A Typical Prosecco

I was in the mood for some bubbles this week, and stopped by my local to see what they had. I brought home a bottle of Jeio Brut, which cost around £10. My husband said it was a typical prosecco, with a not-too-sweet pear and mint flavour. It had lots of fizz rather than bubbles, which was still OK. It also went really well with the blueberry pancakes we ate for dinner. It did a good job of filling my craving for something sparkling without breaking the bank.

Too Sweet

Anyone who reads my blog will know...I'm not a fan of sweet champagnes. For those of you who are, two of the bottles from the case I ordered from Sparkling English Wine might suit you. The first was Meonhill Reserve, the other was Gaultsbrook 2009 from Albourne Vineyard, both chardonnay/pinot noir blends. They were overwhelmingly sweet on the finish, not something I would drink again.

Someone recently asked me if I was being too hard on the English producers, so while I was at my local deli, I thought I would pick up a bottle of the prosecco they carry. It's not something that would have tempted me before, but since I had bought a case of English sparklers that I had never heard of just to try them, why shouldn't I do the same with prosecco? This one was from Zonin, equally as 'too sweet' as the English wines above, but for around half the price. So it was at least a better value of disappointment.

And to finish off my too-sweet critique, I recently tried a bottle of American sparkling wine, the XD-NV from Laetitia Vineyard, again, another chardonnay/pinot noir blend. I had purchased the bottle to try with a friend named Laetitia, and we both found it very sweet, tasting of overly-ripe apples. I had hoped it would be something we both loved, but I knew it was a long shot as many American sparklers are too sweet for my taste.

Hmmm...perhaps I should avoid the chardonnay/pinot noir blends...there seems to be a theme here??

No Real Bargains

Ocado was running a special on wine - 25% off if you bought 6 bottles. I find their selection of bubbles a bit difficult. It tends to be either big names at top prices or unknown makers for less than £10. I didn't feel like buying £100's of wine, so I bought 6 bottles of bubbles for less than £60. I'm always hoping something will surprise me.

The first bottle did, but for how much I disliked it - La Gioiosa prosecco, which was billed as 'extra dry'. The first thing I noticed about this wine was how much it smelled like lemon-scented floor cleaner, but this was mostly due to the fact that the bottle exploded in my hands on opening, leaving me to wipe up about a third of the wine from my kitchen floor. While demonstrating excellent fizz, it was not a good start. The next thing that struck me was how sweet this wine was, surprising because it still somehow managed to retain an almost-minty dryness. My husband thought this was a 'sipper for a hot day'. I think it was a 'leave on the shelf for someone else'.

The next bottle was better - a Cremant de Bourgogne, Blason de Bourgogne Brut Rose, a pinot noir/gamay blend. It smelled of strawberries with a hint of vanilla. It tasted like red berries, with a touch of tart cranberry. The downside was that it was a little bitter at the end, and had no finish. The bitterness disappeared with food, though, so I would recommend this with some nibbles. The bubbles were great, once again disproving my preconceived notion that cremants tend to be too flat. While this still isn't the best rose I've ever drunk, it's not bad for the price point.

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!

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.

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!

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.

Bad Influence

My husband is such a bad influence. When we walked the dog yesterday morning we stopped in at Romeo Jones because they were having a sale. I bought a couple of tasty things, but he found a bottle of prosecco (not on sale) that we've had before - Case Bianchi Vigna Del Cuc - and added that to our shopping. It went straight into the fridge, although I had thought it would be for another day.

I had great intentions for how I would spend the rest of the day - cleaning up the rest of the Christmas decorations, vacuuming, and ironing. He had other thoughts, especially since it was his last day of holiday for a while. He persuaded me to sit on the sofa for the rest of the day, watching Dr. Who, and drinking prosecco. To be honest, it was much more enjoyable than what I had planned! The prosecco was a nice touch, too, although different from how I remembered it. It had a clean, green apple scent, but it tasted of fresh flowers and herbs with a distinct hit of spearmint. It was more fizzy than bubbly, but the fizz lasted through the glass so I can't complain. It was a little pricey (around £20, up significantly from the last time we bought it), especially when I compare it to some of the proseccos we had from the Champagne Warehouse for half the price (and better bubbles). But a completely nice prosecco, continuing on with our good start to 2011.

