had a lot of berry flavours, but with a crisp acidity that cut through the sweetness. On first opening, the prosecco had loads of bubbles, too - but they didn't last through subsequent glasses. My first impression was very favourable, I thought this would be an incredibly refreshing thing to serve on a hot summer day. I was having mixed feelings by my second glass, though, as the bubbles disappeared and the acidity in the wine became sharp in my stomach. As we've commented about other champagnes in the past, this might be a 'one glass only' drink.

End of Week Rewards

As I mentioned in an earlier post, last week was an incredibly busy week and my husband was due to be out late most evenings. On Thursday, I had a lot of paperwork to do, and since he was supposed to be out in the evening, I popped a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 in the fridge so that I could have a glass as a reward both for finishing my work and for being on my own. It was lovely, especially with the homemade halloumi, mint, and sundried tomato pastry I had to nibble with it. It was an even nicer surprise that my husband came home early enough to help me finish the bottle!!

It was the same story on Friday, so I put another bottle of the Maison Lenique in the fridge for when my work was done. Since the bottle was still half-full on Saturday, I finished off the last chunk of writing that I needed to do, and had one last celebratory glass with my husband (who was finally home and relaxing!). I'm finding it's a great way to motivate me to sit at the computer and just focus on writing what I need to - so much easier to do when there are bubbles to look forward to at the end!

Wednesday Came Early

It's another busy week - one in which I won't be seeing much of my husband because of our different committments and schedules. But we were both home for dinner on Tuesday, so we decided to turn Tuesday into the new Wednesday and open a bottle a bubbly. On top of that, he cooked, something that always makes the evening special!

Another prosecco was on the champagne shelf from the Champagne Warehouse - this time it was Zero assoluto from La Jara made from 100% glera grapes. To be honest, I almost didn't order this prosecco because the description said that it was 'floral' and that's not something that I love. The Zero assoluto is zero dosage, though, and I've never tried a low dosage prosecco before...so it went into the case.

On its own, the floral-ness of the prosecco is very strong, smelling and tasting heavily of honeysuckle, but with an appealing, clean, grapefruit finish. For my palate, the prosecco went down much better with food - a blackened chicken and garlic-broccoli pasta - that squelched the flowery taste and left only the lighter citrus notes of the prosecco. While not completely to my taste, it was worth trying, though, an interesting comparison both to other low dosage bubbles we've had and to the other bottles of prosecco that we ordered.

Another Wednesday

It seems like we're starting a new tradition of 'champagne Wednesday'!! It's been another long-ish week to get through, so we opened a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 with our dinner of herbed lamb and rice. The rich apple flavour of the champagne was delicious with the lamb, a meat I wouldn't ordinarily think to serve champagne with...but I'll be doing it again.

Power Pink

People who know me know that I'm not into girly, powder pink colours (or 'puff pink' as I call it). If I'm going to wear something pink or paint something pink, it's going to be bright, bold, in-your-face, power pink. I'm the same with rose wines. Don't give me something light and blush-coloured with an insipid taste. Give me something that's a beautiful, rich colour and that packs a wallop.

And that's exactly what the Champagne Warehouse did. We opened the Vignarosa Amorino Brut Rosato yesterday and were absolutely impressed with it. This prosecco is a blend of raboso, cabernet, and merlot grapes, which give it a deep pink colour and even more depth in the flavour - it's a wine with bubbles rather than a sparkling wine, and plenty of them. It's surprisingly dry, with loads of tart, wild strawberry flavour. It was wonderful to sip on its own, but went equally well with our homemade mac and cheese with bacon. At just shy of £11 per bottle, it feels like a real bargain, too!!

I'm loathe to recommend this too highly, as I both don't want to drive prices up and don't want the Champagne Warehouse to run out before I get around to ordering more. But it really is too good to keep it a secret...

The non-Champagne Warehouse

I had exciting news from the Champagne Warehouse earlier this week - they're now stocking a range of proseccos which all look very nice!! I made an early order for a case of 6 different bottles which arrived on Thursday, and one immediately went on the champagne shelf in the fridge.

We opened the bottle of Vignarosa Prosecco Extra Dry, made from 100% glera grapes (the traditional 'prosecco' grape) yesterday and really enjoyed it. It had a very green smell, like a combination of fresh cut grass after the rain topped off with the slightest touch of passion fruit. The flavour matches the smell - very crisp and citrus-y, with a little bit of spearmint or wintergreen keeping it clean all the way through. It was a very easy drinker, although probably most suitable as an aperitif because it was so light. The chocolate cake that I had made totally overwhelmed it, but it was easy enough to eat and drink the two things separately.

We've put the rose from this maker on the champagne shelf so we can try that next...

Gracious Chef

Some friends of ours encouraged us to play hooky from our usual Friday activities and we took the train out to Whitstable for a leisurely lunch at the Sportsman Seasalter. It was a perfect day for it, too, beautiful blue skies filled with puffy white clouds giving us fantastic views from the train.

My friend knows the chef at the restaurant, and he very graciously allowed us to bring a bottle of bubbly with us. We chose a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990, part of my Christmas gift last year from my husband. We decided to drink it as an aperitif while we were reviewing the amazing menu and making our choices. Rather worryingly, the bottle opened with a soft 'pfft', but thankfully demonstrated enough fizz and mousse once it was poured. Everyone marvelled over the colour of the champagne, a rich, brownish-honey-colour that you often see with aged calvados. The richness came through in the flavour, too, which had just a touch of oxidation that added depth to the acidity in the champagne.

It was a great start to a meal that included a main-sized portion of home-made pork terrine as my starter followed by some wonderfully fresh lemon-sole fillets in pea puree. We also had some fantastic still wines from the restaurant's list with our food - I would recommend both the Albarino Vionta Rias Baixas 2008 (loads of flavour but clean and crisp) and the Châteauneuf-du-pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2007 (juicy fruit without any tannins) that we drank to the non-bubbly drinkers out there.

It will be so hard to go back to real-life following a Friday afternoon like that.

Many thanks to our friends for organising the day and to the chef for allowing us our bottle of bubbly!!

Getting Over the Hump

It's been a long week this week, I don't know what it is. Yesterday seemed particularly long, and when my husband got home from work, I mentioned to him that I wouldn't mind a glass of wine with dinner. He eyed the bottle on the champagne shelf - then pulled a face when I told him it was our last bottle of Philizot et Fils numero 3. We both still have bad memories of the numero 2 (of which two bottles remain, unloved, at the bottom of a box in the utility room).

We opened it anyway, and then patted ourselves on the back because it's a perfectly drinkable champagne. It was lovely to stand outside sipping while my husband grilled our chicken. It was even better to drink while we plucked ripe cherry tomatoes out of the garden and dipped them in the most delicious pesto from Romeo Jones. It definitely helped us get over 'hump day', the rest of the week should just fly by now.

