The Run-Up to Christmas

December always presents excellent opportunities for drinking bubbles. We had a number of interesting bottles to try, particularly a few that I acquired in my travels this year. I'll start with those:

From my home state of New York in the USA, I purchased a bottle of Chateau Frank 2004 Brut. To be honest, this was not my preferred purchase from this vineyard, as the blanc de noir is supposed to be the best that this maker offers. But I couldn't find this in my local shop, just the brut, which is a blend of the traditional champagne grapes of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier. It was only OK, definitely not a classic champagne as it was overwhelmed with apple cider flavour and too much sweetness on the finish, very typical of an American sparkling wine. I'll keep trying this maker, though, both for the still wines they produce and for the elusive blanc de noir, which I'll have to order on-line.

Next were two from Canada - a mixed group. We really liked Gray Monk's Odyssey White Brut 2008, a riesling and chardonnay blend that had a wonderful citrus freshness to it and plenty of tiny bubbles (which was a surprise from all of the flatter Canadian sparkling wines that I'd tried in the past). It was incredibly refreshing, the sort of wine you just want to keep on drinking because it's somehow both so flavourful and so clean on your palate. Less successful was Blue Mountain Brut, a mix of pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot gris grapes. This was just not very memorable, a bit of apple and citrus flavour with a touch of candied apple on the end, and nowhere near enough bubbles. Really not worth writing more about.

Some friends sent us a bottle of proper champagne for the holidays from Bedales - one we hadn't tried before called Jean Milan Blanc de Blancs. This family was originally a grower who first started making champagne for Krug and who now produce their own wines. This was a lovely bottle, with all of the things that make a blanc de blancs delicious - a light yeastiness on the nose, a crisp finish, loads of fruit flavours in the middle, and masses of delicate bubbles. What a fantastic gift - thank you!

I've saved my very favourite for last, though, as my husband bought me an English sparkler from The Wine Pantry. This was Coates & Seely Rose, which on the bottle says is made from pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay grapes (while their website doesn't include the chardonnay). At first, we weren't sure about this wine, as the bottle is done up in knock-off French, claiming to be from 'Britagne' and being made in 'methode britannique'. We weren't sure if they were taking the mickey or trying too hard to confuse the less au fait among us into thinking that they were actually champagne. But we forgive the exterior of the bottle for what was inside - smelling of the freshest summer berries, tasting of pink grapefruit, and leaving a lingering mouthful of tart candied peel. The bubbles matched the explosion of flavour, leaving me in no doubt that I will buy and drink this wine again!

Looking forward to trying some more in the run-up to New Year's...

November Round-up

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I've been so busy lately I have actually been drinking less champagne than I ordinarily would because I know I won't have time to blog about it and I hate seeing the bottles lined up on the counter waiting for their reports.

For the month of November (so far) I have three bottles to report on:

The first is a British sparkler, Avonleigh Brut. My husband brought this one home, I'm not sure what caught his eye, other than it is organic. This wine is a pinot noir and chardonnay blend, with the back of the bottle saying that it has hints of elderflower. I couldn't find them. We liked this wine, but it's nothing like the label describes, nor anything like a champagne. It has such heavy and rich apple flavours, it tastes like a sparkling cider. Even though I enjoyed it, it's not what I look for in a sparkling wine.

The second was another British wine, Denbies Sparkling Rose 2007. I had high hopes for this wine, as I really like Denbies still rose wines. This didn't live up to expectations. It was terribly bitter, and even drinking it with food couldn't mask the harsh finish.

So back to France for the last bottle...Ocado was running a special, so I bought a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut, a blend of the three traditional champagne grapes, pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot meunier. This was so much better than the other two bottles - plentiful bubbles, crisp, biscuity flavour. A reminder of why champagne is champagne. That said, I've had just as good champagnes for a better price than this one (usually in the high £30's, I bought it in the high £20's). So while it was a refreshing change from the British bubbles I had drunk this month, it's still not something I'd buy again.

It hasn't been all disappointing in November...we're also working our way through our latest order of Billecart-Salmon, although since I've reported on it all before, I'm not writing up the repeat bottles. There's still not much that compares to this brand though, for bubbles, flavour, and quality at price point. It's a sure-thing, always nice to have on hand when a never-before-tried bottle of something else disappoints.

Opposites

I've recently drunk two new bottles of bubbles that couldn't be more different.

The first was Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart 2000, a chardonnay/pinot noir blend. It was stunning - much richer than their blanc de blancs, tasting like the toasted crust of a very eggy loaf of brioche. Fantastic bubbles, too. While I always argue that you don't need a special occasion to drink champagne, this is one that I would serve on a big day, because it is a very memorable wine.

The second was Brown Brothers Cienna Rosso, something that I picked up through Ocado because I spotted it and hadn't tried it. Cienna is the grape variety, a new hybrid grape stemming from cabernet sauvignon. It was not-obnoxiously-sweet, fizzy, and punchy - the sort of thing you would drink quickly at a summer BBQ. Different because it's a red sparkler, but not at all notable.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

This is so not like me, but another catch-up post. It's been a busy month since I last blogged, and while bubbles were imbibed, they were not written-up. I can't stand looking at the bottles anymore, but know I'll forget what I drank if I just put them in my blue bin. So a quick summary below:

The good:
Boisson Rouge from Earl d'Oc et d'Oil, a jammy, lush, sparkling red. This had lots of bubbles and wonderful fruity flavour, a complete surprise and definitely a 'buy again'.

Luis Pato Maria Gomes bruto vinho espumante. This Portugeses wine is made by the father of Filipa Pato who makes another unusual sparkler. I think the father's was better, lots of dry yeasty flavour, good bubbles, and a very more-ish finish.

The bad:
Breaky Bottom Cuvee John Inglis Hall. This didn't have enough bubbles for me, and a slightly sweet taste to it. My husband liked it more than I did, he finished my glass as I just wasn't interested.

The ugly:
Camillo Donati malvasia rosa 2009. This sparkling rose says it's frizzante, so I was very excited to see all of the bubbles whooshing up from the bottom of my glass. Had I only left it to the looking - this was bitter, nasty, undrinkable. I poured my glass down the sink, my husband tried his with food, and then I think poured the rest of the bottle down the sink. Never again.

A Couple More to Report

I've been negligent in my blogging, and finally clearing up the last two bottles that we're drunk that have been sitting by my sink waiting to be typed up. They were interesting, but I'm not sure I'd rush to drink either again.

The first was the Cuvee Fleurie from Jean Claude Mouzon, which I bought from the Champagne Warehouse. This is a 100% chardonnay champagne, but unlike any others that I've tried before. It had a lush melon taste, but with a sweetness that hit the mid-palate rather than the finish. It was surprising, when I drank it, I asked myself if I really tasted that sweetness, and didn't comprehend that I had until I offered my husband a top-up and he said "No, it was too sweet". You don't often get sweet in the middle. I didn't mind it so much, because it disappeared on swallowing, so I was left with this melon-y taste. But as my husband proved, this one isn't for everybody.

The second champagne to report on was Bertrand Gautherot's Blanc d'Argile, which I purchased from Green & Blue. Not only is this a biodynamic wine, but it is also low dosage. The best comparison I could make for this wine is that it tastes just like the 1990 Bruno Paillard NPU that I've had, but with much better bubbles. And considering the former costs in the £100's where the Blanc d'Argile was around the £50 mark, I know which I'd prefer!! This had that same oxidised taste of rich orchard fruits - something I really enjoyed, but just couldn't drink a lot of. Well worth the investment, though, if you want wonder-year flavour without the same price tag.

The Best of British?

I'm sticking my neck out here, but I think I recently drank what I would call the best British bubbles. My husband picked it up for me at a shop at Borough Market called The Wine Pantry, which specialises in British wines.

The wine that wow'ed me was Pebblebed Brut sparkling rose, made from seyval and rondo grapes. Now I have to be honest, I'd never heard of this maker before, not even with the amount of reading I do about sparkling wines, so I wasn't expecting much from this bottle. But it was really, really good. The bubbles were impressive, the best I've ever had from a British wine, better than many French champagnes I've drunk. The flavour was just perfect for a rose - not too sweet, not too acidic, not at all floral, and not over-powered with berries. This was a wonderful aperitif, and I'd love to try it again with shellfish, as the maker recommends oysters with it. I'll definitely be drinking it again someday.

More Franciacorta

I've been a bit busy, so my husband agreed to guest blog an entry for me. I agree with his assessment, this was a yummy bottle!

At some point in the past few weeks, we opened the rose sibling of the Le Cantorie Franciacorta brut from the booming metropolis of Gussago (don't believe Diego - it is far larger than a village). Details on the rose are sadly lacking from Le Cantorie's website, but in the face of such adversity we soldiered on regardless. As with the normal brut, the bubbles were available in abundance and showed real longevity in the glass. While the wine lacked much in the way of a finish, on the palate it was a bit bolder than the brut with berry and currant notes and that characteristic Franciacorta dryness.

A Weekend of Wonderful

We had a BBQ on Saturday and, of course, we served some bubbles. One of our guests very kindly brought two bottles (thank you!). The first was Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs grand cru. It's been a while since I've drunk this champagne, and I had forgotten what a perfect champagne this is - crisp, delicately yeasty, slightly nutty, and non-stop bubbles. To me it is the gold standard for what a blanc de blancs should be.