16 Years, 364.5 Days

It was our wedding anniversary this weekend - needless to say we drank a bit of bubbly : )

We had originally thought that we would go away for the weekend, but that didn't work out. First off, the start of half-term coincided with the date, so airfares were outrageous and there was nowhere we wanted to go THAT badly. Secondly, many of the hotel-restaurants in the UK that we would have gone to required two nights stay on the weekend, which gets difficult for us with animal care. We really only wanted to go away for one night, and just couldn't be bothered with their greediness. So we stayed home.

I cleaned the house all day on Friday until it was 'hotel clean' so that it would feel even better than having gone away. My reward for that was that my husband cooked a huge pan of chicken nachos with homemade guacamole, and served it with our last bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse - La Farra Rose Brut which is a mix of prosecco, chardonnay and raboso grapes. This prosecco was a wonderful surprise, mixing the crisp tang of pink grapefruit at the start with the smoothness of pears and orchard fruit on the finish. It had lots of fizz, as well, and really didn't last long because it was so good! For around £11, this is another little gem and real bargain from the Champagne Warehouse.

Since the prosecco disappeared well before we were ready to eat the chocolate cake I had made, my husband popped open one of the other bottles that was in the fridge so we could have a glass of bubbly with cake. He made me guess what it was...no problem there as it had that distinct yeasty-apple aroma of Maison Lenique 2005. We were good and kept it to a glass each so that there would be more for the actual anniversary...

Champagne Budget, Beer Taste

Friday came so quickly! I've been head-down most of the week between the scholarship programme I work with and getting my gardening coursework done. I spent all day yesterday drawing (and most of the night, too) so I was very happy to say 'yes' when my husband asked if I wanted some bubbles with dinner.

There was both a bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse on the champagne shelf as well as a bottle of champagne in the fridge. We had ordered in some Japanese food and thought the prosecco might be a better match with the sushi and rice, so we opened the La Farra Extra Dry made from 100% glera grapes, the traditional prosecco grape. It smelled like an orchard on opening, with a very strong pear scent. It was so yeasty, though, that it tasted like beer, something that didn't go away until the middle of my second glass when the fruit flavours started to come through. I would recommend drinking this prosecco slightly warmer than I like so that you can appreciate the flavours in the wine. It was very good with our food and went down quickly, but I haven't been able to get rid of the (probably unfair) impression that it tasted like something from a pub.

Mixed Feelings

Sunday was a busy day for me as I had to prepare for some meetings that I have today. And knowing the Tube strike would be going forward, I cooked not only a big pot of chilli to eat yesterday, but also a pork, apricot, and prune stew for this evening since I have no idea how long it will take me to get home tonight. But partway through the flurry of the day, I remembered that a while ago we had put another bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse on the champagne shelf. This one was La Jara's Pinot Grigio Rose Brut, something I was very keen to try because I often like pinot grigio wines, but had never had a sparkling one before. My husband and I opened the bottle, and sipped as we got on with our respective Sunday activities.

For those of you who are American and reading this, you'll understand when I say that it smelled like raspberry ginger-ale (which is one of my favourite non-alcoholic drinks, in diet form). Like the smell, it had a lot of berry flavours, but with a crisp acidity that cut through the sweetness. On first opening, the prosecco had loads of bubbles, too - but they didn't last through subsequent glasses. My first impression was very favourable, I thought this would be an incredibly refreshing thing to serve on a hot summer day. I was having mixed feelings by my second glass, though, as the bubbles disappeared and the acidity in the wine became sharp in my stomach. As we've commented about other champagnes in the past, this might be a 'one glass only' drink.