Leftovers

My husband used the leftover champagne from last week's BYOBB to make a wonderful risotto for lunch yesterday, with grilled chicken, asparagus, and broccoli in it. It was delicious, especially accompanied by a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005. It's always a treat when someone else cooks for me, even more so when there are bubbles involved.

BYOBB Sept'10

We held this year's second round of Bring Your Own Bottle of Bubbly - BYOBB (TM) yesterday. Like the one in May, it was good fun, great company, and a lot of yummy bubbles. We re-tasted some of the sparklers from May, as well as a few new ones. The ground-rules remained the same as in May: non-vintage bubbles, blind tasting, and marks out of 10 points for each bottle, with 10 being the best you've ever drunk and 1 being undrinkable. I will report on the order in which we drank, although please keep in mind we didn't find out until the end of the afternoon what each bottle was.

The first bottle was a re-run from May, Philizot et Fils numero 1. This champagne had a slightly poorer showing this time around, receiving marks of 5s to 7s (compared to 6s and 7s in May), and with tasters commenting that it was 'fine, but characterless' and that it had no finish. The total score was 38/70, leaving it in 5th place out of 6 bottles.

The next bottle was a new entry, Inflorescence by Bouchard, which I had drunk before and thought my tasters might enjoy. I was right, as the champagne received consistent marks of 6s and 7s across the group, who agreed that it was a 'fresh, well-made' champagne. The total score was 45/70, placing 2nd out of 6 bottles.

Our third bottle was another champagne that we had tried in May and that had scored toward the lower end of the spectrum then. Charles Ellner Brut Integral gathered marks ranging from 3s and 4s to a 6. Compared to the previous bottles we had opened, this champagne smelled almost medicinal, with one taster saying it 'smelled like a hospital' (funnily enough, the same person gave it the '6' ranking). By the end of the afternoon, more than half of this bottle remained undrunk (and now awaits its final fate in my fridge as an ingredient in champagne risotto), it just couldn't compete in the line-up we had. It placed last out of the 6 bottles with a total score of 28/70.

Our fourth bottle was a huge hit after the disappointment of the third bottle, with tasters commenting on the 'strong bubbles that evaporate quickly in your mouth' and the full-flavour of the champagne being more like a 'wine with bubbles'. Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs, was another re-run from May (and a regular in my fridge!). Despite the positive comments and a quickly-emptied bottle, it scored less well than I would have expected with marks ranging from 4s to 8s (it was our top-scorer in May, receiving all 7s and 8s). The total score was 43/70, placing this champagne 3rd out of 6 bottles.

The only rose of the day came next, another new entrant in the field. This was Champagne Thienot Brut Rose, a fruity, bubbly, luscious wine that also disappeared from our glasses very quickly with tasters commenting that it was 'very drinkable'. It scored mostly 6s, book-ended with one 5 and one 7 ranking. With a total score of 42/70, it placed 4th out of the 6 bottles. It's also worth noting that this champagne was a particularly good match with the apple and blackberry pie we had for dessert.

At this point, we noted that while we had so far drunk some very good sparklers, none of them had really wow'ed us as a group. That ended with our final bottle, which had loads and loads of bubbles, and 'flavours of apricot and lychee' - a totally different taste and style to all of the other bottles we had opened. Camel Valley Brut, the only non-French sparkler in the group, topped the tables as a new entrant with rankings of 5s to 8s and a total score of 47/70. This comes with a caveat, though - some of our tasters felt that where they could drink some of the other high-scorers throughout an evening or throughout the year, the distinct flavour of this wine limited its appeal to a single glass as an aperitif, or possibly as a warm weather sparkler. So even though it scored well, I ended up finishing the bottle while I was washing up after everyone left (yet still managed not to break any of my Billecart-Salmon-branded glassware)!

(NB While I was typing up my notes, I noticed that the Camel Valley was a 2007 vintage, so technically should be disqualified from this year's BYOBB competition which was to include only non-vintage bubbles!)

My thanks to everyone who came for bringing bottles, eating almost everything I cooked, giving honest feedback, and helping to take notes and clean up! Cheers!!

Now I Just Feel Spoiled...

On Tuesday, I had jokingly asked my husband what to put on the champagne shelf for the next night's dinner. He told me to pick what I wanted, so I, of course, put in a bottle of Billecart-Salmon brut reserve. I didn't think we would actually drink it the next day, but then yesterday was another beautiful day, so we again celebrated the weather. Dinner was satisfying, but nothing special - chicken stir-fried with chorizo, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, spinach and chickpeas, served with rice. The champagne was fantastic with it, loads of bubbles and a tart, clean finish that cut through all of the flavours in the meal. It's like eating a crisp, just-picked apple off of a tree in autumn - juicy, not-too-sweet, and fresh.

But I have left the champagne shelf empty in anticipation of an upcoming BYOBB...I need room in the fridge for all of those bottles...

Extending the Bank Holiday

Yesterday was such a lovely day. I felt really sorry for all the people who had to go back to their office jobs, especially my husband who worked really hard on fixing our windows over the holiday weekend and didn't really get a break. To extend the holiday feel when he got home, I had done all of the evening chores and ordered in from our favourite Thai restaurant. All he had to do when he got home was eat dinner, accompanied by Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs. The champagne is a surprisingly good match with the Thai cuisine, although the chef seemed to have thrown in a couple of extra handfuls of chillis last night which was a little overwhelming. I hate to say it, but my seafood curry slightly outshone the champagne - along with mussels, scallops, squid, and shrimp, there was a half of a crab in it, just waiting to be picked apart and devoured. Yum!

August Bank Holiday - '10

We had some friends over last night for dinner - we cooked and they very kindly brought some amazing wines (thank you!). Knowing my love of bubbles, they brought a very special bottle of champagne as our aperitif - Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon, a 2000 vintage rose made from a 50/50 split of pinot noir and chardonnay. It was a really wonderful champagne with a pretty, peachy-blush colour, a huge aroma of fruity-ripe strawberries and a long, almost spicy finish. It had lots of teeny, tiny bubbles, too, the perfect start to the evening!

We also served a bottle of my Maison Lenique 2004 with dessert of peach and blackberry crumble with home-made vanilla gelato. While everyone found it very drinkable, the consensus remains that it's not as good as the Billecart-Salmon champagnes. It's hard to beat them...

Date Night - Aug 10

We decided to have some champagne last night since it was date night, but with two cold bottles in the fridge, it was a tough choice. Since my husband said he would only drink the Maison Lenique 2005 with me since he considers it to be mine (he gave it to me as a gift), we decided to open that. It was wonderful - rich and fruity, and so bubbly that I got drenched when I opened it. It was so more-ish that when we finished the bottle, it just didn't seem like enough.

We're so greedy that we opened the other cold bottle of Billecart-Salmon brut reserve. We didn't finish it, just one glass each, which really hit the spot. It was interesting to compare the two champagnes this closely. The Billecart-Salmon was lighter and fresher than the Maison Lenique, but more complex and with a much longer finish. They both have spectacular bubbles, which is why they're always on my list of favourites!!

