As I mentioned in an earlier post, last week was an incredibly busy week and my husband was due to be out late most evenings. On Thursday, I had a lot of paperwork to do, and since he was supposed to be out in the evening, I popped a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 in the fridge so that I could have a glass as a reward both for finishing my work and for being on my own. It was lovely, especially with the homemade halloumi, mint, and sundried tomato pastry I had to nibble with it. It was an even nicer surprise that my husband came home early enough to help me finish the bottle!!
It was the same story on Friday, so I put another bottle of the Maison Lenique in the fridge for when my work was done. Since the bottle was still half-full on Saturday, I finished off the last chunk of writing that I needed to do, and had one last celebratory glass with my husband (who was finally home and relaxing!). I'm finding it's a great way to motivate me to sit at the computer and just focus on writing what I need to - so much easier to do when there are bubbles to look forward to at the end!
Monday, 4 October 2010
Thursday, 30 September 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Another Wednesday
It seems like we're starting a new tradition of 'champagne Wednesday'!! It's been another long-ish week to get through, so we opened a bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 with our dinner of herbed lamb and rice. The rich apple flavour of the champagne was delicious with the lamb, a meat I wouldn't ordinarily think to serve champagne with...but I'll be doing it again.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Power Pink
People who know me know that I'm not into girly, powder pink colours (or 'puff pink' as I call it). If I'm going to wear something pink or paint something pink, it's going to be bright, bold, in-your-face, power pink. I'm the same with rose wines. Don't give me something light and blush-coloured with an insipid taste. Give me something that's a beautiful, rich colour and that packs a wallop.
And that's exactly what the Champagne Warehouse did. We opened the Vignarosa Amorino Brut Rosato yesterday and were absolutely impressed with it. This prosecco is a blend of raboso, cabernet, and merlot grapes, which give it a deep pink colour and even more depth in the flavour - it's a wine with bubbles rather than a sparkling wine, and plenty of them. It's surprisingly dry, with loads of tart, wild strawberry flavour. It was wonderful to sip on its own, but went equally well with our homemade mac and cheese with bacon. At just shy of £11 per bottle, it feels like a real bargain, too!!
I'm loathe to recommend this too highly, as I both don't want to drive prices up and don't want the Champagne Warehouse to run out before I get around to ordering more. But it really is too good to keep it a secret...
And that's exactly what the Champagne Warehouse did. We opened the Vignarosa Amorino Brut Rosato yesterday and were absolutely impressed with it. This prosecco is a blend of raboso, cabernet, and merlot grapes, which give it a deep pink colour and even more depth in the flavour - it's a wine with bubbles rather than a sparkling wine, and plenty of them. It's surprisingly dry, with loads of tart, wild strawberry flavour. It was wonderful to sip on its own, but went equally well with our homemade mac and cheese with bacon. At just shy of £11 per bottle, it feels like a real bargain, too!!
I'm loathe to recommend this too highly, as I both don't want to drive prices up and don't want the Champagne Warehouse to run out before I get around to ordering more. But it really is too good to keep it a secret...
Sunday, 19 September 2010
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...
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...
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Gracious Chef
Some friends of ours encouraged us to play hooky from our usual Friday activities and we took the train out to Whitstable for a leisurely lunch at the Sportsman Seasalter. It was a perfect day for it, too, beautiful blue skies filled with puffy white clouds giving us fantastic views from the train.
My friend knows the chef at the restaurant, and he very graciously allowed us to bring a bottle of bubbly with us. We chose a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990, part of my Christmas gift last year from my husband. We decided to drink it as an aperitif while we were reviewing the amazing menu and making our choices. Rather worryingly, the bottle opened with a soft 'pfft', but thankfully demonstrated enough fizz and mousse once it was poured. Everyone marvelled over the colour of the champagne, a rich, brownish-honey-colour that you often see with aged calvados. The richness came through in the flavour, too, which had just a touch of oxidation that added depth to the acidity in the champagne.
It was a great start to a meal that included a main-sized portion of home-made pork terrine as my starter followed by some wonderfully fresh lemon-sole fillets in pea puree. We also had some fantastic still wines from the restaurant's list with our food - I would recommend both the Albarino Vionta Rias Baixas 2008 (loads of flavour but clean and crisp) and the Châteauneuf-du-pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2007 (juicy fruit without any tannins) that we drank to the non-bubbly drinkers out there.
It will be so hard to go back to real-life following a Friday afternoon like that.
Many thanks to our friends for organising the day and to the chef for allowing us our bottle of bubbly!!
My friend knows the chef at the restaurant, and he very graciously allowed us to bring a bottle of bubbly with us. We chose a bottle of Bruno Paillard NPU 1990, part of my Christmas gift last year from my husband. We decided to drink it as an aperitif while we were reviewing the amazing menu and making our choices. Rather worryingly, the bottle opened with a soft 'pfft', but thankfully demonstrated enough fizz and mousse once it was poured. Everyone marvelled over the colour of the champagne, a rich, brownish-honey-colour that you often see with aged calvados. The richness came through in the flavour, too, which had just a touch of oxidation that added depth to the acidity in the champagne.
It was a great start to a meal that included a main-sized portion of home-made pork terrine as my starter followed by some wonderfully fresh lemon-sole fillets in pea puree. We also had some fantastic still wines from the restaurant's list with our food - I would recommend both the Albarino Vionta Rias Baixas 2008 (loads of flavour but clean and crisp) and the Châteauneuf-du-pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2007 (juicy fruit without any tannins) that we drank to the non-bubbly drinkers out there.
It will be so hard to go back to real-life following a Friday afternoon like that.
Many thanks to our friends for organising the day and to the chef for allowing us our bottle of bubbly!!
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Getting Over the Hump
It's been a long week this week, I don't know what it is. Yesterday seemed particularly long, and when my husband got home from work, I mentioned to him that I wouldn't mind a glass of wine with dinner. He eyed the bottle on the champagne shelf - then pulled a face when I told him it was our last bottle of Philizot et Fils numero 3. We both still have bad memories of the numero 2 (of which two bottles remain, unloved, at the bottom of a box in the utility room).
We opened it anyway, and then patted ourselves on the back because it's a perfectly drinkable champagne. It was lovely to stand outside sipping while my husband grilled our chicken. It was even better to drink while we plucked ripe cherry tomatoes out of the garden and dipped them in the most delicious pesto from Romeo Jones. It definitely helped us get over 'hump day', the rest of the week should just fly by now.
We opened it anyway, and then patted ourselves on the back because it's a perfectly drinkable champagne. It was lovely to stand outside sipping while my husband grilled our chicken. It was even better to drink while we plucked ripe cherry tomatoes out of the garden and dipped them in the most delicious pesto from Romeo Jones. It definitely helped us get over 'hump day', the rest of the week should just fly by now.
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