Nice, But Not Memorable

We had another of the champagnes from The Sampler the other day...this one was RH Coutier grand cru brut. This is a pinot noir/chardonnay blend, and while I remember that it was very drinkable and had perfectly fine bubbles, I don't remember much more about the champagne than that. It's a little sad, really, as we drink so many different champagnes that something so absolutely nice just fades into the background because there's nothing distinct about it. But perhaps sometimes that's what you want, something with bubbles that won't overshadow the food or the occasion. This will be one to try again, to see if it leaves more of an impression the next time.

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 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.

My Husband's The Best

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

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

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

Maison Lenique 2005

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

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

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.

Happy Birthday to Me

Ok, so it isn't anywhere near my birthday. But, the birthday gift that my husband bought for me last year - an allocation of champagne from Maison Lenique through 3-D Wines - finally arrived. Hooray!! The hard part now will be making it last...

I ordered two different varieties of 2004 champagne. We tried the first one yesterday - the 2004 grand cru blanc de blancs, as we sat outside nibbling on some tapas of chorizo, olives, pickles, and chips with salsa/homemade guacamole. To-date, we've been drinking the 2003 version of this wine, and we were surprised how different the 2004 is. (We'll be doing a side-by-side tasting with some friends in June, so I'll hold off on too many details.) The 2004 has a wonderful, softly citrus nose, with a slight grapefruit scent. It's toasty and yeasty to drink, and has a long, more-ish finish.

This is a gorgeous wine, one that I'm going to enjoy serving over and over again. What a fantastic gift (thank you)!!

Staycation 8 - The Finale

We didn't intend for it to be a two-bottle day, but that's how our staycation ended.

We had another beautiful day on Sunday, so having armed ourselves with nibbles and reading material, we headed to the patio in our garden with the last bottle of champagne that we bought at The Winery. This was a 1996 Cuvee de Chardonnay Champagne Saint-Chamant made by Christian Coquillette.

This was a nice champagne, with honey and toast flavours that accompanied our meat-and-cheese-based tapas very well. While we didn't have any problem finishing the bottle, we were surprised that we weren't more excited about what should have been a great wine from a good year. Like the bottle we had drunk the day before, it was all quite nice, but not very memorable.

So we pulled out the big guns to go with our dessert (apple pie for my husband, chocolate truffles for me) - the bottle of Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru V.P. that we had bought at Lea and Sandeman on Friday. This is a pinot noir blend that the maker leaves on the yeast for an extra-long period of time - making what is already a 'big' champagne even bigger.

We love Egly-Ouriet as a producer, having visited the vineyards many years ago on the recommendation of a friend and before Robert Parker got so excited about their champagne. The V.P. had everything we love about this producer and more - a crisp acidity with a hint of tarragon on the nose and a slight grapefuit flavour but absolutely no sourness or bitterness. This wine has an enormous flavour but an incredible dryness that makes you want to keep drinking. And, on top of everything else, good bubbles.

With Robert Parker's fandom, the prices of this champagne have gone up since we first tried it - but, it's also easier to find in the UK and other parts of the world now. It's worth every penny, and was the perfect way to finish off our staycation.

Staycation 7

Saturday was a sunny, warm day so we decided to hang out in the garden and sip champagne while we enjoyed the nice weather. We were hopeful about the bottle we had - an extra brut grand cru from Barnaut that we had bought the day before at Lea and Sandeman.

We've bought some nice wines before at Lea and Sandeman, and had bought this particular bottle because they had told us it's their house champagne. Out of all of the champagne producers that they import, this is the wine that they think best reflects all that's good about champagne.

We were totally underwhelmed.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about this champagne, it's perfectly drinkable. But it's supposedly a pinot noir blend, yet it had no distinct characteristics about it - I've had blanc de blancs with more unique flavours. We were having a hard time finding any words to describe it, other than that it's 'champagne-y'. For all of the bottles we've drunk at this price point, this is decidedly the least impressive, and to be honest, for the £23 we spent, I'd rather have a couple of bottles of cheaper but more interesting wine.

Thankfully the other bottle of champagne that we bought at Lea and Sandeman is from a producer we've bought before and love - we know that won't disappoint!

Happy New Year 2009

While my husband was in Paris just before Christmas, he bought me a bottle of champagne as a Christmas gift. Not just any champagne, but one that was produced in an environmentally friendly manner - no pesticides, no synthetic chemicals - a 1999 grand cru from Andre Beaufort.

Like me, you may be thinking, "what sort of granola-cruncher would bother doing something like this with champagne?" Well, apparently the winemaker developed an allergy to the fertilisers he was using in his vineyard and started producing wines sans chemicals so that he could continue in his livelihood. And I have to say, well done to him, you don't miss them a bit, and his talent would have been wasted.

As is our tradition on New Year's Eve, we celebrated with a homemade apple pie and this wonderful bottle of champagne. It was the perfect compliment to the pie - slightly sweet because of all of the apple-fruit flavours in it, but dry at the same time. It was a big wine, with lots of flavour and an incredibly long-lasting finish. This is a wine-lover's champagne - without the bubbles, this would still have been incredibly drinkable.

I haven't seen this producer in the UK before, so I don't know how widely available the wines are outside of France. But I will look for it, as I'd like to try more. It was a great start to the New Year.