Wednesday Came Early

It's another busy week - one in which I won't be seeing much of my husband because of our different committments and schedules. But we were both home for dinner on Tuesday, so we decided to turn Tuesday into the new Wednesday and open a bottle a bubbly. On top of that, he cooked, something that always makes the evening special!

Another prosecco was on the champagne shelf from the Champagne Warehouse - this time it was Zero assoluto from La Jara made from 100% glera grapes. To be honest, I almost didn't order this prosecco because the description said that it was 'floral' and that's not something that I love. The Zero assoluto is zero dosage, though, and I've never tried a low dosage prosecco before...so it went into the case.

On its own, the floral-ness of the prosecco is very strong, smelling and tasting heavily of honeysuckle, but with an appealing, clean, grapefruit finish. For my palate, the prosecco went down much better with food - a blackened chicken and garlic-broccoli pasta - that squelched the flowery taste and left only the lighter citrus notes of the prosecco. While not completely to my taste, it was worth trying, though, an interesting comparison both to other low dosage bubbles we've had and to the other bottles of prosecco that we ordered.

The non-Champagne Warehouse

I had exciting news from the Champagne Warehouse earlier this week - they're now stocking a range of proseccos which all look very nice!! I made an early order for a case of 6 different bottles which arrived on Thursday, and one immediately went on the champagne shelf in the fridge.

We opened the bottle of Vignarosa Prosecco Extra Dry, made from 100% glera grapes (the traditional 'prosecco' grape) yesterday and really enjoyed it. It had a very green smell, like a combination of fresh cut grass after the rain topped off with the slightest touch of passion fruit. The flavour matches the smell - very crisp and citrus-y, with a little bit of spearmint or wintergreen keeping it clean all the way through. It was a very easy drinker, although probably most suitable as an aperitif because it was so light. The chocolate cake that I had made totally overwhelmed it, but it was easy enough to eat and drink the two things separately.

We've put the rose from this maker on the champagne shelf so we can try that next...

Cheers To My Husband

As I sit writing this, I'm sipping on a glass of La Marca Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene. What started as a grim and rainy week has finally ended in a surprisingly warm and sunny afternoon. I've heard not a word from my husband although it's well after work hours - I'm hoping he had the good sense to go the pub with some workmates to unwind and enjoy the sunshine. Left at home on my own with a cold bottle of prosecco that some friends gave us (thank you!) and some blogging to catch up on, opening the bottle seemed like the right thing to do.

The prosecco is incredibly refreshing, as well. Fresh green apple aroma, loads of tiny little bubbles bursting to the top of my glass, and a clean, fresh, grapefruit-y flavour. It just rounds out my week, and reminds me that I should drink more prosecco.

But the actual reason why I am blogging today is to report on the champagne we drank on Wednesday, a bottle of the Maison Lenique 2004 grand cru blanc de blancs that I got as part of my 3-D Wines allocation. It was my husband's birthday, and after a relaxing afternoon out with some friends, we came home to his traditional homemade apple pie and champagne celebration. The Maison Lenique was fantastic as usual, and had more apple and butter flavours than the 2005 we recently drank. My husband was pleased to have a tried and trusted bottle of bubbles to go with his favourite dessert.

Cheers to him for giving me two reasons to have bubbles this week!

Date Night - May 10

Sunday was date night, except since it was the weekend, we made it date day. We had lunch at the pub that we tried to eat dinner at last month, and were very glad we did!

My husband was drinking beer, so I won't report on his meal. I, on the other hand, started my meal with a glass of prosecco, De Stefani gran cuvee extra dry, to go with my starter of gambas, mussels, and clams with chickpeas and chorizo. It was a great pairing, the prosecco offering lots of bubbles and sour apples to offset the tomato-y spiciness of my food. It's been a while since I've drunk prosecco, and I forget how nice they can be.