Not a Lazy Sunday

Yesterday, my husband started the daunting task of repairing/re-building our wooden sash windows. I admire him for this - it's a big job that requires power tools, something I wouldn't be able to do.

It seemed appropriate that we have some bubbly to celebrate his first window completed, so we opened a bottle of G. Tribaut Cuvee de Reserve that we got from the Champagne Warehouse. It's an even blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier and was an excellent accompaniment to the Cuban-marinated pork chops that we had for dinner. The best part - there were so many bubbles in the champagne that it was difficult to tell what it tasted like on the first few sips because all you got in your mouth was the burst of air from the bubbles popping!! But the flavour is wonderfully complex and rich, with just a hint of sweetness on the finish. My husband commented that he thought the champagne would have had a higher percentage of pinot noir in it, because it had that sort of flavour.

We both agreed that this champagne is a 'do-over', one that we would gladly drink again.

Perfect July Day

Yesterday was the perfect day - not too warm, just sunny enough, no rain in sight. Absolutely lovely. We had fortunately booked lunch with friends at Ransome's Dock, which is a great place to eat on a day like that, as they have outdoor tables for the sun-lovers and can also open up the restaurant so it gets loads of fresh air for those people who want to avoid the sun.

Our friends were caught in traffic, so while we waited for them I had a glass of Ayala champagne. It was very nice, but a bit richer than the champagnes I've been drinking lately. It smelled of dried fruit, and carried just a little sweetness through its flavour and into its finish. Very nice, but perhaps better with food than as an aperitif.

Unfortunately, my friends aren't big drinkers of bubbles, so we didn't have any of the other bubbly gems on the wine list. But the glass I had stuck in my husband's head, and later in the evening, as we were enjoying a quiet night and some time in the garden, he opened a bottle of Billecart-Salmon brut reserve. The bubbles in this champagne were incredible, an eruption of them coming up from the bottom of the glass without stopping through the last sip!! It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Summer Cold

I'm sick - my second cold this summer, which is just so unfair considering how horrible I feel and how nice it is outside. It's one thing to have a cold in the winter when everyone is snuffling and sneezing, but a totally different story when everyone around you is healthy and tanned (well, we really only get 'less-white' here in the UK, but still...).

When it turned 7 pm last night and no word from my husband on his eta, I had finally had enough of feeling ill and sorry for myself. So I opened the bottle of Philizot et Fils numero 3 from 3-D Wines that was chilling in the fridge. It was a nice distraction from my misery, and my husband also seemed to enjoy having a cold glass of bubbles in the garden after a long day at work. The champagne was richer and more full of apple flavours than I remember, but perhaps that's my bunged-up nose playing tricks on me...

Bye Ali!

My niece has been visiting for the past 10 days and we had our final dinner together last night. My husband suggested we also serve a bottle of champagne, and she requested something pink so what better than Billecart-Salmon rose? It was lovely with our grilled steak and veg, and even better with my husband's homemade mixed-berry ice cream for dessert. Not so much a celebration, as it's very sad to see her head home, but a small way of showing how glad we were to have had her here!

A Very Happy 4th!

Although we hadn't planned on doing anything to celebrate the 4th of July, some friends also had no plans, so we had an impromptu BBQ in the garden. Thankfully I always have cold bubbles in the house - we started off the afternoon with a bottle from the Champagne Warehouse, Charmant Premier Cru Brut Rose. This champagne is a 40/40/20 blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay and it made the most wonderful aperitif with its ripe strawberry flavour. It's a bit sweeter than the Billecart-Salmon rose that we've been drinking, but not overwhelmingly so. The only thing that would make this champagne better is my usual request - more bubbles please.

My friends very kindly also brought a bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge , so we put it in the fridge to chill and served it for dessert with our homemade strawberry and blackberry shortcake. This champagne is a 45/25/30 blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay and had an incredible richness that suited the dessert. It smelled of stone fuits on opening, and tasted of carmelised hazelnuts with the most amazing, long finish.

A bit of a shame that we didn't have any American bubbly for the holiday (although my husband did track down American beer!), but the French did give us the support we needed to gain independence so I guess their place at the table was appropriate!

B is for Billecart-Salmon

I got the results of my first garden design project on Friday - a B+. Fittingly, I had a bottle of Billecart-Salmon rose in the fridge, so popped that open to congratulate myself. Now I'm left wondering:
1. What will I drink when I get my first A grade (can anyone recommend a good brand that begins with the letter A)?
2. Will it really be worth the effort to get the A if I have to switch from Billecart-Salmon?

Cheers!!

The Power of Suggestion

We spent the weekend hanging out in the garden - celebrating both the incredible weather and my husband's return from a trip to the US. Yesterday, one of our neighbours had people over, and we could hear them over the fences popping open bottles of champagne. The sound was too much for us, so out came the cold bottle of Ruinart NV from Majestic Wine that was in the fridge.

Our impression of this champagne hadn't changed much since the last time we drank it. It's a very nice champagne. The entire kitchen smelled of yeasty-goodness when the bottle was opened. It had a huge, clean, lemony flavour and plenty of bubbles. My husband said that he actually liked the champagne more than he remembered, until I reminded him of the price point issue - and greedy people that we are, we agreed that we would rather have two bottles of the Roger Legros that I had been drinking earlier in the week than one bottle of the Ruinart NV. And this is the problem with this champagne, it's just not special enough to justify the price.

Speaking of price, for those of you who don't read the FT, in this past weekend's edition, Jancis Robinson ranked her favourite summer wines. I thought her sparkling picks were entirely uninspiring and was very disappointed that the only sparkling wine she could recommend below the £40 price point was an English sparkler...she apparently doesn't read my blog!!

Still a Star

I've been sipping a bottle of Roger Legros Cuvee Speciale from the Champagne Warehouse for the past few nights and really enjoying it in the surprisingly hot weather we've been having. I'm always pleased when a champagne I've had before and liked lives up to the memory!! And this one actually surpassed it - having far more bubbles than I'd remembered, which even held up over a few days in the opened and capped bottle. If you haven't tried this champagne, you really should, it's exceptionally good, especially for the price (less than £25/bottle).

Date Night - June 10

Wednesday was date night, but we had a pretty crazy week this week, so we decided to stay home, chill out, and cook a simple meal - cornflaked chicken, cheesy rice with broccoli, and some grilled asparagus. To make the evening a bit more special, we opened the bottle of G. Tribaut Millesime 2002 that I got from the Champagne Warehouse.

The champagne is a 50/50 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir. It had the surprising (in a good way!) aroma of chocolate when we first poured it. The flavour was incredibly rich, with lots of prune taste, but with enough acidity to make it a very clean champagne. While I really enjoyed how it smelled and tasted, this champagne just doesn't have enough bubbles for me, the last third of each glass was completely flat. Very disappointing for what could otherwise have become a favourite of mine.

