Easter Weekend 2010

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

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

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

Dining In Style

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maison Lenique Tasting

To continue my husband's birthday celebration and to celebrate the birthday of another friend in June, we had a small get-together on Sunday to do a tasting of all of the Maison Lenique champagnes we've purchased through 3-D Wines. Thankfully, the weather co-operated, and we had a lovely afternoon out in the garden.

We tasted the 2003 and 2004 vintages (grand cru, blanc de blanc wines) along with the 2004 maker's reserve with a course of light foods - melon with ham, strawberries, and zucchini pancakes. Almost unanimously, the 2003 was the favourite wine. It had a richness and nuttiness that was missing in the 2004 wines - one of our friends called it 'Krug-like'. The next favourite was the 2004 reserve, which had a lemon-yeasty freshness that's perfect for a summer afternoon, and then the 2004 vintage, which had a nice creaminess to it, but a slightly milder flavour than the other two wines.

We had some outstanding home-made fruit wines that one of our friends made with our main course, and then moved back to champagne for dessert. Our friends brought a bottle of 2002 Canard-Duchene Brut Millesime, which we served alongside a flourless chocolate cake. I'm supposed to say negative things about this wine, because it's not very reputable at the moment, and my friend has decided to make it his house champagne and doesn't want the price point to go up because of any good publicity. But I really can't. This was a light, fresh champagne with loads of bubbles. It was perfect with the chocolate dessert, and even better with the s'mores we made once the cake was gone (who knew that s'mores would be the perfect champagne dessert with their rich chocolatiness and burnt sugar flavours?). I'd definitely try other champagnes from this maker, especially while the price is still reasonable.