The second was an interesting comparison, Pascal Doquet Premiers Crus de la Cote des Blancs. I remarked to my friend that, while I liked this champagne, it was edgier than the Billecart-Salmon. While the Billecart-Salmon was full of refined flavours, the Pascal Doquet tasted of a rounded blend of fallen apples and raw yeast. It was a wine that I enjoyed trying, but while I could drink the Billecart-Salmon every day, the Doquet had a richness that would almost overwhelm if drunk too often. My friend commented that the maker of this wine was definitely an 'edgy'-type, from a traditional wine family, but who branched out on his own to become a small producer. I liked this story, and am glad that he's making such lovely wines. He's one to watch!

We ended the meal with a sparkler that I had bought for my friend to try - Camel Valley 2008 Pinot Noir Brut. This rose had won the 2010 International Wine Challenge, and I was curious to see how a group of wine lovers would rate it. Even the very particular French contingent begrudgingly admitted it was better than they had hoped it would be, with rich berry flavours and lots of fizz. Surprisingly, it held up well against the chocolate mousse cake that I was eating. This one is expensive for a British sparkler (almost £60/bottle), but a fun thing to introduce to people who like bubbles.

On Sunday, my husband and I had the garden to ourselves, so we opened the one bottle of bubbles in the fridge that hadn't been opened the previous day - Le Cantorie Franciacorta brut that my friends had brought back to me from a trip to Italy (again, thank you!). I couldn't believe the whoosh of bubbles that exploded from the bottom of glass on pouring - it was just so awesome and unexpected. For the bubbles alone, everyone should try this wine. But the flavour was lovely too, with most of it hitting the mid-tongue in a burst of silky fruit. The wine didn't have much finish, but that just didn't bother me because of all the bubbles.

What a wonderful weekend, full of great company and great wine!!

Two Very Different Pinot Noirs

We had two bottles of bubbles during the week. The first was part of my Fizz Club case from the Champagne Warehouse, the latest release of 1+1=3 brut nature pinot noir. This was a juicy, berry-flavoured cava with a gorgeous, deep pink colour. Very yummy, although the bubbles weren't quite as good as the last batch of this cava that we drank.

The second bottle that we opened was the 2006 Cubitt Reserve from Denbies. This was also a pinot noir-based sparkler, but couldn't have been more different from the cava. To start, it wasn't a rose. Where the cava was full of berries, this was grape-y, like the kind of grape flavour you get in lollipops and bubble gum as a kid. The grape turns into grapefruit on the finish, with a nice acidity.

The only similarity came in the bubbles, which provided lots of fizz on opening, but didn't last through the glass. Disappointing for me, as I do love my bubbles.

Two from the Fizz Club

We tried two bottles of bubbles from our Fizz Club membership with the Champagne Warehouse late this week, and they were both wonderful!! Had I ordered these wines through the regular website, I would have only ordered single bottles and then thought "I'll have to buy more of this". With the Fizz Club, I already have second bottles here, just waiting to be drunk : )

The first bottle we tried was the extra dry prosecco from Stocco. This is made from 100% prosecco grapes and couldn't be more different from the previous bottle of rose prosecco that we drank from Stocco. This one was fresh and aromatic, smelling of spearmint with a touch of candied banana. The first impression on the tongue was a flash of the mint, but followed up by lots of green apple - not like apples off of the tree, but the kind of green apple flavour you get in sour candies. It had loads of bubbles and was just so much fun to drink. I definitely preferred this to their rose.

The second bottle that we tried was the new release of Vignarosa Amorino brut rosato. It was just gorgeous!! The ruby colour never ceases to amaze me, and the rich, balsamic vinegar aroma just draws you in. Like past bottles that we've drunk, this one had deep red berry flavours that go on and on. And I knew we were in for some good bubbles when I couldn't get the cork out and had to hand the bottle over to my husband...while I don't like the delay in opening the bottle, I loved the sharp, explosive 'pop' and all of the bubbles!!

A great start from the Fizz Club, thanks Champagne Warehouse!

Not What I Was Expecting

The lovely team at the Champagne Warehouse sent me a bottle of rose prosecco to try as a 'thank you' for some feedback that I gave them about their newly-launched Fizz Club. The wine was Rosamossa Rose Extra Dry from Stocco, a 100% cabernet sauvignon sparkler. I had high hopes for this wine having loads of berry flavours from the tasting notes that were sent to me, but it didn't turn out to be anything like what I was expecting.

The wine itself was a salmon-pink colour, and from the start, it had an incredibly amount of tiny, fizzy bubbles. It smelled like very acidic strawberries. When my husband asked what my first impression was on first sip, though, my reaction was - tomato. Not juicy, ripe-off-the-vine tomato, but just the slight aftertaste of tomato skin. There were definitely some berry flavours in there, but this wine was so dry it had a lot of vegetable flavours, as well. As it warmed up, it had a subtle finish of vegetable stock, with a mild celery and parsley taste.

This was such a surprise, and I'd be keen to try this with food rather than sipping it on its own as we did. It's not at all like the run-of-the mill rose proseccos that are out there, this is much more unusual.

A big thank you to the Champagne Warehouse for such an interesting bottle of prosecco, and a pitch for the Fizz Club, too - each month, the Champagne Warehouse are offering 6-bottle cases with 3 kinds of grower wines (2 bottles of each wine) - with options of just champagne, just non-champagne sparklers, or a mix of champagne and non-champagne sparklers. These wines aren't on offer on their website until well after the Fizz Club members have had their chance to order and re-purchase at a discount - so some of these wines might never reach the general website. It's quite reasonably priced, and no minimum commitment, so please do get in touch with them to sign up to receive the monthly tasting notes!!

Two From The Sampler

This week, we drank two champagnes that I bought from The Sampler. They were both uniformly good, well-made champagnes with lots of bubbles. This was a nice surprise, as I'm used to things being a bit more hit-or-miss when I'm buying from a supplier I don't know very well.

The first champagne was Varnier-Fanniere Brut Zero, a zero dosage champagne made purely from grand cru chardonnay grapes. This champagne had a very clean taste, with a bit of hay and biscuit in it, but had very little flavour at the finish until it warmed almost to room temperature. It was almost too clean, as I liked it enough that I wanted it to linger on my palate but it didn't. At £30/bottle, I'm not sure it's value for money.

The second champagne was more interesting, Laherte Freres Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature. This was also a zero dosage, 100% chardonnay champagne, although 40% of the wine mixture came from reserve wines from years past. The champagne had a wonderful, very green flavour, with just a touch of smokiness at the end. I think I liked it more than my husband, but he certainly finished his without complaint. I would order this again to share with other champagne-lovers, because it managed to be unusual and yet still what I expect from a champagne.

Sunny Sunday

It's been raining here in London for so long that I've almost forgotten that it's summer. But it is, and this weekend was nice enough that on Saturday we walked to Brixton to shop at the market there and on Sunday we were actually able to cook some of what we bought and eat lunch outside. My husband made a delicious marinade for the thinly-cut beef ribs that we had picked up, and grilled them with some plantains (also from the market). While mojitos would probable have been the best thing to drink with our lunch, we didn't have the right ingredients. We opened a bottle of Maison Lenique blanc de noirs instead, the rich flavour holding up nicely to the wonderfully-spiced meat. A good match, and a good afternoon for some bubbles.

Not Champagne, But Wow

I love it when I order a bottle of wine that I know nothing about and it wows me...in the order that I placed with The Sampler I included a bottle of Lorca Fantasia Extra Brut blanc de blancs. This sparkler is from Argentina, so I just couldn't resist placing it in my cart even though I had no idea what to expect.

We opened it the other evening and absolutely loved it!! It had a hugely tropical aroma, with just a whiff of banana. It tasted of zesty pineapple and guava, a wonderful combination for a warm evening. What it lacked in finish, it made up in bubbles, a trade-off I am always happy to make. It was a huge bargain at less than £11/bottle. While I would never confuse this with a French champagne, I would happily drink (and serve) this as a gorgeous, playful aperitif. I must order more...

I'll Half That

I didn't realise it, but I ordered a half-bottle of champagne from The Sampler when I placed my order. The website did actually say it was a 375ml bottle, but I wasn't paying attention. It had caught my eye that they had a number of half-bottles on offer, which I really liked. It's a great way of trying new things without committing too much money (or paying for things you might not drink). But I was buying wines that were low dosage when I placed my order, rather than looking at the half-bottles. At some point, I'll go back and order more half-bottles intentionally.

When I unpacked this particular bottle, I immediately put it in the fridge thinking that it would be nice to have for some night when I was on my own. Wednesday was such a night, my husband was out and I was home by myself. I uncorked the half-bottle of La Chapelle Brut Audace as a small treat, sipping it while I watched The Apprentice. It's a predominantly pinot meunier champagne with a bit of pinot noir and chardonnay, something I usually like. This bottle was a bit different - it smelled of stewed apples with just a touch of dirty dishwater. It had lots of ripe orchard fruit flavours with a touch of shortbread biscuits, but not the crispness that I like and expect from a great champagne. In its favour, it had loads of bubbles, but that just wasn't enough to make me love this wine. It was fine, but it didn't 'wow' me, so my mistake in ordering just a half-bottle paid off!!

Celebrations

I knew we would likely drink something bubbly with dinner last night since it was the 4th of July. Then I also got some exciting professional news, too, so I pulled out a bottle of the good stuff, my very last bottle from Billecart-Salmon, the vintage 2004. It was just right for our celebrations, although a food and wine matching note - no champagne seems to go really well with peas eaten raw straight from the pod - they're just too green.