Just Yummy

We had one of my favourite meals last night - everything in the fridge pasta, made with wheat-free pasta and just about everything you might find in my refrigerator including ground beef, chorizo, tomato sauce, left-over red wine, olives, capers, courgettes and mozzarella cheese. It's one of those meals that's easy and you don't have to think about and that is always so much more delicious than you ever expect it to be.

Since there was also a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs in the fridge, we had that too (the point of the meal was to empty out the refrigerator, although the champagne shelf never stays empty for long...). It probably wasn't the most elegant meal that the champagne has been served with, but it did make everything that much more yummy!!

Maybe, Just Maybe

On Saturday, my husband and I thought we should watch the US vs UK World Cup match - rarely do we get to see our two home countries in competition. We settled in for the game with a bottle of champagne that some friends gave us (thank you!), Guillaume de Gand Brut Reserve. This champagne is a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier. It was much heavier than what we've been drinking lately, with a rich taste of hazelnuts and bubbles galore! It's definitely a go-with-food champagne, good thing I had a piece of flourless chocolate cake from one of my favourite local restaurants to nibble with it.

The game wasn't as good as the champagne, although I suspect the viewing experience would have been much different in the US. My favourite part was the commericals, the best one being from a newspaper with the tag line of 'Maybe, just maybe'. People here seem to think it's a great ad, and I think it's funny that noone here really dares to believe the UK has a chance. I'm pretty sure the US commericals were all much more positive about who would be triumphant!!

Cheers To My Husband

As I sit writing this, I'm sipping on a glass of La Marca Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene. What started as a grim and rainy week has finally ended in a surprisingly warm and sunny afternoon. I've heard not a word from my husband although it's well after work hours - I'm hoping he had the good sense to go the pub with some workmates to unwind and enjoy the sunshine. Left at home on my own with a cold bottle of prosecco that some friends gave us (thank you!) and some blogging to catch up on, opening the bottle seemed like the right thing to do.

The prosecco is incredibly refreshing, as well. Fresh green apple aroma, loads of tiny little bubbles bursting to the top of my glass, and a clean, fresh, grapefruit-y flavour. It just rounds out my week, and reminds me that I should drink more prosecco.

But the actual reason why I am blogging today is to report on the champagne we drank on Wednesday, a bottle of the Maison Lenique 2004 grand cru blanc de blancs that I got as part of my 3-D Wines allocation. It was my husband's birthday, and after a relaxing afternoon out with some friends, we came home to his traditional homemade apple pie and champagne celebration. The Maison Lenique was fantastic as usual, and had more apple and butter flavours than the 2005 we recently drank. My husband was pleased to have a tried and trusted bottle of bubbles to go with his favourite dessert.

Cheers to him for giving me two reasons to have bubbles this week!

Maison Lenique 2005

The latest Maison Lenique offering from 3-D Wines arrived at my house late last week - the 2005 grand cru blanc de blancs. It had been brought to my attention that this champagne recently won a bronze medal at the International Wine Competition, so I was keen to quickly put a bottle in the fridge!

We opened it last night as we ate our dinner of grilled chicken, asparagus, corn, and rice. It was wonderful, lots of clean citrus flavours with no bitterness. The finish has a touch of vanilla that just makes you want to drink more. It was a fantastic accompaniment to our light meal, and a very easy drinker. This champagne is exactly what I've come to expect from Maison Lenique, lots of flavour, never-ending bubbles, and no regrets except for the empty bottle when you've finished. I'm so glad to have new stock of this maker back in the house, as I've missed it!

BYOBB May'10

I have been blessed with a very thoughtful and helpful circle of friends. They're the sort of people who, when you invite them over, always ask what they can bring, and will even call you on the day to make sure there's nothing you missed that they can't pick up on the way over. I always want to tell them something useful to bring, but a lot of the time, I just can't think of anything.

Then I had this idea during the year of bubbles. It was rather forward, really. But I thought, why not invite a group of people over for some fantastic food and ask each family-group, up-front, to bring their own bottle of bubbly that we can open and try during the meal? Thus, the Bring Your Own Bottle Of Bubbly - BYOBB (TM)- event was established.

The ground rule has always been that what you bring doesn't have to be expensive or name brand, just a wine with bubbles that interests or excites you. The first year (2008), we were a group of about 10 people, and tried everything from cava to English sparkling wine to Billecart-Salmon rose. We didn't really rank it, just drank and ate a lot, and had a very nice afternoon.

Last year, we stepped things up a notch. We had about 16 people over, and we decided to blind-taste and rank everything we drank. It was a bit too big, to be honest, and because I didn't blog about it, I shamefully can't remember all of the different wines that we drank. I do remember that the favourites of the day were vintage Krug and Ruinart, with a surprisingly strong showing from Biddenden, an English sparkling wine.

This year, the BYOBB board decided that we needed to get back to a smaller group and do some serious (blind) tasting of non-vintage bubbles. And while we unfortunately were missing two guests due to illness, Mother Nature smiled on the six of us who got together on Sunday as we sat in the garden in the glorious sunshine!!

To start, I had been asked by The Champagne Warehouse to taste a bottle of Charles Ellner Brut Integral, a zero dosage champagne. This was a good aperitif, as the flavour of the wine was not very strong but held up to the mango gazpacho and prosciutto/melon/rocket rolls that I had made. Any stronger food and this champagne would be a bit lost, though. I was a little disappointed with the bubbles of this champagne (a common complaint for me throughout the day). This champagne scored an even mix of 4s and 5s out of 10 (10 being the best you've ever drunk, 1 being undrinkable), with a total score of 27/60.

As we were waiting for late arrivals, we moved on to the Philizot et Fils numero 2, a surprise entrant that my husband threw into the mix, as he was wondering what other people would make of this champagne. Thankfully, this bottle was nothing like the first one we opened and lacked the strong ground pepper flavour that made it hard to drink. One of our friends liked it more than the rest of the group, saying that it was fresh and flavoursome. Scores ranged from 4 to 7 out of 10, with a total score of 28/60.

The next bottle we opened was the Philizot et Fils numero 1. We served it with a spinach, chorizo, and potato tortilla and whipped salt cod with bread and crackers. Everyone agreed that this was a light, fresh champagne and marks moved up to 6s and 7s out of 10, with a total score of 41/60.

While I was in the kitchen preparing the next dish, a grapefruit, avocado, and pomegranite salad topped with lemon-marinated shrimp, my husband came in with the next glass of champagne, saying "this is just your thing". It turned out to be Billecart-Salmon brut blanc de blancs, a crisp, yeasty, wonderful champagne (even blind-tasting, my husband knows what I'll like). This was the top-scorer of the day, earning all 7s and 8s, with a total score of 47/60.

