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.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Friday, 20 February 2009
The Other End of the Spectrum
Having tried an expensive-but-not-*that*-impressive champagne on Valentine's Day, a couple of nights ago we popped open the £5 bottle of sparkling wine, a chardonnay, riesling, chenin blanc blend from Vina Maipo in Chile, that we bought at the supermarket. Not for any special reason - two sodas would have cost us almost the same amount, so we just opened it as my husband ate a homemade calzone and I finished off some leftover venison stew.
Drinking this wine after having recently had a champagne from a wonder year was an interesting experience, though. The Vina Maipo had a very nice flavour - a strong grapiness at the start, mellowing to tropical fruits with a hint of pineapple at the finish. But it also had a totally different and very thin mouth-feel - almost like drinking skim milk after being accustomed to drinking full-fat.
In a blind tasting, would you know this wasn't an expensive wine? Yes. Would you care that it wasn't the priciest or the best if you were drinking it in the middle of the week with leftovers for dinner like we did? Absolutely not. You'd enjoy it, and it would give your meal that little bit of something extra that mid-week meals need. That's the beauty of well-made, inexpensive sparkling wines.
Drinking this wine after having recently had a champagne from a wonder year was an interesting experience, though. The Vina Maipo had a very nice flavour - a strong grapiness at the start, mellowing to tropical fruits with a hint of pineapple at the finish. But it also had a totally different and very thin mouth-feel - almost like drinking skim milk after being accustomed to drinking full-fat.
In a blind tasting, would you know this wasn't an expensive wine? Yes. Would you care that it wasn't the priciest or the best if you were drinking it in the middle of the week with leftovers for dinner like we did? Absolutely not. You'd enjoy it, and it would give your meal that little bit of something extra that mid-week meals need. That's the beauty of well-made, inexpensive sparkling wines.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Valentine's Day
I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I really don't like the idea that on a certain day of the year, certain industries have decided that I'm supposed to spend a lot of money professing my undying love for someone who I love equally as much on every other day of the year. It's so much harder to express it consistently throughout the year, it feels like a bit of a cop-out to nominate a single day to show love and let people off the hook for the other 364 days.
On the plus side, it is a great excuse to pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly. Since my husband and I pretty much otherwise ignore Valentine's Day, we decided to splurge on our bottle, and bought the Louise 1990 from Pommery, a swish champagne from a wonder year.
The champagne was the most beautiful colour when we poured it - such a dark amber-yellow that it was almost salmon. My husband dubbed it 'sunset-coloured'. It was also everything that you expect a very good bottle of champagne to be - smooth and creamy, with very fine bubbles and a sweet-apple flavour. Not a trace of bitterness, and stood up equally well to our grilled steak, apple pie, and chocolate truffles.
But can you sense that I wasn't over the moon?
Don't get me wrong, this is a really delicious champagne. But at the price point, I prefer Krug champagnes, which tend to have a more biscuity/yeasty flavour. And under the price point, I could have bought two bottles of Billecart-Salmon rose and been equally as happy.
To balance it all out, the next day when my husband and I were at the supermarket, we picked up a £5 bottle of sparkling wine from Chile. As always, I'll let you know what that's like when we drink it!
On the plus side, it is a great excuse to pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly. Since my husband and I pretty much otherwise ignore Valentine's Day, we decided to splurge on our bottle, and bought the Louise 1990 from Pommery, a swish champagne from a wonder year.
The champagne was the most beautiful colour when we poured it - such a dark amber-yellow that it was almost salmon. My husband dubbed it 'sunset-coloured'. It was also everything that you expect a very good bottle of champagne to be - smooth and creamy, with very fine bubbles and a sweet-apple flavour. Not a trace of bitterness, and stood up equally well to our grilled steak, apple pie, and chocolate truffles.
But can you sense that I wasn't over the moon?
Don't get me wrong, this is a really delicious champagne. But at the price point, I prefer Krug champagnes, which tend to have a more biscuity/yeasty flavour. And under the price point, I could have bought two bottles of Billecart-Salmon rose and been equally as happy.
To balance it all out, the next day when my husband and I were at the supermarket, we picked up a £5 bottle of sparkling wine from Chile. As always, I'll let you know what that's like when we drink it!
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Good News at Work
On Friday I had some good news at work - a 'door closing in one place opening opportunities in others' kind of thing - so my husband and I popped open a bottle of our 'house champagne', the Maison Lenique from my birthday. I must say that I love having a cold bottle in the fridge at all times, it makes it so much easier to celebrate without having to have loads of advance planning!!
Monday, 2 February 2009
Bubbles from Bedales
I was at Borough Market this weekend, and had to stop in at my favourite wine store, Bedales. The shop is owned and managed by a group of wonderful, wine-loving people and is a place where we've become friends rather than just customers. I always try to buy something while I'm there - not just because they have such a great selection, but because they're the sort of store I want to keep around in these tough times.
They serve some very nice prosecco at the market at the weekend, and I was tempted to go home with a bottle of that. But they had on the shelf something I'd not tried before - a sparkling rose from Tigress in Tasmania.