A lovely evening outside, made that much nicer by a fantastic champagne. My thanks to the person who helped us source the Billecart-Salmon, we have thoroughly enjoyed every single bottle!!

Finally!

I have been looking for ages for a good sparkling red wine. Outside of the wine list at Ransome's Dock, no one seems to carry them. But I found one finally - from a shop I found on-line called The Sampler.

This bottle of wine was worth the time I've spent hunting one down. It was the 2009 sparkling pinot noir from Penley Estates, an Australian producer who predominantly makes traditional red wines. The sparkling wine was wonderful, big and juicy, with loads of raspberry and blackberry flavour, with just a touch of prune on the finish. It had a good amount of fizz that lasted and kept the wine from being too heavy. It was perfect for last night's warm weather with grilled steaks. I will definitely be buying a few more bottles of this, in hopes that we get some more warm days to BBQ.

I know that for proper red wine drinkers and champagne fanatics, this sort of thing is just not on. But I like sparkling reds, I like having a wine with a bit more heft that still has the frivolity of the bubbles. As a friend has always told me, "a good wine is one that you like, regardless of how much it cost or what name is on the bottle". This was a good wine.

Autumnal

Nope, not the weather, but the champagne we drank last night - Roger Legros Millesime 2002, a chardonnay/pinot noir mix which I bought from the Champagne Warehouse. This was such a nice champagne!It smelled like the perfect autumn day in an orchard, with fallen apples and fresh-cut hay, a slightly oxidised aroma, but in the way that a good sweet wine smells. There was no sweetness to this wine though, just lots of rich apple with some biscuit on the finish. The bubbles were excellent, too. I was very surprised to see this priced at less than £30 on the Champagne Warehouse website, it was a lot of quality for a very reasonable price!!

Heavy Going

We drank a sparkling wine that had intrigued me on Green & Blue's website - Mauzac Nature from Domaine les Tres Cantous. The 'mauzac' in the name is the variety of grape, another unusual one that I had not tried before. This wine was as interesting in the glass as it was in its making, which included organic grape farming and the use of local yeasts. The wine was a straw colour and densely opaque in the glass, smelling heavily of orchard fruit and still-fermenting yeast. It had a very heavy pear and honey flavour, topped up with yet more of the raw yeast. It had more bubbles than I expected, but they didn't last throughout the glass. This was not a sipping wine - it's not at all crisp or refreshing - and was such heavy going that I couldn't finish mine. My husband quite liked it with our food - broad bean and pea pasta, with crisp, lemony flavours - but agreed it wouldn't have been suitable as an aperitif. Thankfully he liked it enough to finish mine!

Last of New Lenique

We tried the last variety of the Maison Lenique mixed case that I got from 3-D Wines, their non-vintage blanc de blancs. We liked this a lot, although it definitely wasn't as good as their vintage champagnes. It had loads of green apple and lime flavour combined with a touch of yeastiness. It also had great balance and plentiful bubbles. It just wasn't as flavourful or as crisp as their vintage champagne, though, and the finish wasn't as long. It's still plenty drinkable, we did enjoy it!

Perfect Rose Weather

The sun came out at the weekend and the temperature went up - the perfect weather for a bottle of rose with bubbles. We luckily had the right wine on the champagne shelf, La Farra rose brut prosecco that came from the Champagne Warehouse. We've had this wine before and liked it, the perfect mix of dry fruit flavours with lots of fizz. It was a fantastic accompaniment to the fresh Kent cherries that I had bought on Saturday. I can't believe the Champagne Warehouse are still only charging £11 for it, it's a complete steal at that price!

Over-Hyped

We had a bottle of prosecco that I ordered from Green & Blue, and it was so non-descript, so ho-hum, that I actually had to go back to their website to see what it was that attracted me. What they said about the Casa Coste Piane Valdobbiadene Prosecco was that the producers are meticulous about their fruit (so far, so good), that it is bone dry and full of mineral and restrained fruit (yes on the dry, restrained on the flavour), and "it would be a crime against all the Gods of Wine if you don’t try it at least once". Here's where they've gone too far for me, because this wine wasn't all that. It was almost completely flat (the bottle does say 'Frizzante...Naturalmente', so I was not expecting to be wow'ed by the bubbles) and no more special than any other prosecco that I drink by the glass when I'm out at a pub or at Borough Market. I found it disappointing - it was an OK wine, nothing horrible about it, but nothing that remarkable, either. I'm surprised by the rave review, which is echoed on some other websites.

More from Britain

We spent Saturday afternoon touring the British 'countryside' (actually, 15 minutes away from Zone 6 of London) with a friend of mine. It was lovely and lush from all of the rain. I am always amazed at how quickly the terrain changes from city to country around London! Knowing my penchant for bubbles, my friend suggested that we meet at Denbies vineyard, a very wise idea. We came home with several bottles of wine, both sparkling and still.

The first bottle that we tried, Denbies Whitedowns, had really intrigued me, as it was made from seyval blanc grapes, a new variety for me. It was an unusual sparkler, with OK fizz and a very green flavour, almost like under-ripe melon. It had a good enough balance that it didn't taste tart or bitter, it just had no sweetness to it whatsoever. I was borderline on whether or not I really liked it, it was interesting to me rather than enjoyable. The green-ness was too much for my husband, though, he would pass on this one again.

The Whitedowns wasn't the best-known or the most highly-rated of the Denbies sparklers, so hopefully the next ones we try will be more impressive.

Pink Lenique

On Friday, we decided to try another of the bottles in our mixed case of Maison Lenique from 3-D Wines. This one was their Brut rose, a chardonnay/pinot noir blend. I was excited to try a rose from Maison Lenique, and this one didn't disappoint. Not only did it have wonderful, plentiful bubbles, but it smelled and tasted of jam on toast. I loved that for a rose wine, it wasn't all sweet fruit, but held a lot of the bread and biscuit characteristics that many white champagnes have. It was absolutely delicious, one of the best roses I've had in a while, and a good reminder of how different rose champagne can be to other rose sparkling wines.

New Maison Lenique

I managed to acquire a mixed case of Maison Lenique through 3-D Wines - three different kinds of champagne that we hadn't tried before. We opened the first bottle from the case last night, a non-vintage blanc de noirs.

It was very different from the vintage blanc de blancs that we're used to from Maison Lenique. This champagne still had the same clean taste and wonderful balance, but it was much richer, with an almost blue cheese finish (which was good, as I LOVE blue cheese). The bubbles weren't quite as everlasting as the blanc de blancs, but still held a steady fizz at the end of the glass. Overall, it was very good, a nice change from what we know at Maison Lenique, and I'm glad I have a few more bottles of it.

Disappointing Vintage

We opened a bottle of Camel Valley Brut 2009 last night. It was only OK, not as good as the '07 or '08 vintages. This one was much greener smelling and tasting - a bit like the endive that was in the pasta I made for dinner, including the touch of bitterness. It also didn't hold its bubbles through the glass, the first time I've experienced this with a Camel Valley sparkler. Perhaps age will help this one? But for now, I'd stick with the older vintages.

Fizzy Pink

Last night, we opened a bottle of Mas de Daumas Gassac Rose Frizzant that I bought from Green & Blue. I have to be honest, I didn't have high hopes for this wine, which is a French sparkler (rather than a champagne) and we've had variable experiences with these. The fact that they called it 'frizzant' didn't bolster my confidence in its bubbles.

But it surprised me. It was definitely more fizzy than bubbly, but the fizz endured - it had a nice texture throughout. The scent and flavour were unusual - very much like the juice that I get when I macerate strawberries with a little bit of balsamic vinegar. But then this wine is mostly cabernet sauvignon (a grape they use in one of my favourite proseccos) with a little bit of petit manseng, so the slightly heavier, tangier flavour made sense.

In all, it was a pleasant wine. I don't know that I would hunt it down again, but as an experiment and to broaden my horizons, I was glad to have tried it.

That's Better

We celebrated my husband's birthday yesterday, and he had asked me to pull a 'good bottle' of bubbles out of the assortment we had in the house. I knew exactly which to choose - Larmandier-Bernier Blanc de Blancs that came from Green & Blue. After the previous day's fiasco with the Champalou, I wanted to serve him a wine that we hadn't tried before, but from a maker that we trust and like.

This one was just right for the evening - a low dosage champagne whose cork exploded into my hand with a surprising and celebratory 'POP'. It smelled just like the apple pie my husband was eating, tart apples and buttery pastry. The green apple carried through in the flavour, complemented by a clean, chalky finish, a lovely, more-ish flavour. The bubbles were plentiful on pouring but didn't last long in the glass, which meant we kept having to top up our glasses to refresh the bubbles. This bottle didn't last long, and was enjoyed immensely.

Ick!

I made a huge mistake. I bought a bottle of Champalou Brut from Green & Blue based on the description on their website:

"We implore you not to think of this as a cheap alternative to champagne but as a gorgeously scented, honeyed quince and apple flavoured wine"

I trusted them. I tend to think that Green & Blue is the kind of place where they've actually tried the wine and bought it because it was good and written about it from their experiences, rather than just flog it off with the maker's PR. In this case, I think I was wrong. How could anyone, anywhere, who knows even the minute-est thing about wine write that Champalou is any kind of alternative to champagne?