The final bottle was opened over our dual desserts of apple and rhubarb crumble and chocolate pate with chocolate-hazelnut shortbread. This wine was a puzzler - it was the only one that had enough bubbles for me. It had intense aromas and a depth of flavour. It defintely wasn't French, but none of us could place it, or identify the kind of grapes. It turned out to be a Russian sparkling wine from Abrau-Dyurso, which is a blend of some traditional champagne grapes and other grapes like riesling. Because it was such an unusual and interesting wine, it scored 5s and 6s, with a total score of 34/60.

It was a little surprising to me that our top two bubbles were French blanc de blancs, but I guess nothing beats a well-made and fresh sparkler on a hot summer day!

Along with thanking my friends for bringing their wines and for spending the afternoon drinking, eating, and ranking with us, I do have to thank my 'corporate sponsors':

Billecart-Salmon, for providing glasses, chilling buckets, and aprons and
The Champagne Warehouse for providing the tasting bottle and some tasting notecards.

We'll be repeating this tasting with the same wines later in the year, and it will be interesting to see if and how our opinions of these wines change with time!

TGIF

It's been a long week, culminating in having to take the dog back to the vet yesterday for x-rays. Thankfully, nothing nefarious appeared and we're able to take her off some of her medicines - a cause for celebration so I put a bottle of champagne from The Champagne Warehouse in the fridge.

This one was Thierry Triolet Brut, a 60/40 split of chardonnay and pinot noir. It smelled of freshly grated lemon zest, a good start! It had the freshness of a blanc de blancs, but the pinot noir gave it a depth and richness that blanc de blancs lack. The taste was apples and butter, which stood up well to my comfort food meal of homemade, wheat-free mac and cheese with bacon.

My first glass wasn't cold enough, so there was some sweetness on the finish. But after popping the bottle in the freezer for a bit, the sweetness disappeared but the finish then stumped us. I put forward a play-doh taste to my husband (come on, you know you tried it when you were a kid). He disagreed with that, and offered up salty, but said that wasn't quite the right word. We agreed on briney, the good, fresh kind of taste you get when you lick your lips after you've swum in the ocean.

It's that kind of champagne, reminiscent of everything that's good about the summer.

Date Night - May 10

Sunday was date night, except since it was the weekend, we made it date day. We had lunch at the pub that we tried to eat dinner at last month, and were very glad we did!

My husband was drinking beer, so I won't report on his meal. I, on the other hand, started my meal with a glass of prosecco, De Stefani gran cuvee extra dry, to go with my starter of gambas, mussels, and clams with chickpeas and chorizo. It was a great pairing, the prosecco offering lots of bubbles and sour apples to offset the tomato-y spiciness of my food. It's been a while since I've drunk prosecco, and I forget how nice they can be.

With my main course of pea, broad bean, mint and goat cheese risotto (very more-ish!) I switched over to a glass of the pub's house champagne. I have no idea what brand it was, but again, it was a very good match with the food, offering a richness that the prosecco lacked and that the cheese in the risotto needed.

I thought I was finished with the bubbles at that point, but later in the day, my husband popped open a bottle of the Philizot & Fils numero 3 that we got from 3-D Wines - my bubbly habits seem to have worn off on him!! I had a glass of that to finish off what was a very relaxing afternoon, and am looking forward to closing out the bottle later tonight with dinner.

Birthday Cheers

We went to a lovely birthday party last night - great people and fantastic mojitos, which I learned how to make. Unfortunately, because the dog is still not well, we had to leave early, but we did enjoy the evening out.

My husband decided he deserved one more glass of something to unwind before bed, though, and I heard a cork pop in the kitchen while I was watching The Mentalist. He very kindly poured me a glass and we toasted the birthday boy before he headed upstairs. With one sip, I knew it was good, perfection in a glass. And of course, it was Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose, one of our favourite champagnes. I'm really looking forward to finishing off the opened bottle later today...

numero 2, part 2

Wanting to give the brut numero 2 from Philizot & Fils a fair chance, I tried some again last night with my favourite stand-by dinner, home-made Thai green curry. I wish I could say that the food really helped this champagne, but it was still overwhelming with ground pepper flavour. I kept looking for something else, some more depth, or something on the finish, but was left disappointed. This champagne is really hard work to drink.

Now I'm simply hoping that we got a bad bottle, that the next bottle we open will be different. This is the risk of buying multiple bottles of something you haven't tried before.

Do get in touch, though, if this champagne sounds like your kind of thing, as I'll be surprised if we make it through the other three bottles...

1-2-3

By Sunday, the dog was doing much better, so my husband and I decided to do a tasting of some new champagne that we got through 3-D Wines. They were offering a mixed case of champagne from Philizot & Fils which sounded interesting, as they make low dosage champagnes. We tried all three that came in the case to compare and contrast the differences.

The first, the brut numero 1, was 100% chardonnay. It was a very drinkable champagne, light and fruity with good bubbles, and a good start to the tasting, although not a very interesting or memorable champagne.

The second, the brut numero 2, was a mix of pinot noir and pinot meunier. It smelled and tasted like freshly ground pepper, which made it interesting, but was slightly off-putting. This champagne is not a sipper and should be served with food, so we decided to put it back in the fridge to try again with a meal. This champagne we will remember, although I'm still not sure I really like it...

The third, the brut numero 3, was a mix of pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay. It smelled like fresh olive oil and tasted of honeysuckle, an unusual but very nice combination. This was easily our favourite of the three champagnes!

Lifting our Spirits

As I sit writing this in London, I am actually supposed to be at a wedding in Germany. Unfortunately, our dog got quite ill on Thursday, to the point where she wasn't eating, drinking, or walking. She is thankfully doing a bit better now, but needless to say, it's been a roller coaster of a 48 hours.

Knowing we wouldn't be travelling, my husband decided to go to work yesterday. He's a star, he also picked up ingredients for dinner on the way home, since our kitchen is mostly empty in anticipation of us being away. He cooked an amazing meal of prosciutto-wrapped chicken with pasta tossed with tapenade and fresh mozzarella.

While we weren't really feeling like 'celebrating', there is always a bottle of cold champagne in the fridge, and we decided that nothing makes life feel better than a glass of champagne. So we opened the last bottle that we ordered from the Champagne Warehouse, which was Roger Legros Cuvee Speciale, a 60/40 blend of pinot noir and chardonnay.

What a great idea this was...the champagne had the freshest smell with loads of green apples and mint on the nose. It immediately lifted our spirits, and was just as refreshing to drink. A pleasantly sour apple flavour dominated this champagne, with just a touch of oaky vanilla on the finish, and lots of bubbles. We were totally surprised by the flavour, as the Champagne Warehouse provides tasting notes with their champagne, and they think that this wine 'delivers ripe berry flavours'. I thought maybe they had sent us the wrong bottle, but no, we just taste very different things in this champagne.

I could drink a lot of this champagne, especially if it's perfectly chilled on a hot summer day. It was just what we needed last night...and we toasted to our dog's speedy recover and to the bride and groom whose wedding we'll miss.

