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.

Sunny Sunday

It's been raining here in London for so long that I've almost forgotten that it's summer. But it is, and this weekend was nice enough that on Saturday we walked to Brixton to shop at the market there and on Sunday we were actually able to cook some of what we bought and eat lunch outside. My husband made a delicious marinade for the thinly-cut beef ribs that we had picked up, and grilled them with some plantains (also from the market). While mojitos would probable have been the best thing to drink with our lunch, we didn't have the right ingredients. We opened a bottle of Maison Lenique blanc de noirs instead, the rich flavour holding up nicely to the wonderfully-spiced meat. A good match, and a good afternoon for some bubbles.

Not Champagne, But Wow

I love it when I order a bottle of wine that I know nothing about and it wows me...in the order that I placed with The Sampler I included a bottle of Lorca Fantasia Extra Brut blanc de blancs. This sparkler is from Argentina, so I just couldn't resist placing it in my cart even though I had no idea what to expect.

We opened it the other evening and absolutely loved it!! It had a hugely tropical aroma, with just a whiff of banana. It tasted of zesty pineapple and guava, a wonderful combination for a warm evening. What it lacked in finish, it made up in bubbles, a trade-off I am always happy to make. It was a huge bargain at less than £11/bottle. While I would never confuse this with a French champagne, I would happily drink (and serve) this as a gorgeous, playful aperitif. I must order more...

I'll Half That

I didn't realise it, but I ordered a half-bottle of champagne from The Sampler when I placed my order. The website did actually say it was a 375ml bottle, but I wasn't paying attention. It had caught my eye that they had a number of half-bottles on offer, which I really liked. It's a great way of trying new things without committing too much money (or paying for things you might not drink). But I was buying wines that were low dosage when I placed my order, rather than looking at the half-bottles. At some point, I'll go back and order more half-bottles intentionally.

When I unpacked this particular bottle, I immediately put it in the fridge thinking that it would be nice to have for some night when I was on my own. Wednesday was such a night, my husband was out and I was home by myself. I uncorked the half-bottle of La Chapelle Brut Audace as a small treat, sipping it while I watched The Apprentice. It's a predominantly pinot meunier champagne with a bit of pinot noir and chardonnay, something I usually like. This bottle was a bit different - it smelled of stewed apples with just a touch of dirty dishwater. It had lots of ripe orchard fruit flavours with a touch of shortbread biscuits, but not the crispness that I like and expect from a great champagne. In its favour, it had loads of bubbles, but that just wasn't enough to make me love this wine. It was fine, but it didn't 'wow' me, so my mistake in ordering just a half-bottle paid off!!

Celebrations

I knew we would likely drink something bubbly with dinner last night since it was the 4th of July. Then I also got some exciting professional news, too, so I pulled out a bottle of the good stuff, my very last bottle from Billecart-Salmon, the vintage 2004. It was just right for our celebrations, although a food and wine matching note - no champagne seems to go really well with peas eaten raw straight from the pod - they're just too green.

A lovely evening outside, made that much nicer by a fantastic champagne. My thanks to the person who helped us source the Billecart-Salmon, we have thoroughly enjoyed every single bottle!!

Finally!

I have been looking for ages for a good sparkling red wine. Outside of the wine list at Ransome's Dock, no one seems to carry them. But I found one finally - from a shop I found on-line called The Sampler.

This bottle of wine was worth the time I've spent hunting one down. It was the 2009 sparkling pinot noir from Penley Estates, an Australian producer who predominantly makes traditional red wines. The sparkling wine was wonderful, big and juicy, with loads of raspberry and blackberry flavour, with just a touch of prune on the finish. It had a good amount of fizz that lasted and kept the wine from being too heavy. It was perfect for last night's warm weather with grilled steaks. I will definitely be buying a few more bottles of this, in hopes that we get some more warm days to BBQ.

I know that for proper red wine drinkers and champagne fanatics, this sort of thing is just not on. But I like sparkling reds, I like having a wine with a bit more heft that still has the frivolity of the bubbles. As a friend has always told me, "a good wine is one that you like, regardless of how much it cost or what name is on the bottle". This was a good wine.

Autumnal

Nope, not the weather, but the champagne we drank last night - Roger Legros Millesime 2002, a chardonnay/pinot noir mix which I bought from the Champagne Warehouse. This was such a nice champagne!It smelled like the perfect autumn day in an orchard, with fallen apples and fresh-cut hay, a slightly oxidised aroma, but in the way that a good sweet wine smells. There was no sweetness to this wine though, just lots of rich apple with some biscuit on the finish. The bubbles were excellent, too. I was very surprised to see this priced at less than £30 on the Champagne Warehouse website, it was a lot of quality for a very reasonable price!!