First off, it smelled like a used Band-Aid, damp and plastic-y. It tasted like how some grandmothers smell, sweet, a little floral, and slightly musty. Mercifully, it had no finish. And the bubbles...not even worth mentioning. It improved when we drank it with some really salty cheeses, but not by much. It wasn't anywhere close to champagne, I wouldn't even compare this to some of the worst cavas that I've drunk.

Right off, my husband, who didn't know what this was, asked if it was from Vouvray. He knew from the first sip that it was a wine typical of that area. In his words - "they bottle it sweet, and it's a crapshoot from there how it turns out". So if you like that kind of wine, then Champalou is for you. If you're looking for a cheap alternative to champagne, try some of the cavas or proseccos that I've liked, they'll be safer bets!

BC Bubbles

My husband and I spent the weekend in Vancouver. I know, it's a long way from London, and yes, I am feeling it today. But it was a great trip, a really lovely, walkable city, and I was very excited about trying some Canadian sparkling wines. The best part was that both wine shops and restaurants showcased local British Columbian wines. I also really liked that two of the restaurants we visited offered 2-oz 'taster' glasses, making it easy to sample a few different wines with your meal.

Overall, I walked away with a very positive feeling about all of the wines we drank. The biggest surprise was a still, aromatic muscat from Joie Vineyards. Ordinarily, I would have avoided this wine because I find muscats to be a bit too much for me, but since I could order a 2-oz taster I thought, "Why not?". I was so pleased that I did, because this was, like the name of the vineyard, pure joy. It had an intensely floral aroma, so much so that I really thought I wouldn't like the wine. But the flavour was a wonderful balance of freesia and grapefuit, the perfect blend of floral and acidity. Next time, I would buy a whole glass of this, if not a whole bottle.

But on to the sparkling wines...

We first tried Sumac Ridge 2006 Stellar's Jay Brut. This wine is a blend of pinot blanc, pinot noir, and chardonnay. It was a very pretty colour, with a tinge of apricot along the rim. The apricot carried on in the flavour, hitting the mid-tongue with just a flash of sweetness. Interestingly, the wine smelled of sawdust, with a clean, dry wood scent. This sparkler was almost as much about what it wasn't - yeasty, toasty, biscuity - than what it was - fruity and tartly rich. It was hard to discern how good the bubbles were in the small quantities that we tried, although a fine stream of small bubbles was present on pouring.

The next wine we tried was Sperling 2009 Sper...itz. As the name indicates, this wine is more of an effervescent wine than a real sparkler - it less has bubbles and more has a texture on your tongue. Those of you who read my blog regularly will be completely dumbfounded when I write that the lack of bubbles totally didn't bother me with this wine, I really, really enjoyed it! The Sper...itz is made from riesling, bacchus, and perle of csaba grapes. On first smell, it was a rose garden in full bloom, but then this dissipated into a tropical island aroma. The flavour was a wonderful Hawaiian salad, with papaya, lime, and pineapple. This was so much fun to drink, and at only 7.5% alcohol, not at all a worry if you have one glass more than you intended!

The last wine we tried was a rose sparkler from 8th Generation Vineyard. This one was not on the wine list at one of the restaurants we visited, but on hearing my interest in BC sparklers, the nice lady who was serving us dug up a taster glass of this for me. Here's the thing, though - she told me it was a sparkling chardonnay, but a visit to 8th Generation's website doesn't show them making a rose sparkling chardonnay. I suspect what I had was actually the Confidence Frizzante, which is a chardonnay/pinot noir blend. The wine smelled like a Sharpie pen, (something that I really liked). It had a very dry, red berry flavour, not just the sweeter berries like strawberries and raspberries, but the richer ones, too, like currants and cranberries. The quantity wasn't enough for me to assess bubbles, but there were a few streaming up in the small glass.

I was encouraged enough by these experiences to find room in my suitcase to bring back to London a couple of bottles from other makers - very much looking forward to trying them!

Home Sweet Home

I had a very brief trip to the US this past weekend, and as much as I enjoyed it, there's nothing like coming back to my own home - especially when my husband has made the effort to track down a champagne we'd not tried before! My husband greeted me with a chilled bottle of Agrapart & Fils Les 7 Crus that he had bought at Green & Blue. This is a blanc de blancs wine, named "7 crus" because the grapes come from the seven villages that are in the Cote de Blancs. This winemaker is also known for a more natural and lower dosage winemaking style, with this particular bottle having a 7 g/l dosage.

I firstly have to comment on the bubbles of this champagne, as they were the best I've had in recent memory. A consistent, fine, fizzy stream, whooshing up from the bottom of the glass. For this reason alone, I was ready to like this champagne! But on top of the bubbles, it was a remarkably good wine. It smelled of a light balsamic vinegar, with a fruity acidity on the nose. It had a clean citrus taste, with just a touch of pith-bitterness on the finish. This champagne went down quickly and it's definitely a do-over. Kudos to my husband for picking it up!

Blissful Rain

I was so excited that it rained yesterday - not just because my garden so desperately needed it, but because I have had builders working on the outside of the house and even though they're incredibly considerate, it was wonderful to have the house to myself yesterday when they stopped work because of the weather. I was able to get into my kitchen and cook a proper dinner - turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Yummy.

We accompanied it with one of my favourite cavas, 1+1=3 Brut Rose Seleccion from the Champagne Warehouse. The colour of this wine still amazes me, it is just so beautiful. The wine was great with the food, too, its fruity flavour but incredible dryness perfectly offsetting the creaminess of the potatoes and the herbs in the meatloaf. I need to buy more of this wine, it will be great to have on-hand all summer.

Biddenden Tasting

I went to a winemaker dinner for Biddenden Vineyards last night at a restaurant in the Clapham/Battersea area called Artisan & Vine. While I've been to winemaker's dinners before, it was my first at this particular venue. The evening was fantastic - the food and wine matching were excellent, and the hosts - both from the restaurant and the vineyard - were both charming and informative. They're doing more events throughout the year, including some day trips out to some of the English vineyards, and I'm hoping to go to another dinner in August.

But the reason why I'm blogging is that we started the evening with a sparkling wine from Biddenden, their Quality Pink Sparkling Wine 2007. This wine is 100% gamay grapes, something a little different for a sparkler. It was good - a lovely, deep rose colour with a strong aroma of strawberries. I was worried that the wine might be too sweet for me, but the strawberry flavour was balanced with just a touch of grapefruit, making it a perfect sipper. It had enough bubbles, too, plentiful on pouring and tapering off to a steady fizz toward the end of the glass. I was pleased with this wine, but don't think it quite deserves its £20 price tag - I've had equally good cavas and proseccos in the £10-15 range, which is where I would have priced this wine.

Sour Grapes

We drank a bottle of Camel Valley's 2006 Pinot Noir Brut sparkling wine this weekend. This blanc de noir was excellent, with a tart grape flavour followed by a Bramley apple finish. It had great balance, lots of crisp flavours without any bitterness and lots of fruit without too much sweetness. The bubbles were great, too!

I have to say that I'm getting more and more impressed with this maker every time I drink their wine.

Not My Thing

When I made my last order at Green & Blue, I added a few things to the case that I wouldn't ordinarily order, just to stretch my boundaries. We drank one of them last night, a 2006 Petillant Naturel from Thierry Puzelat. This is a Loire valley sparkling wine made from a grape I had never heard of before, menu pineau. The 'naturel' in the name indicates that the maker uses very low amounts of sulphur in the wine-making process. It is also a low dosage wine.

I wish I could say I loved it, but I didn't. The amber-coloured liquid had a dense, apple and honey flavour, more like a cider than a wine. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with that, but it's not really what I want in a sparkling wine. It also had just a touch of stinky socks on the finish, I wasn't sure I liked that, but it was fleeting. What really disappointed the most were the bubbles. The wine is, at best, effervescent on pouring, and the bubbles quickly disappeared altogether, leaving just the heavy flavour behind. While this was interesting to try once, it really wasn't my thing. But since it was only around £15 for the bottle, I didn't break the bank with my experiment.

Back to France

Last night, my husband cooked pasta for me for dinner, which was a great treat. We decided to open the bottle on the 'champagne shelf' to go with it - Bereche et Fils Brut Reserve, which I had acquired from Green & Blue. This wine is a balanced mix of the traditional champagne grapes, chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier, but does not undergo malolactic fermentation like most champagnes.

We had high hopes for this wine, as we've drunk champagnes from this maker before. We weren't disappointed. The champagne smelled of uncooked bread dough and tasted slightly of this at the start. The finish was long and lovely - crisp, juicy grapefruit. The bubbles were teeny-tiny, but there were lots of them and they lasted. My husband commented that it was nice to "drink French again" as this champagne was such a different experience to the Italian and Spanish wines we had in the past two days - much cleaner, more balanced, yeastier, weightier. We loved it!

Bereche et Fils say on their website that this is their 'signature' champagne and I can see why. That said, I'm now keen to track down a bottle of their zero dosage Extra Brut Reserve...

Date Night - May '11

Last night was date night and my husband and I went to a recently opened Italian restaurant in Dulwich. The food and service were very good, but the wine list was only OK. So we returned home and opened a bottle of sparkling wine that he had brought back from a trip he took to Brescia earlier in the month - Cavalleri 2005 Collezione Grandi Cru Franciacorte.

I learned something new last night - that not all sparkling wines from Italy are called 'prosecco'. In the Brescia area, the sparkling wines are called 'franciacorte' and there are rules about how they're made and the grapes they contain that make them different from prosecco (i.e. they can't contain pinot grigio grapes). This wine was 100% chardonnay, a blanc de blancs.

