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.