May Day 2010

We had some friends over for lunch yesterday, coinciding with the start of the bank holiday weekend, a very nice way to kick-off a three-day weekend. We had planned to eat out in the garden, and managed to stay ahead of the rain for most of the meal.

As an aperitif, we served Gruet Brut along with some homemade spiced nuts. My husband and I had tried the blanc de blanc by this maker in the US two years ago - it had caught our attention because the wine is made in New Mexico, and we were surprised by how good it was for what is not a well-known wine-making region. The Brut was also nice, good bubbles and some crisp citrus fruit flavours, but not a long finish.

Following that, we opened a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990 to go with our starter of mango and avocado salad with passion fruit dressing. My husband gave me this champagne for Christmas last year - it's a low-dosage champage from a wonder year. You could see the age of the wine from its dark, honey-ish colour and could taste it in the depth of its flavour, full of orchard fruit and bits of woody vanilla that lingered in your mouth. I'm glad we shared this bottle with friends as it's not something you come across often, but well worth drinking.

We moved to some gorgeous white burgundy wines for our grilled lobster and cheese courses, and then back to champagne with our dessert of almond, fig, and chocolate cake accompanied by sugared figs. With this, we had a bottle of Taittinger Brut Reserve that one of our friends had brought over, which was a perfect match to the figgy dessert with its fresh vanilla and biscuit flavours and classic, fine bubbles. Funnily enough, over our dessert we learned that we had both visited the Taittinger vineyards when we took separate trips to the Champagne region and really enjoyed the tour both for what we learned and also for the hospitality and good-naturedness of the winemakers - a hot tip if you're heading to that area!

More Billecart-Salmon

On Saturday we were invited to dinner by some friends who are also champagne-lovers. Having seen how much I enjoyed the Billecart-Salmon's Vintage 2004 that I drank on Thursday, they very generously served two other Billecart-Salmon champagnes - the non-vintage extra-brut and the brut reserve. Both of these were wonderful. I preferred the extra-brut, which had the tart fruit and complete lack of sweetness that the Vinatge 2004 had, but none of the yeastiness. Everyone else seemed to prefer the brut reserve, though, which had the light sweetness that comes with orchard fruit flavours. Both wines had ample bubbles, too. The more I drink of the Billecart-Salmon range, the more I like!!

I had also brought a bottle of Domaine Ste Michelle's blanc de noirs to try - a Washington state sparkling wine that I had picked up on a recent trip to the US. It hadn't been sold to me as a rose wine, but it had a distinctly peachy colour. It was much sweeter than I was expecting it to be, with lots of berry flavours, but a short finish. It was pleasant enough, but probably a little unfair trying this wine after the other champagnes, because it's just not in the same league.

The WOW Factor

Having had such a bad bubbly experience on Wednesday, my husband and I decided to open what we knew would be a sure winner last night - Billecart-Salmon's Vintage 2004, a low dosage, extra-brut champagne made primarily from pinot noir grapes.

This wine is stunning. It smells like my kitchen does when I have bread rising - pure, raw, yeasty scents. It tastes like nothing I've ever tasted before, with such complex but balanced flavours that it's impossible to say 'it tatsts like this...'. It has no sweetness to it whatsoever, which I loved. It's tart without being acidic. Very strong fruit and citrus flavours to start, but melding into more vanilla and biscuit flavours at the finish. Fine, fizzy little bubbles, although I would have liked more of these. It absolutely wowed me, even being drunk with such humble fare as our chicken and chorizo salad and homemade apple and cranberry crumble.

It's not a light sipper, though - my husband commented that because of its complexity, it's not the sort of thing he could drink every day. This champagne wants (and deserves) your full attention.

South African Sparkling

I had lunch out with friends yesterday so wasn't much in the mood for dinner. My husband had a long day at work, and stopped at London Bridge to pick up a few ingredients for his favourite quick-cook dinner, meatsauce with pasta. I say it like this because while I would eat a big bowl of pasta with a small dollop of sauce (i.e. pasta with meatsauce) he eats a big bowl of sauce with the tiniest amount of pasta. In so many ways, we're totally different, but perfectly complementary.

On his way through the train station, he spotted some champagne-shaped bottles in the South African store, theSavanna. One of them was a red sparkling wine for less than £10, La Chanson made by J.C. LeRoux. We love red sparkling wines and haven't had one for ages, so he thought he would give it a try.

It was dreadful - tasting of Ribena - the Elysium of sparkling wines (and for those of you who have drunk Elysium before, you'll know this is not a compliment). It was also only slightly fizzy, not bubbly at all. I couldn't make it past a very small glass, and 3/4 of the bottle is still sitting on the kitchen counter - something that rarely happens in our house. To be honest, I'm not sure why we're saving this, as I don't think I would even cook with it.

Date Night - Apr 10

Last Friday was 'date night' - the one night every month that my husband and I set aside to do something together without talking about work, the house, the animals, etc. We went to one of our local pubs for a drink after work, hoping that we could also eat there. But being a warm and sunny evening and since there aren't that many good places to eat out in our neighbourhood, there weren't any tables. So we picked up some Caribbean take-away on the way home at a place we've been meaning to try for ages - me having the ackee and saltfish and my husband having the stewpeas and beef. The food was delicious and light and I will definitely be heading back to try some more!

We had a cold bottle of champagne in the fridge from the Champagne Warehouse, a 2004 bottle of Forget-Chemin that is a 50/50 split of chardonnay and pinot meunier. Normally, this sort of blend is my kind of thing, but this particular champagne was surprisingly sweet, reminding me of alcoholic ginger ale. It was fine to drink with the mildly-spiced food, but a bit too sweet for my liking on its own. It also was more fizzy than bubbly, so overall, not a champagne that I would drink again.

That said, the bottle was lovely - very bottom-heavy with a wonderful feel when pouring.

Just Another Thursday

Last night was like any other Thursday night - we went though our usual after-work routine and then I made dinner, chicken and courgettes with garlic cream, a quick and easy recipe from my sister that I've since tweaked a bit.

As I was cooking, my husband was rummaging through the fridge. He pulled out the bottle of champagne that I had put onto the 'champagne shelf', mostly just to see what it was. But when I saw him do that, discussion ensued as to what we would drink with the chicken. Normally I would have had a glass of white wine, but we don't really keep white wine in the house anymore since we've been stocking more champagne. So we opened the cold bottle of champagne.

The bottle we had was one from my Champagne Warehouse order - the Marie Forget Extra Brut, which is a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot munier and made with a low dosage. I loved this wine from the first sip, it reminded me of my favourite dessert from the Austrian pastry shop, Demel, which is sweet pastry layered with apples, walnuts, and poppy seeds. The fruity apple flavours came through right from the start, and the more complex flavours developed through the finish. For a low dosage champagne, this was sweeter than I expected, but in a nice, ripe-fruit sort of way.

We re-stocked the champagne shelf with a different champagne from this maker - I have high expectations now!