Having never tried a franciacorte before, I didn't know what to expect. The wine surprised me right from the start, with a strong yeasty smell emanating from the bottle, followed by the scent of light olive oil. The olive theme carried through in the flavour, with the wine tasting slightly of fresh-off-the-tree green olives followed by a citrus-clean finish. On first pouring the bubbles were fantastic, too, although they did not persist through the end of the glass. Despite this, I would drink this wine again, it was very good.

That Was Cava?

We drank an interesting cava yesterday - the Brut Nature from 1+1=3, which I got from the Champagne Warehouse. We've had this before and really liked it with food because of the complexity of its flavour. I didn't really get as much of a chance to appreciate it last time, though, because we had guests and I was concentrating on cooking. This time, I got to focus on and properly admire the cava - starting with its goat cheese scent, a grassy, creamy, slightly smoky aroma. This carried through into the flavour with the creaminess balanced by a grapefruit acidity. This cava wasn't like the sterotypical cava, it was much fuller and more challenging to the palate. I still think it's not a light sipper, definitely a 'go-with-food' wine.

I'm Not Stupid

I was in the Chiswick area earlier in the week with our friend who has been visiting. Since we were in the neighbourhood, we stopped in to see what Lea & Sandeman had in stock, as they usually have a good selection for decent prices. The salesman was not content to let us browse, though. When I told him I was 'just looking' at his selection of sparkling wines, he pressed me for what I was interested in. Not seeing any on the shelf, I asked if they had any sparkling red wines. The response I got was pretty unbelieveable - the salesman said that they didn't have anything like a sparkling shiraz, but most of the champagnes were made with red wine grapes and why didn't a try something like a 100% pinot noir champagne or a rose prosecco? Hello! These are not even close to a sparkling red wine!!

I had to leave the store at that point because I don't like being treated like an idiot. If he really, really wanted to sell me something, he should have asked what I wanted the sparkling red for and then pointed me to some suitable options. I expect better service from Lea & Sandeman, and just hope this guy was simply having an off-day yesterday.

Newbie

A friend is staying with us who is curious about champagne but doesn't often drink it. He had never tried anything from Billecart-Salmon and was keen to, so we arranged a nice dinner for him with a bottle of their Brut Reserve, one of my favourites. So that he could compare it with something of similarly high quality, we also opened a bottle of Inflorescence which was highly-rated among the group at my last BYOBB.

It was an interesting comparison. Having tried a little of each champagne, my friend decided that the Billecart-Salmon should be served with dinner since it had a crisper, cleaner style that would complement rather than compete with the lemon-caper chicken and cauliflower risotto that we made. We served the Inflorescence afterward, so that the deep, apple-orchard flavour could be appreciated on its own. Both champagnes were wonderful and, as usual, had lots of bubbles. It was a treat to drink them both in one night!

End of the Weekend

Part of me was sad to see the end of the holiday weekend, but part of me was glad it was coming to a close because my husband was away in Italy with friends for the 4 days. I was excited for him to come home and put a bottle of prosecco - Vignarosa Amorino Brut Rosato from the Champagne Warehouse - in the fridge thinking he might want something Italian and bubbly as a nightcap. We sipped glasses as he recounted the adventures from the weekend. While I was sorry to have missed the trip, it sounded like they all had a great time. And I enjoyed the bubbles with his stories, marvelling again at how this prosecco is such a great balance of berry fruits and crisp dry-ness.

I'm also very excited because my husband arrived home bearing gifts from himself and from our friends, some new proseccos to try!! So very thoughtful of them!

Wedding Bubbles

Like much of the world, I watched the Royal Wedding yesterday. I had joked with some friends that I would have a glass of something bubbly with me right from the start, but to be honest, it was a little early for me. So I drank my Diet Coke through the ceremony, and then caved in and opened the bubbles for the balcony scenes later in the day. I toasted the happy couple with an American sparkler, Roederer Estate's Quartet, a 70/30 chardonnay/pinot noir blend. It is a favourite of mine, and had toasted nut aromas, biscuity flavours, and lots and lots of bubbles. I got this bottle from Ocado for £20, and I have to say, it was good value.

Kate and Wills served their wedding guests non-vintage Pol Roger, which wouldn't have been my first choice. While the champagne house has a long-standing relationship with the UK (and with Winston Churchill in particular), it surprised me that the couple went with a French champagne. With all of the talk on the news coverage about the wedding day showcasing 'brand GB' and with discussions of the food menu centred on how much of it was locally sourced or sourced from one of the Royal estates, you would have thought they'd serve British bubbles!!

Reasonable Pricing

I tried Nyetimber sparkling wines many years ago when they first came out. I liked them back then, and was surprised at what good quality these English sparklers were. But then they started winning awards and then the prices went up - towards £30 a bottle. And while the wines were good, I can get other interesting and just-as-good sparkling wines and champagnes for less money, so I stopped drinking Nyetimber.

Ocado was running a special on Nyetimber this week, putting the price closer to the £20 mark, so I bought a bottle of the Classic Cuvee 2006, a chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier blend. It surprised me how good it was, very close in style to a French champagne. It had a yeasty, frangipane-scented aroma, with lots of crisp lemon and apple flavour. There was just a touch of sweetness on the finish. The bubbles were also good, lots of them and lasting through the glass. It didn't have the long finish of some of the French champagnes I've had in the £20 range, but it's very well balanced and a great sparkling wine at this price range.

If it's still on special the next time I'm on Ocado, I'll be buying a few more bottles. But I still wouldn't splash out on it at its 'normal' price.

Lovely Weekend

The weather couldn't have been more perfect this weekend, and to top it off, we spent much of it with friends. It was the ultimate combination of sunshine and great company!

On Sunday, we had some friends over for a lunchtime BBQ, which was very laid back and relaxed. For an aperitif, we served an English sparkling wine, Gusbourne Brut Reserve 2006, Jancis Robinson's top-rated English sparkler. This wine is a classic champagne blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier. It was pleasant enough - emulating the French-style champagnes but not quite achieving the same kind of yeasty richness or balance of the best of them. That said, it had very good bubbles and made a nice aperitif. It sadly just wasn't very memorable, the kind of thing you drink and say "that was nice" but that you don't feel the need to track down or serve again.

Our friend brought an American bottle of bubbly with him, Beringer Sparkling Zinfandel Rose - which we served for dessert with our mixed berry shortcake. The wine was a great match to the dessert, with a huge, fizzy, in-your-face berry flavour. Like many American sparklers, this was sweeter than the bubbles I usually drink, so I'm not sure I would have liked it on its own. But perfectly chilled, it was a great go-with-dessert wine for the hot weather.

On Monday, we went for a pub lunch with some friends, and then took advantage of the lingering sunshine with a wander through our local park. When we got home, to toast the closing of the holiday weekend, we opened the last of the English sparkling wines we had in the house, Camel Valley Brut 2008. I've had the 2007 vintage before and really liked it, and the 2008 didn't disappoint, either. Unlike the Gusbourne we had drunk the day before, the Camel Valley was a memorable wine. It had wonderful, nectar fruit flavours of apricots, peach, and passion fruit. It also had non-stop bubbles, which lightened the rich flavours. Of the three British sparklers we drank this weekend, this was by-far my favourite. I'm heading over to the Camel Valley website so that I can buy and try some more from this vineyard.

Great Expectations

I drank a lot of French champagne last year so I'm trying to drink a broader variety of geographies this year. I'm finding it difficult to acquire decent, non-French sparkling wines in the UK, though. Selfridges had a small selection of some of the better-rated (as per Jancis Robinson) British sparkling makers, so I bought a few bottles recently through their website.

Last night, we had BBQ sausages and mash for dinner, one of the ultimate British meals, so we opened a bottle of the British sparkling wine with it - Chapel Down Brut reserve. This wine is made from some unusual grapes, being a blend of Reichensteiner, Rivaner (a white wine grape that I really like), and Pinot Noir. I didn't really like this wine, though. It smelled strongly of yeast and tasted like apple-y beer. My husband was less bothered by it, saying that although it was slightly sweeter than the sparkling wines we tend to drink, it wasn't offensively sweet. Nor was it bitter or sour. While he didn't object to it, he didn't love it, either.

To be fair to Jancis Robinson, she recommended a 2007 vintage from this maker which Selfridges did not have. So I can't fault her recommendation for this wine being less than the one she tasted. But I have to say, based on my experience of this bottle, I wouldn't be keen to try more from Chapel Down.

Away from the Routine

Life has been a bit hectic of-late, so I've missed a few posts on champagnes that I've drunk - nothing new to report, but a few delicious bottles of Billecart-Salmon and Maison Lenique.

This weekend, though, with the holiday and the good weather, we've been trying a few new things so I'm compelled to blog again.

On Friday, we had some friends over for BBQ. They had given me a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque Millesime 2002 for my birthday a couple of years ago, and with great restraint, I waited to open it until we could find a nice day together in our garden. Friday was such a day, and it was totally worth the wait! The champagne, a chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier blend, had a slightly floral, somewhat jasmine scent, very light and fresh. It had a much richer flavour, of ripe apples and biscuits, with an incredibly long finish. It also had non-stop bubbles, perfect for me. A fantastic gift, thank you very much!