We popped it in the fridge and drank it while eating nachos with homemade guacamole and watching the film Old School. It was a not very serious afternoon, and the Tigress was a fun wine to go along with the mood. The pinot noir/chardonnay blend was only slightly sweet, tasting somewhat of cranberry jelly. It's only fault was that it was more fizzy than sparkling, but unless you're a serious fan of big bubbles like I am, you'll be perfectly happy with this wine.
They serve some very nice prosecco at the market at the weekend, and I was tempted to go home with a bottle of that. But they had on the shelf something I'd not tried before - a sparkling rose from Tigress in Tasmania.
We popped it in the fridge and drank it while eating nachos with homemade guacamole and watching the film Old School. It was a not very serious afternoon, and the Tigress was a fun wine to go along with the mood. The pinot noir/chardonnay blend was only slightly sweet, tasting somewhat of cranberry jelly. It's only fault was that it was more fizzy than sparkling, but unless you're a serious fan of big bubbles like I am, you'll be perfectly happy with this wine.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Inauguration Day
Like many people, my husband and I were in a celebratory mood yesterday as Barack Obama took the oath to become President. To mark the occasion, and since we had a cold bottle in the fridge, we popped open a bottle of the Maison Lenique from my birthday to go with the blueberry pancakes I made for dinner (we were craving American food, it was the best I could do!). We had thought it might be nice to have an American sparkling wine, but they're too difficult to find at short notice here in the UK. We'll have to plan a bit better for the next one...hopefully we'll feel like celebrating the next President, too!
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Date Night - Jan 09
A while back, when my husband and I realised how little time we actually spend together, we decided to set aside one night each month just for us - Date Night. The rules of Date Night are pretty simple: it never gets cancelled, it's just the two of us, and we treat it like a date i.e. we do something fun and there's no talking about work or other heavy problems.
This month is the first time we didn't have Date Night on it's established night. One of my husband's colleagues is moving to New Zealand and his leaving drinks were booked that night. Ordinarily, one or the other of us would simply send regrets to the event, but this was different, him moving so far away. As an alternate, we decided to take the dog and drive out to the shore this weekend, have some lovely walks on the beach, and lunch at a gastropub, The Sportsman Seasalter, that some friends introduced us to.
We had a great time, especially since we had blue skies and sunshine yesterday, missing all of the heavy showers that came later in the day. The fresh air and beach were exactly what we needed to refresh ourselves from London. Lunch, as always, did not disappoint.
A nice surprise was that the pub had some sparkling wines by the glass, so we each started with a glass of Pol Roger White Label, a champagne I've often seen in shops, but one that is so 'name-brand' that I had never bought it before. Shame on me, as the champagne was a slightly sweet apple, with loads of bubbles. It was fantastic with the home-made foccacia and brown soda bread that quickly arrived on our table, as well as with my husband's starter of whisky-smoked salmon. It didn't hold up quite as well with the almost pure-cream broth of my mussel and bacon chowder, but the apple flavour was wonderful with the big chunks of bacon at the bottom of my bowl.
Part of the ensuing conversation we had was about how often we were reverse wine snobs. This champagne was very drinkable, but we had passed it by so often in pursuit of smaller champagne houses - less-well-known varieties and makers - because we never know when we're going to see them in the shops again. I'll have to make more of an effort to buy the name-brands even though I know I'll see them again and again, simply because they don't disappoint.
This month is the first time we didn't have Date Night on it's established night. One of my husband's colleagues is moving to New Zealand and his leaving drinks were booked that night. Ordinarily, one or the other of us would simply send regrets to the event, but this was different, him moving so far away. As an alternate, we decided to take the dog and drive out to the shore this weekend, have some lovely walks on the beach, and lunch at a gastropub, The Sportsman Seasalter, that some friends introduced us to.
We had a great time, especially since we had blue skies and sunshine yesterday, missing all of the heavy showers that came later in the day. The fresh air and beach were exactly what we needed to refresh ourselves from London. Lunch, as always, did not disappoint.
A nice surprise was that the pub had some sparkling wines by the glass, so we each started with a glass of Pol Roger White Label, a champagne I've often seen in shops, but one that is so 'name-brand' that I had never bought it before. Shame on me, as the champagne was a slightly sweet apple, with loads of bubbles. It was fantastic with the home-made foccacia and brown soda bread that quickly arrived on our table, as well as with my husband's starter of whisky-smoked salmon. It didn't hold up quite as well with the almost pure-cream broth of my mussel and bacon chowder, but the apple flavour was wonderful with the big chunks of bacon at the bottom of my bowl.
Part of the ensuing conversation we had was about how often we were reverse wine snobs. This champagne was very drinkable, but we had passed it by so often in pursuit of smaller champagne houses - less-well-known varieties and makers - because we never know when we're going to see them in the shops again. I'll have to make more of an effort to buy the name-brands even though I know I'll see them again and again, simply because they don't disappoint.
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