We drank a few new things in November.
For date night, I splurged and bought a bottle of Taittinger Brut Reserve that was on special offer at my new local wine shop. I have a soft spot for Taittinger, as it was the first champagne house I ever visited, well worth the tour! This champagne is a 40/60 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, extremely well balanced and flavorful. It had loads of apple and vanilla and just a touch of honey, but no sweetness. The bubbles were very good and lasted. This was a nice champagne, and to get it around the £20 price point was well worth it.
Next up, a bottle of champagne that I bought on special offer from Waitrose, Bertrand de Bessac Cuvée du Marquis Brut. It won a silver award from Decanter in 2012, and I can see why. Again a Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend, this was less well balanced than the Taittinger, but had rich apple flavor with a touch of citrus zest. The bubbles were OK, not great, but good enough for a wine I bought from the supermarket.
To shake things up a bit, I moved down market with an under £10 bottle of Codorniu cava. This maker is really good value, I think they make a pretty good cava. This one was the three traditional cava varieties, macabeo, xarel-lo, and parellada grapes. It had a very grape-y flavor, just a touch of sour at the finish, and decent bubbles. Not the best wine ever, but very drinkable and nothing to complain about.
Finally, I found myself in Prague at the end of the month and was tempted by their Bohemia Sekt Brut. I bought a half bottle at the airport to drink with my husband, who found it far too acidic for his liking. I didn't half mind its very dry and fruity flavor combined with surprisingly good bubbles. But I couldn't drink a lot of it. Honestly, it was far better by the glass at the restaurant in Prague where I first encountered it, served alongside the hefty, saucy, meaty food.
Showing posts with label taittinger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taittinger. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 December 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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