My friends had also brought a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1995 to try, so we opened that next. I wasn't sure what to expect, because I've only ever drunk the 1990 vintage of this maker, and while it tastes wonderful, it never has enough bubbles for me. Not the case with the 1995, which bubbled away happily in my glass, leaving me feeling much more favourably about this maker!! The 1995, a 50/50 split of chardonnay and pinot noir, lacked the amber-coloured richness of the 1990, but had a similar, well-rounded flavour with lots of orchard fruits and yeasty-goodness. My husband preferred it to the Perrier-Jouet that we had started with, saying that the Bruno Paillard wasn't as heavy on the palate.

In all, an excellent start to the weekend, and two stunning champagnes.

Homecoming

I was away from home for about 10 days - a lovely trip for me, but my poor husband was home alone dealing with a very sick dog. My return must have been a welcome relief for him, as the dog has been needing 24-7 care.

Somewhere in all of the drama, though, my husband found time to track down a couple of bottles of champagne for me. A long time ago, a friend gave me a great promotional apron from the Philipponnat brand. It's one of my favourite aprons, being the perfect length on me, with the exact right length ties for double-wrapping, and having a wonderful, nubby texture that picks up all of the bits from your fingers when you rub them on it. But I've never had Philipponnat champagne, and have always wanted to try it since owning the apron. My husband found two bottles.

The first one we tried was the 2002 Brut Reserve Millesimee, a 2/3 pinot noir, 1/3 chardonnay blend. This champagne really surprised us with never-ending bubbles and a toasted-nut finish. It was a very clean champagne, not very rich or rounded, but very drinkable.

The second champagne we tried (on a different night) was what I think was the 2004 Grand Blanc, made from 100% chardonnay. I say that I think this was a 2004 because the neck ring said 2004, but the label on the back of the bottle said it was a 2002. First time I've had this problem with labelling, but I'm guessing that what's on the front of the bottle is what's right. Anyway, this champagne was less successful than the first. It had a strong lemon-drop scent, which continued into the flavour, which was a very one-note, sour lemon. I didn't mind it so much, as I like tart lemon, but my husband had a hard time drinking this one - so much so that he poured out his glass. He also commented that, had this been his first experience with Philipponnat champagne, he wouldn't have drunk it again. Good thing we had tried a different cuvee the previous night.

In true champagne-loving fashion, to wash away the unpleasantness of the 2004 Philipponnat, my husband opened a bottle of Billecart-Salmon rose, knowing that he would love it and be very satisfied with it - and he was!

South American Surprise

We went to Ransome's Dock for lunch yesterday with some friends. We were keen to try some of the new Austrian wines that are on the wine list. We started with a lovely riesling, which we all agreed was a perfect match for the spring day!

As only some of us were having dessert, we decided to order a sparkling wine with that course so that those of us who weren't eating pudding could at least sip on something. The restaurant always has interesting things to choose from, and we selected the Miguel Torres Reserva de la Familia, a brut pinot noir sparkler from Chile. My past experiences with sparkling wines from Chile have been mixed - they can be very good and they can be a bit of nothing. But I trust Ransome's Dock, they're only going to put something good on their list. And this wine was very good!

It had tons of bubbles, always a big bonus for me. It also had a light, pleasing aroma, with hints of fresh flowers like jasmine combined with crisp orchard fruits. It tasted like juicy apples, with neither too much sweet or acid flavour. Best of all, it was enjoyed as much on its own as by those drinking it with their desserts, everyone around the table had positive things to say.

If I could find this in a shop, I would buy it as an easy-drinker at home. It can easily compete with the better proseccos and cavas that I've had, as well as some of the small-maker champagnes.

Not a Special Occasion

As I've been putting bottles of champagne on the champagne shelf in the refrigerator, I noticed that I tend to avoid 'the good stuff' - the vintage bottles that my husband gave me for Christmas - thinking that maybe I'll want them for something more special in future. But then I realised I wasn't walking the walk. These bottles deserve to be drunk to be enjoyed, not just on special occasions! So I put a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990 in the fridge, and we drank it on Saturday.

Seriously, there was nothing special going on. It was a nice day - we grilled steak, asparagus, and potatoes. And we really, really enjoyed the lovely richness of the champagne with it. It was a beautiful amber colour and tasted of stewed apples and yeast - dense fruit, with a long, rounded finish. As before, more bubbles in this champagne would make it perfect, but it was still pretty fantastic!

A Small Bottle

This is going to sound like a wierd thing to say, but I really like lentils. It's not the sort of food that makes most people (including my husband) go 'yum!', but for some reason, they do it for me. I always have an eye out for new recipes with lentils, and found a good one this week for lentil, spinach, and potato stew. I made it last night, a bit to my husband's dismay.

He perked up a bit as he smelled the stew cooking - but before we were ready to serve it, he started rummaging through the fridge, looking for something good to drink with the stew in case he didn't like it. Out came the bottle of Billecart-Salmon brut reserve. It seemed kind of extravagant drinking such a nice champagne with such a wholesome meal, but I wasn't going to turn down one of my favourite champagnes. It went really well with the lemony-minty flavours of the stew, too - which my husband even liked!!

On pouring our second glasses of champagne, though, my husband commented that we must have gotten a small bottle, as the champagne didn't seem to go as far as it usually does : )

Spring!

Saturday was a glorious day - brilliant sunshine, blue skies, the smell of hyacinths and daffodils in the air. How could you not drink champagne on a day like that? We opened a bottled of Maison Lenique 2004 in the afternoon, as we lounged in the garden with the FT, and sipped, and enjoyed, and relaxed. It was an 'aaahhh' sort of day.

Back to Borough Market

I had to go to Borough Market again on Friday - to buy shrimp for dinner and some meat for a meal I made this weekend. As usual, to reward myself for braving the crowds, I stopped into Bedales to see what bubbles they had. I chose a Brut Reserva Rose cava from Joan Sarda, thinking that it might complement the orange sauce I made with the shrimp. This wine is a 50/50 mix of grenache and monastrell grapes - an unusual combination for a sparkling wine.

The shrimp were delicious, the cava less so. I was surprised when my husband said he liked it. When I asked why he said it was because it actually had some flavour, unlike so many rose wines and cavas. But to me, the flavour was completely unbalanced. The cava hit the front of the tongue with an overpowering sweetness, and then milliseconds later hit the back of the tongue with an unpleasant sour taste that lingered. I just didn't like it. This was not a 'sip in the garden as an aperitif' sort of cava - it needed food to mask the sweet/sour dichotomy, and even then, the sour finish predominated.

A little disappointing from Bedales...but I have to say that I didn't ask for advice while I was there and, since they know my taste, they perhaps might have pointed me to something different.

No Real Reason...

My husband felt like having champagne with his leftovers for dinner last night, so since there was a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 in the fridge we drank it! Champagne always tastes that much better when there's no real reason for drinking it.

Cauliflower Revival

I saw the Hairy Bikers campaign to save cauliflower on TV the other day and was reminded how much I like the vegetable, but how infrequently I buy/cook it. So I decided to serve it more often at home. Last week I made the roasted cauliflower that they demonstrated on the show and it was both incredibly easy and delicious. Following that, I found a recipe for cauliflower risotto in Jamie Oliver's Italy cook book, and decided to try it on Sunday along with some simply grilled pork chops. Both were wonderful and perfectly suited to the mild day we had - especially washed down with Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs. Who knew that cauliflower and champagne would be such a good match, but the nuttiness of the vegetable went so well with the grapefruit-crispness of the champagne. Another reason to eat more cauliflower!!

Clumsy

Me, not the champagne.

We had planned on making blueberry pancakes for dinner on Tuesday since it was 'Pancake Day' here in the UK. But my husband reminded me that it was also International Women's Day on Tuesday, and I couldn't figure out why I should cook that day, so we ordered in. We made the pancakes on Wednesday, instead. I still think that they're one of the best food matches for champagne (something most people won't put together since they only eat pancakes for breakfast), so we had a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 with them.

While the champagne was faultless, I have to say that it wasn't my best meal. My hands weren't working very well and I had a hard time flipping the pancakes, especially since the spelt and corn meal blend that I used made them more delicate than wheat-flour pancakes. On top of that, I knocked a full glass of champagne off of the table, not only wasting perfectly good champagne but breaking one of my favourite and most expensive glasses - made even more expensive because HMRC charged me as much as the glasses cost to bring them across from the US!! Not my finest moment...

Hooray for Me!

I found out yesterday that I passed the fourth project in my garden design course, which means I'm 2/3 done. I've been having mixed feelings about the course - while I enjoy gardening and learning, I'm a bit frustrated by the structure of the course and the learning process. Fed up enough that I had to remind myself last night that I should be celebrating the fact that I worked hard and passed. So we opened a bottle of Maison Lenique 2004 with dinner and toasted my success. Everyone should take the time to pat themselves on the back every now and again...

Back to the Good Stuff

We had a kind of lazy weekend - I can't completely remember why or when, but we decided to have a bottle of champagne at some point. That completely fits with my theory behind champagne drinking...you don't need a good reason to open a bottle of champagne, just drink it because it's there to be enjoyed!!

I do remember the champagne, because it was very nice - G. Tribaut Cuvee de Reserve from the Champagne Warehouse. We've had this champagne before and really liked it. It held up to the memory, too - a very well-balanced wine, with just a touch of sweetness that didn't overwhelm or offend because of the perfect level of acidity of the wine, lacking any sour or bitter notes. It had a wonderful, grape-y flavour and tons of bubbles.