Easter Monday 2010

We had a lovely Easter weekend, despite the change-able weather. We spent Easter Monday walking the dog and relaxing at home, catching up on some taped TV shows and finally watching the movie Gran Torino (which I had heard almost nothing about, and absolutely loved).

To finish off the evening, we ordered in some Indian curry - a change from our usual Thai - and opened one of the bottles of Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs that we recently acquired with the help of a good friend. The champagne was exquisite. It's very dry and clean with the taste of lemon shortbread - a perfect balance of fruity tartness and not-too-sweet biscuit. Plus, the bubbles are to die for!! The first few sips after opening the bottle just disappeared into tiny, flavoursome explosions in my mouth, almost like the wine was never quite liquid even though I could see that it was in my glass. And the bubbles lasted throughout the bottle - not quite as evaporatingly fierce as the first sips, but more than enough to meet my demands.

I love this champagne, and am ever so happy that we have more to look forward to!

Easter Weekend 2010

Hooray, it's a 4-day weekend this weekend for people who work in offices. Being self-employed, I'll probably still wind up doing some work, but my hubby gets a nice break. To kick it off properly last night, we drank the last bottle of Canard-Duchene Grande Cuvee Charles VII that I ordered from Majestic.

We really enjoyed this wine, as we did the last time we drank it. What surprised me this time was that there is just a hint of vanilla on the finish, a really pleasing touch to what is otherwise a very clean champagne.

And I realised as I was sipping my bubbles that we were again eating a Thai green curry, something we tend to eat a lot now that pasta isn't my 'go-to' dish anymore. For those of you thinking, "boy do they order out a lot", I actually make this at home, having found a very nice, oil-free, green curry paste at Ocado. With chicken and plenty of veggies, it's actually pretty healthy! I recommend you try this as well as the champagne!!

Good Neighbours

Over the weekend, we had two sets of our neighbours over to celebrate our newly decorated sitting room. One had recommended the company who painted the room, the other is an artist from whom we bought a lovely painting to showcase in the room. We've been fortunate that they're such nice people - they're also adventurous drinkers so we thought we would serve them a bubbly that we like and that they might not have drunk, some Pelorus NV that we ordered through Ocado. One of the drinkers commented that while you could tell it was different from a champagne, it was a huge step-up from the kinds of cava you usually find in the UK and he had a hard time placing where the wine was from. For fun, we also opened the last bottle of Deutz that we had from our Majestic wine order. It was no comparison, the Pelorus was a much nicer New Zealand bubbly.

The best part was that I ordered enough of the Pelorus that we had some leftover to drink with our dinner the next evening, a very good match for our pork chops with mustard cream sauce!!

Welcome Home

I spent a long weekend in NYC (fabulous!) and arrived home yesterday afternoon. Having no plans for dinner nor any intention of cooking after the red-eye flight, I persuaded my husband to order-in from our favourite local Thai restaurant. When he asked me what I wanted to drink with dinner, I mentioned that I could always have the diet ginger ale I brought back from the US, but longingly eyed the bottle of bubbly that was also in the fridge. He's no slouch, out it came!!

This bottle was the Janisson Blanc de Noirs that I had ordered from the Champagne Warehouse. I was really looking forward to trying it because we tend to like blanc de noirs. This one was surprising - it had very nice stone fruit flavours with a slightly lemon-sour finish. But it had a honey-sweetness to it that we weren't expecting, one that I might not have loved if I were drinking the wine on its own, but that served it well with our spicy curry. So it's definitely a 'go-with-food' wine for us.

That said, I didn't like it at all with the M&Ms we shared for dessert, so it's possibly not a 'go-with-chocolate' wine.

Wheat-Free Pizza

It's been more than a year since I found out I have a wheat intolerance. I've coped pretty well since then, but one of the things I really miss is pizza, especially when I see a TV show from the US where they're eating a crusty, cheesy, NY-style pizza.

But my husband is so very good to me in so many ways. Not only does he indulge my love for bubbles, but last week he worked up a sourdough pizza crust made with spelt flour. On Friday, I ate my first wheat-free pizza!! Of course it deserved some bubbles, and we drank one of the last two bottles of the 2004 Maison Lenique maker's reserve that I got with my 3-D Wines membership. My husband's efforts deserved a trusted champagne, and we really enjoyed our meal!!

Hat Trick

On Sunday I was hanging out and watching The Wedding Planner (a movie I hate myself for liking) for the umpteenth time when my husband appeared in the sitting room with a glass of champagne in hand for me. We're a bit long on champagne at the moment and he figured we should enjoy it since it's there. I'm not going to argue with that!

He had put a bottle of Ruinart NV in the fridge. I have friends who like this brand and when I placed my order with Majestic, I thought I would try it to round out the case.

Let me start by saying that this is not a bad champagne. But for the price point (£45/bottle) it just isn't all that. It's nice enough, good acidity coming out with some nutty-lemony flavours. It has a very long finish. The bubbles are fine. But I would rather have two bottles of the Canard-Duchene that we drank on Saturday than one bottle of this - which would cost me the same amount.

The other thing that's caught my attention about this champagne - the box it was in was incredibly overengineered. And while I like to put a link to the maker in my blogs, the Ruinart website was also flashy (making it dreadfully slow) and impossible to navigate - too clever by half and incredibly frustrating, so I never actually found the information that I wanted and therefore can't be bothered to link to it. I feel like what I paid for wasn't necessarily a great champagne, but a huge marketing team that's built a brand. I don't feel the need to drink a name, I'd rather drink something interesting and that I really love.

Dining In Style

While our sitting room was being finished, we had most of its furniture and artwork in the dining room which has meant that we've been eating off of our laps since the beginning of the year. But everything is back in the sitting room, so we were able to eat in the dining room again last night. A cause for celebration, worthy of our last bottle of Canard-Duchene 2004 Brut Millesime from Majestic.

We liked it just as much as we did the last time we drank it. It has a very yeasty nose, and a really pleasant apples-and-toast flavour. It stood up to the red Thai duck curry we had for dinner, and then was a pleasant sipper while we cleaned up the dishes and chilled out after dinner. Good flavour, good bubbles, a very nice champagne.

New Sitting Room

After six years in our house, we finally had our sitting room painted. The decorators did a great job - the room now looks exactly as I'd envisaged it in my head for so long. So last night, having moved most of the furniture back into the room, we decided to have some champagne along with our chicken/bacon/green bean/parmesan soup.

I had a bottle of Roger Legros Extra Brut chilling in the fridge, one of the bottles from my Champagne Warehouse order, so we opened that. I'd been looking forward to opening this bottle, as it's a low-dosage champagne and I suspected that I would really like it. And I did. Even though it's 100% chardonnay, it's definitely not a blanc de blancs style of champagne, it is much more a 'wine with bubbles'. The tasting notes that came with the bottle said it would have citrus and lychee flavours, which it did. But to me, a better description of this champagne is that it is like a very fresh, very mild goat cheese. It has a soft acidity balanced with a touch of creaminess, a bone-dry mouth feel, and a gently grassy-green finish that lasts.

