My husband and I managed a trip to the US together in August, which of course included some bubbles:
Our favorite was the Jagdschloss Brut 2009, a sparkling riesling from Germany. This was incredibly, mercifully brut, despite smelling of dried pineapple. It tasted of tarragon and other fresh green herbs. The bubbles were petillant, but plentiful. Very refreshing on a hot day. We drank this at the Terroir wine bar at the Highline garden, which I highly recommend for both having a wine list that included NY State wines and for the very good service.
We also had two properly American sparklers. Gruet brut, from New Mexico, a wine maker that we'd tried before and liked as one of the few American wines that wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. This one had a lot of honey and biscuit flavours, lots of richness and depth, and decent bubbles.
The other American wine we had was from NY state, Brotherhood blanc de blancs. This surprised us with its balance, not too acidic and not too sweet, with a very dry finish. It tasted of underripe grapes, with a more floral note as it warmed. Sadly, it just didn't have enough bubbles, being almost flat right from the start. Interesting to note that this vineyard proclaims to be the oldest in America, who knew that would be in NY rather than on the west coast?
Showing posts with label gruet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gruet. Show all posts
Monday, 10 September 2012
Sunday, 2 May 2010
May Day 2010
We had some friends over for lunch yesterday, coinciding with the start of the bank holiday weekend, a very nice way to kick-off a three-day weekend. We had planned to eat out in the garden, and managed to stay ahead of the rain for most of the meal.
As an aperitif, we served Gruet Brut along with some homemade spiced nuts. My husband and I had tried the blanc de blanc by this maker in the US two years ago - it had caught our attention because the wine is made in New Mexico, and we were surprised by how good it was for what is not a well-known wine-making region. The Brut was also nice, good bubbles and some crisp citrus fruit flavours, but not a long finish.
Following that, we opened a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990 to go with our starter of mango and avocado salad with passion fruit dressing. My husband gave me this champagne for Christmas last year - it's a low-dosage champage from a wonder year. You could see the age of the wine from its dark, honey-ish colour and could taste it in the depth of its flavour, full of orchard fruit and bits of woody vanilla that lingered in your mouth. I'm glad we shared this bottle with friends as it's not something you come across often, but well worth drinking.
We moved to some gorgeous white burgundy wines for our grilled lobster and cheese courses, and then back to champagne with our dessert of almond, fig, and chocolate cake accompanied by sugared figs. With this, we had a bottle of Taittinger Brut Reserve that one of our friends had brought over, which was a perfect match to the figgy dessert with its fresh vanilla and biscuit flavours and classic, fine bubbles. Funnily enough, over our dessert we learned that we had both visited the Taittinger vineyards when we took separate trips to the Champagne region and really enjoyed the tour both for what we learned and also for the hospitality and good-naturedness of the winemakers - a hot tip if you're heading to that area!
As an aperitif, we served Gruet Brut along with some homemade spiced nuts. My husband and I had tried the blanc de blanc by this maker in the US two years ago - it had caught our attention because the wine is made in New Mexico, and we were surprised by how good it was for what is not a well-known wine-making region. The Brut was also nice, good bubbles and some crisp citrus fruit flavours, but not a long finish.
Following that, we opened a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990 to go with our starter of mango and avocado salad with passion fruit dressing. My husband gave me this champagne for Christmas last year - it's a low-dosage champage from a wonder year. You could see the age of the wine from its dark, honey-ish colour and could taste it in the depth of its flavour, full of orchard fruit and bits of woody vanilla that lingered in your mouth. I'm glad we shared this bottle with friends as it's not something you come across often, but well worth drinking.
We moved to some gorgeous white burgundy wines for our grilled lobster and cheese courses, and then back to champagne with our dessert of almond, fig, and chocolate cake accompanied by sugared figs. With this, we had a bottle of Taittinger Brut Reserve that one of our friends had brought over, which was a perfect match to the figgy dessert with its fresh vanilla and biscuit flavours and classic, fine bubbles. Funnily enough, over our dessert we learned that we had both visited the Taittinger vineyards when we took separate trips to the Champagne region and really enjoyed the tour both for what we learned and also for the hospitality and good-naturedness of the winemakers - a hot tip if you're heading to that area!
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