With my main course of pea, broad bean, mint and goat cheese risotto (very more-ish!) I switched over to a glass of the pub's house champagne. I have no idea what brand it was, but again, it was a very good match with the food, offering a richness that the prosecco lacked and that the cheese in the risotto needed.

I thought I was finished with the bubbles at that point, but later in the day, my husband popped open a bottle of the Philizot & Fils numero 3 that we got from 3-D Wines - my bubbly habits seem to have worn off on him!! I had a glass of that to finish off what was a very relaxing afternoon, and am looking forward to closing out the bottle later tonight with dinner.

Italy vs Spain

It wasn't meant to be an international competition, but there you go.

Friday was supposed to be my day off. My one day to hang out and relax, head to Borough Market for a quick shop, eat something nice for lunch, and then sip something sparkling in the afternoon - just because I could. The day before, I found a bottle of prosecco for just under £10 at one of my locals from the Istituto Enologico Italiano, so I was all ready.

Except the prosecco was horrible. Not a dud, like my recent bottle of champagne, but actually nasty, awful, pure-alcohol-tasting, almost-flat wine. It was so bad, I poured it down the sink - not even worthy to use for cooking.

My husband is a star, though. Sensing my disappointment when I met him at the train station later that day, he stopped at another of our locals and picked out a bottle of cava from Codorniu - also for less than £10. This was their Reserva Raventos, a blend of chardonnay, macabeo, and xarello that they released for their 125th anniversary in 1997.

We drank it on Sunday with melt-in-your-mouth roasted pork belly that my husband cooked. The cava was spectacular, and totally made up for my disappointment on Friday. The wine tasted like fresh-baked-bread and had more than enough bubbles for my super-sparkling preference. Had I tasted it blind, I would have thought it was champagne, and a more expensive one, at that.

I often overlook cavas when I'm out looking for bubbles, mostly because I have this preconceived (and incorrect) notion that they tend to be sweet. I've had a lot of very nice cavas, though, and will have to keep them higher up on my shopping list from now on.

Judging a Bottle by its Label

Last week my husband and I walked the dog past Romeo Jones. Sitting in the window was a new bottle of prosecco. With a label with a moon on it.

I know I'm not supposed to buy wine because of what the label looks like, but I did it anyway.

We popped our bottle of Col di Luna prosecco open this weekend to drink along with some hot pepper shrimp my husband made. The shrimp were fantastic, the prosecco only so-so. It had a green pear flavour that took me back to my grandmother's garden and the enormous pear tree that grew there. It also had a slight sweetness that nicely offset the spice of the shrimp. But it was decidedly lacking in bubbles, a real disappointment compared to the taste.

If you're not that into super-bubbly sparklers, this might be a good wine for you to try.

Supporting My Local Economy

There's a great deli in my neighborhood, Romeo Jones, that every now and again stocks pastries that I make. I try to be a good customer, too, although never as regular as I would like since I'm usually walking the dog with no cash in my pockets when I walk by the shop.

Yesterday, though, my husband was walking the dog with me and he had some cash, so we stopped in. Not with the intention of buying anything with bubbles - just to get some cheese for our lunch, a pandoro for dessert, and some of their wonderful seeds since it's warming up and I'm starting to plan my vegetable garden (I got yellow beans and green peas).

But a bottle caught my eye - a crisp, citrusy-lemon prosecco from Case Bianche (their Vigna del Cuc) we had tried once before and really enjoyed. How could we leave that behind when it would go so well with our Italian dessert? Not that there was much left by the time we got to dessert, since it also went so well with the blue cheese, hazelnut, and honey-covered bruschetta that we ate while our lunch was on the grill outside.

It was a nice indulgence (especially since we drank bubbly the day before!) that didn't break the bank at £13.45 for the bottle. What better way to support my local economy? And what better way to celebrate our first BBQ of the year??