The only thing that slightly disappointed were the bubbles. They were very fine and plentiful on first pouring, but didn't last long in the glass - you have to drink this one quickly!

My husband thinks that anyone who likes to drink white Burgundy would especially like this champagne, so do give it a try!

Going For Gold

I have to be honest - I haven't watched much of the Olympics this year. The late viewing and poor selection of events just didn't add up for me. I mean, really, how much curling can you watch in the wee hours?

But the BBC pulled through for me with men's ice hockey (shame they couldn't have shown the women's hockey, too!). And we were lined up properly last night for the gold medal match between the USA and Canada with a big tray of nachos with guacamole and, in true patriotic spirit, our last bottle of Roederer Estate's Quartet from Majestic.

The wine, as always, was impeccable. Our team's performance, unfortunately, was not, and the Canadians took home a well-deserved gold medal. It left me wondering if the Canadians make any decent sparkling wines, something I'll have to look into!

That Wine's From WHERE?

We went out to dinner at Ransome's Dock last night with some friends. I was the first to arrive and was informed that the rest of the party would be late, so I settled in to read the wine list over a glass of the house champagne, currently Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Brut. I really enjoyed the first few sips, but as I got further into the (extensive) wine list and as everyone grew later and later, I realised that the very tiny bubbles that were at first in my glass had completely disappeared. While it had a traditionally and enjoyably champagne-y flavour, I'm all about the bubbles, so this was disappointing.

Thankfully the rest of the party arrived and turned out to be a group of wine lovers, so we introduced them to a bottle of something interesting - a sparkling wine called Espumante 3B from Filipa Pato. We challenged the group to place the wine, and while everyone agreed that it wasn't French, and someone came close by guessing Spain, noone guessed that this wine is from Portugal. Yes, Portugal! It's a rather unique sparkling wine, both in that it's a blend of baga and bical grapes and in that the winemaker is female. We had tasted this wine at Ransome's Dock at a Portugese wine tasting several months earlier and were completely pleased and surprised by it. It's a very pleasant sparkling wine with nicely rounded and balanced fruit and acidity - one of our group likened it to a Sweet-Tart candy. The only down-side is that it has no finish, which is fine if you want a completely clean palate after you swallow, but which is a bit of a shame to me because the wine itself is so tasty. Not a really mainstream wine, but one that's definitely worth trying!

Quaffable

I got stuck at home with some builders this week, and while I was trapped in my office upstairs, I spent some time trying to track down some 'different' champagne. As luck would have it, I came across the Champagne Warehouse , which is working to bring wines from smaller champagne houses in France to the UK. They have a small but interesting selection and I ordered a 6-bottle case which arrived on Friday.

My husband and I wasted no time in chilling and opening our first bottle - the Jean-Paul Morel Carte Noir, a 70/30 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend. My husband deemed it 'quaffable' and where I'm usually the first to drain my glass, I had a hard time keeping up with him! The champagne had some very full flavours dominated by fruits of the forest and with a fresh, green-herb finish (almost like tarragon, but not quite as liquorish-y). It also had a good supply of small but endless bubbles. It was an easy drinker, both with food and on its own. And it didn't last long...

A Two-Bottle Weekend

We had a lot of stuff to do around the house this weekend and we also had a couple of bottles of bubbly in the fridge, so we weren't shy with it.

After a full day of chores on Saturday, I made an easy dinner of Thai green curry which we served with one of our favourites - the Quartet from Roeder Estate, which I had purchased as part of our mixed case from Majestic. Compared to the other wines we've been drinking lately, the Quartet was a little sweeter than I had remembered on first opening, but this was nicely balanced by the curry. As always, this one didn't disappoint.

I had ordered some groceries to be delivered from Ocado on Saturday evening, and to get my order up to the minimum I had added in a bottle of Castillo Perelada Cava Reserva. It's been a while since I've had a good cava - while I freely drink them in Spain, I always worry about how sweet they're going to be when I see them in the UK so tend to avoid them here. This particular cava is a blend of macabeo, xarel-lo, and parellada grapes, the first two of which I quite enjoy as still wines, so I thought I'd give this cava a go.

We opened it as we were unwinding at the end of the day on Sunday. It tasted a bit like a lemon drop candy - slightly lemon-tart but also slightly sweet on the finish - not great but I could live with it. What was more disappointing were the bubbles, which started strong but had no staying power, so my glass was flat before I finished it. At less than £10 for a bottle it was a good experiment and it reminded me to be more adventurous when it comes to buying cava.

I'm Not Supposed to Tell You This...

Last year, a friend of mine introduced me to the champagnes of Canard-Duchene. He rates them highly but doesn't want word to get out about how good they are, driving up prices. But we tried them again as part of our mixed case from Majestic and they were lovely, so I have to write about them...

On Sunday, we were hanging out, watching movies and eating popcorn, so we opened up a bottle of the 2004 Brut Millesime. Like the 2002 version that we tried last year, this was very drinkable - fruity and fresh, a good go-with-everything champagne.

Yesterday, I made wheat-free blueberry pancakes for dinner, and my husband, spotting the bottle of Grande Cuvee Charles VII that was in the fridge, asked if we could drink that along with them. Like I'm going to say 'no'!? This wine was gorgeous, very crisp-tart with a nice balance of citrus and yeastiness. It had everything that I like in a champagne, including thousands of teeny tiny bubbles that just didn't stop. I got this at only £25/bottle, and I think that was an incredible bargain! It also went surprising well with the pancakes, and I'm very much looking forward to it as a regular accompaniment with breakfast in bed on special occasions.

An Ah-ha Moment

Majestic wine is having a special on champagne and sparkling wine so I ordered a mixed case early last week. A friend of mine rates Deutz champagne so I thought I ordered two bottles of that. What I didn't realise until today is that there is a French champagne-maker named Deutz (which is probably what my friend was talking about) who lend their name/expertise to a sparkling wine-maker in New Zealand (which is what I bought). Ah-ha - so this explains why the wine didn't meet my expectations coming off of the recommendation from my friend!!

I bought the Deutz Marlborough Cuvee NV - a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier. We drank it on Friday with our dinner of chicken in mango sauce. As my husband said, the wine was substantial, not at all the light fruity wine that it's described as and definitely a wine that needs to be drunk with food rather than a sipping wine. The chardonnay characteristics in the wine really come through, which is good if you're a chardonnay fan, but I'm not. I found the finish of this wine far too heavy, tasting at first of oily nuts (thankfully without the oily mouth-feel) and then lingering as incredibly over-ripe pears. My husband was OK with it, but I didn't love it, and I'm going to have to think carefully about how I serve the second bottle. At least it had really good bubbles.

It will be interesting to compare it with a bottle of the French Deutz champagne if I can track one down...