I should mention, too, that the Champagne Warehouse was recently named Best Online Champagne Retailer 2011, a well-deserved award. I've acquired some very nice champagnes and sparkling wines through them, and the team has always been helpful and lovely to work with. Cheers to them!

Last Bottle

We did it - we finally drank the last bottle of Philizot et Fils , the dreaded numero 2. My husband put it in the fridge figuring that we could drink it with some ribs that he made. We wouldn't ordinarily drink champagne with ribs, but thought the food would squelch some of the unpleasantness out of the numero 2.

My husband poured small glasses while we were cooking. To our surprise, the numero 2 was surprisingly drink-able. We're now left wondering if we got two bad bottles (improbable, but not impossible) or if we had simply steeled ourselves against the unusual taste of this champagne. We also agreed that, while this bottle wasn't as hard work as the previous ones, it's still not a champagne that we like. It smelled strongly of play-doh, brine, and sharp green herbs and tasted less like the black pepper of the first bottles, but still very bitter. It was OK with the ribs, but completely ruined the lovely sweetness and chocolately richness of the Green and Black's butterscotch eggs we had for dessert - not a go-with-chocolate drink!

I'm relieved to be done with this - not a feeling I often get with champagne!!

More US Bubbles

I returned to London yesterday from my trip to the US. Before I left, I had tracked down a couple of lesser-known but well-received US sparkling wines to bring back with me, and I put one of them in the fridge right after I unpacked. My husband and I had it with dinner last night - Biltmore Estate Chateau Reserve 2008 Blanc de Blancs (North Carolina).

I have a complaint right off about this wine. It was supposed to be a 2006 vintage - this is what is advertised on their website and what I ordered. At no point did they inform me that I would be getting a different vintage - perhaps most of their customers don't care about this, but I do. So points lost right there.

For the price (around $25 for the bottle) this wine was comparable to some of the proseccos that I've drunk. It's a very light wine, with sour apple flavour hitting the mid-palate followed by just a flash of sweetness and no finish. The bubbles were fine on pouring, but quickly dissipated. I was a little disappointed with it - perhaps the 2006 was as stunning as some of the reviews I read and the 2008 just doesn't compare. But I wouldn't waste the effort tracking down the 2006...

We followed the Biltmore Estate up with glasses of Maison Lenique 2005 - a world of difference between the two wines with the Maison Lenique having more creamy apple and yeast flavours, a denser, richer, altogether nicer wine. It satisfied my craving for a good glass of bubbly, something the Biltmore Estate wine didn't achieve.

US Report

I was in the US this past weekend and tried a couple of things I hadn't seen before.

The first was an oddball item. Every year, they flood Fenway Park in Boston and allow the NHL to play an outdoor game there. In conjunction with this, they release a sparkling wine - in 2010 it was the Bruins vs the Flyers and the wine was from Woodbridge Champagne (California). I had no idea they either played hockey at Fenway or connected a sparkling wine to it, so this caught my interest when I saw it at the store. I asked the owner if the wine was any good, and he assured me that they wouldn't sell something undrinkable for such a special event. He lied. The wine was so sweet that my husband and I only managed a few sips each before pouring the bottle out. It was absolutely dreadful. I'm thinking they must make this as a collector's item - the kind of thing you buy as a souvenir to leave on a shelf rather than to drink.

The next bottle was much better - the 2005 Estate Grown Brut Rose from Soter Vineyards (Oregon). Before I sing its praises, I have to say that it was completely oversold to me - the shop owner said that it compares favourably to the Billecart-Salmon rose. They are not at all alike. The Soter lacks the richness, balance, and finish of the Billecart-Salmon. It was also much shorter on bubbles. That said, it had a wonderful black cherry and cranberry flavour, which intensified as the wine warmed - the pinot noir that we love from Oregon coming through very clearly in this sparkler. I think it's pricey in the mid-$40 range - especially considering I can get the Roger Legros Rose for less and it's as-good if not better - but a good sparkler to have tried.

Old Friends

A friend of mine from the US is in town, and we spent Saturday night at my house, catching up over dinner. It only seemed right to serve her one of my favourite champagnes - Billecart-Salmon vintage 2004. It was stunning, as always. It was also a great match to the Shrimp Palermo that we cooked and to my friend's lovely, bubbly personality!!

Late...

My husband is late. We knew he might be late tonight, as he was meeting some friends for drinks at the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society. He told me he would try to get home at a reasonable hour to have a pre-dinner drink with me and then some pasta, but he's not here. He did call to say that he would be home shortly, so I have turned the 'everything in the fridge' pasta that I had started into baked ziti by mixing everything together in a baking dish, coating it with a generous helping of grated mozzarella (so much for my healthy meal), and popping it into the oven. Then I poured myself his pre-dinner drink (since I had already finished mine) and came up to the computer. I really should be finishing off the gardening paper that I started this afteroon, but he'll be home in 10 minutes, which is not enough time.

So I'll report on the pre-dinner drinks instead - kindly provided by the Champagne Warehouse (thank you!) - Roger Legros Rose, a pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay blend. It has a lovely aroma, full of ripe plums. On first sip, I was really surpised by this champagne. For a rose, it's got a hefty berry taste, not sweet strawberries and raspberries, but rich blackberries and cranberries. This leaves just a slightly bitter note on the finish, not unpleasant, but it's noticeable for just a moment. This champagne also has a consistent and fine stream of bubbles!

The tasting notes say that this is a good wine with summer salads like watermelon and feta or with non-chocolate desserts. I could defintely see those pairings working, and they would probably eliminate that touch of bitterness. I'll be ordering another bottle when watermelon is in season, as I do have a good watermelon, feta, and mint recipe that I've been keen to try.

Another nice champagne from Roger Legros. I'll have to try to visit them if I ever get back to the Champagne region.

A Triple Zero

We went to lunch with some friends on Sunday at Bar Baloud. The plan was to arrive a little early for a drink and then head to our table to sample the burgers for which the restaurant is known. I had heard this before we arrived, but the prices of the drinks were shocking - upwards of £12 for cocktails, the same price range as the burgers!! I cast my eye over the wine list, and was pleased to find a champagne I'd not tried before listed by the glass for around £9. So I ordered that - the Montlouis Petillant Triple Zero from Domaine de la Taille aux Loups.

This champagne is officially 'triple zero' because there are three stages in the champagne-making process where a maker could add sugar but this maker does not. I rate this champagne a triple zero because it 1) was unpleasantly bitter - smelling and tasting of not-quite-ripe greengages 2) had no finish whatsoever and 3) had no bubbles even though my glass came from a just-opened-before-my-eyes bottle. An absolute disappointment, particularly after the pleasure we'd had on Saturday with the Billecart-Salmon extra brut.

Three things saved the day. Our friends are great company, and we had a very nice afternoon with them. The burgers were mouthwateringly good, and I'm saying this as someone who's not a huge hamburger-eater. The Piggie Burger, topped with BBQ pulled pork and green chilli mayo hit all of the right spots. And, on top of that, when we got home we had 3/4 of a bottle of Roger Legros Cuvee Speciale to finish.

Will Work for Bubbles

I've been doing some garden design work for some friends, which is great practice for me as I'm undertaking my coursework. On Saturday, they very kindly assembled and gave me a case of champagne to thank me for my efforts. This was totally unnecessary as I'm not really comfortable charging anything for my gardening work with my still-amateur status - but very much appreciated (thank you!). And so I put one of the bottles in the refrigerator for Saturday evening - Billecart-Salmon extra brut - a zero dosage blend of pinot meunier, pinot noir, and chardonnay.

I love this champagne, it is totally my kind of champagne. It smelled like toast and grapefruit (or 'pamplemousse' as my friends say). It had the cleanest, richest, most refreshing taste with lots of citrus but no sourness or bitterness. The finish lasted forever and left us wanting more.

And the bubbles...perfect, round, plentiful bubbles!! The bubbles are my gold-standard for what a champagne should be.

This bottle disappeared far too quickly, even though my husband and I savoured every sip. My husband, cheeky-chappy that he is, suggested that we open the other bottle of champagne that was in our fridge, so that we could compare another champagne that we like to it. He knew I wouldn't say 'no' to that.

So he popped open the Roger Legros Cuvee Speciale from the Champagne Warehouse and we had a glass each. I have to say, I was a little nervous, because I've really liked this champagne in the past and didn't want it ruined because it couldn't stand up to the Billecart-Salmon. I'm relieved to report that, while it's definitely not in the same league as the Billecart-Salmon, it was still a very good champagne.

I should point out that there's no pinot meunier in the Roger Legros and that it's not a low or zero dosage champagne, so we weren't at all comparing like-for-like. These differences are very evident, with the Roger Legros having a much mintier nose, a lighter flavour, and a sweetness that I never noticed before when I'd drunk it on its own. My husband commented that while the Billecart-Salmon was 'toasty' the Roger Legros was more 'biscuity'. The Roger Legros was also far less structured than the Billecart-Salmon, it wasn't as crisp and lacked the amazing finish. While it couldn't quite compete with a bigger player, the Roger Legros still ranks among the top of their price range.

I'm now really starting to understand what you get with some of these bigger name producers...and why it's worth the price differential.

