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.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Friday, 23 April 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 19 April 2010
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.
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.
Friday, 9 April 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
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!
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!
Friday, 2 April 2010
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!!
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!!
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