Cava and Colombian Food

On Saturday, some friends came over to teach me how to cook Colombian food. We had a great afternoon, and I really appreciated the thought they put into their lesson and the time they spent teaching me their home cuisine. We made ajiaco, a hearty potato and chicken based soup, arepas, which are grilled cornmeal dumplings that can be filled with cheese, meat, or vegetables, and plaintains stuffed with guava paste and cheese. All of it was delicious, and I'm so excited to have some new recipes to play with.

When we finished cooking, we sat down together to eat. My husband had already poured us glasses of Cava Brut Nature from 1+1=3 that I ordered from the Champagne Warehouse. This cava is predominantly Xarel-lo grapes mixed with a bit of chardonnay. I was impressed at what a good match with the food it was, as cava has the stereotype of being a summer aperitif. This cava had wonderful rich flavours of toast and nuts with the dishes we had, and I was pretty sad when my glass was empty.

That sadness was short-lived. As I was cleaning the kitchen, I discovered that my husband had saved me a little of the cava to try without the food! I quickly finished the dishes, and settled on the sofa with my half-glass of cava. It had very strong citrus aromas that carried through in the taste. Without the food, though, the cava was surprisingly bitter, tasting of grapefruit pith. I preferred this cava with food, I wouldn't serve it on its own.

This was the last bottle of 1+1=3 from my mixed case from the Champagne Warehouse, and overall I've been really pleased with what we've had!

Maison Lenique '04 vs '05

My husband and I were very sad to see the bottom of the bottle of Maison Lenique 2004 that we drank on Wednesday, so I put a bottle of the 2005 on the champagne shelf in the fridge. He was supposed to be out late last night so I figured I would have a glass with the bread and cheese I nibbled on for dinner. But he came home earlier than expected, so we managed to share the bottle, which was a bit of a treat.

One of the things we had commented on while drinking the 2004 was how nice it was to come back to a really well-made champagne after drinking some of the other sparkling wines we've had of-late - regardless of how good they were. There's nothing quite like a well-balanced champagne. It was incredibly refreshing, clean on the palate, and had fantastic bubbles - the kind of thing that made us say "aaahhh" upon drinking and left us wanting more.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't get that feeling again while drinking the 2005 last night. At first I thought it was because it wasn't the best match with the blue cheese I was eating. But then my husband agreed with me. While the 2005 is still a wonderful champagne, with its yeasty, sweet apple flavours, it's not quite as refined as the 2004 and the residual sweetness on the finish makes it a little less refreshing. We still really enjoyed it, but it was good to try the two vintages back-to-back again to remind ourselves of how different they are.

Two Years On...

I found my oldest cat, Artemis, 19 years ago when I lived in Tokyo. She was my first fur-covered pet ever - I only had fish when I was a kid. She's been the perfect pet - polite, clean, cuddly, fun to play with, and in charge of all of the other animals in the house. We all live by her rules, which is OK because she's even stricter than I am! She's also been a wonderful companion as I've travelled the world, keeping me company in foreign countries where I didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language very well. I've spent more time with her than most of my family and my closest friends. While I know she's 'just a cat', I can't deny her constant presence in my life or the affection we share.

Two years ago, we thought she was going to die. She was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, and we were told that she only had days-to-weeks to live. I was heart-broken - life without Artemis is pretty unimaginable. But the vet showed us a procedure that would keep her comfortable in the time she had left, twice-daily injections of fluid under her skin to help her flush out the toxins that her kidneys can't cope with. We've been sticking her with needles pretty religiously since then, foregoing holidays, shortening our after-work activities, and basically revolving our lives around her treatment schedule.

Yesterday marked the second year of her survival - well beyond what anyone ever anticipated when we started. Artemis has not only survived but seems to thrive, as well - she plays with the make-up brushes that she steals from anyone who's careless enough to leave them within her reach, stalks through the grass in the garden in search of birds to chirp at, and maintains her role as alpha cat in the house. Every day, I simply hope for one more good day with her, and she's rewarded us with 730 of them!

Obviously, we don't give our cats champagne. To celebrate her second-year milestone, Artemis had a big bowl of tuna for dinner last night. After that, my husband and I ordered in some gyoza and opened a bottle of Maison Lenique 2004 - both to toast Artemis and to thank each other for our teamwork and efforts over the years. May we all have one more good day...

Something a Little Different

I met a friend at Bedales on Saturday, a place I never manage to leave empty-handed. Having already purchased two bottles of white wine from the downstairs shop, I had a good look around the upstairs while I was waiting for my friend. To my surprise, they had a Hungarian sparkling wine - Hungaria Grande Cuvee Brut - something I've never seen before! At £12, I couldn't not buy it, so in my bag it went.

My husband and I opened it with our dinner on Tuesday. For the life of me, I can't remember what we ate, it was one of those 'nothing-special-Tuesday' meals. But I remember the wine : )

It smelled of bubble gum and soda pop in an appealing way, although it raised a little concern that the wine might be too sweet for my taste. Thankfully, it was cold enough that the sweetness came through in more of a dried-pineapple richness, balanced with some depth and a little acidity. As the wine warmed up, the sweetness intensified, but not overwhelmingly so. There's not much structure or finish to this wine, but it's an easy drinker, and completely different to the cavas and proseccos you see at this price point. The bubbles were strong at first, but disappeared by the end of the glass, the only disappointing thing about the wine.

This was worth trying once and an interesting comparator to other sparkling wines. I'm not sure it's something I'd purchase on a regular basis.

A Rosy Do-Over

When I ordered my last case of bubbles from the Champagne Warehouse, I ordered a few bottles that I had tried and liked in the past. In an unusal instance of forward planning, I read the tasting notes that they supplied for the Vignarosa Amorino Brut Rosato (they recommended seafood) when I put the bottle in the fridge, and headed out to Borough Market yesterday for some prawns to cook for dinner. They were a great match - cooked in my husband's homemade chimichurri sauce and accompanied by rice with spinach and broccoli - a relatively healthy meal!

The prosecco was wonderful with it, the rich berry flavours shining through the shellfish and mild spice of the meal. It was a fantastic reward for braving the craziness of the market on a Saturday morning (something I can't be bothered to do much anymore with the frenzy of tourists that has taken over!). It was also a great reminder of how much better an already fantastic wine can be when served with the right food.

Another Long Week

Where do these long weeks come from? You wake up on Monday feeling fresh from the weekend, then by Wednesday you're wondering how you're going to make it to Friday. But Friday came at last...and to mark the start of the weekend, we opened a bottle of Billecart-Salmon vintage 2004 last night. Being a bit tired, I hadn't even planned anything special to eat with it, just some chilli that I had pulled out of the freezer. But the champagne is so stunning with its yeasty-goodness that you can really serve it with anything. It stood up well to the spicy tomato of the chilli. And it was nice to drink on its own. I always think that the brut reserve is my favourite of the Billecart's that we've got in the house - but I'm really going to have to re-think that now that I've had the 2004 again!

Date Night - Jan 11

Since 'Date Night' fell on a Sunday, we spent the whole day doing fun things together and trying to make the most of a mild day. We also had our eye on the bottle of 1+1=3 pinot noir cava brut reserve that was in the fridge from the Champagne Warehouse. Since their tasting notes recommended it with ham, cheese, pizza, or pasta, we waited to eat a late lunch, then ordered in some nibbles and pizzas.

Like the rose we had just drunk from 1+1=3, the pinot noir was a beautiful, deep red colour tinged with a bit of pinky-orange, another very pretty wine. It smelled of raspberries and ripe plums - I didn't get too much of the floral scents that are described on the bottle. The flavour was a total surprise. It was completely dry and very rich, with just a touch of cranberry along with the other dark berry flavours, perfect with the tomato-acidity of the pizza. It also had very good bubbles throughout.

This was a completely different wine to the rose, but just as satisfying. For anyone who is sceptical about cava, this is the one to try - it's totally unlike all of the horrible stereotypes that cava has. This cava is a 'wine with bubbles', if I hadn't known it was cava I would have had a hard time placing where it was from.

Pretty in Pink

I received a mixed case of bubbles from the Champagne Warehouse yesterday and, as one does, I immediately put a bottle in the fridge - especially as I was keen to try the new range of cava that I ordered. My husband was pleased to see it when he got home, as we had an intense night of catching up on taped episodes of Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother in front of us.

We opened the 1+1=3 Brut Rose Seleccion, a blend of Trepat, Garnacha, and Pinot Noir grapes, to sip while we watched. Now, I know I'm not supposed to judge wines solely on their colour, but I have to say this was the most beautiful wine I have ever drunk. It was intense, glowing, and ruby red, the kind of colour you want to see in your best crystal rather than the regular old glasses we were using. It was a visually stunning wine, something you could appreciate for its beauty alone. On top of that, it smelled like a mix of wild strawberries and mint, like the perfect summer dessert. This cava was impressive even before I began to drink!

The flavours were fantastic, too. The wild berries continued along with a bit of sour cherry and a dry but ever-so-slighty-sweet finish. My husband and I decided it's the kind of sweet you get with an Italian soda - the juicy-fruity-refreshing kind of sweet - as opposed to the teeth-aching, 'how many tablespoons of sugar are in this' kind of sweet you get with an American soda.

The cava was more fizzy than bubbly, but the fizz lasted throughout so it was OK.

It's tempting to say this is the kind of thing you would drink (and drink lots of!) as an aperitif on a hot summer day. But to be honest, it was perfect last night, following a day of grey and rain at the end of a very long work-week. It cheered us up, it reminded us that the freshness of spring is ahead. So don't shelve it for the summer, enjoy it now!!