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.

Hello 2011!

We had a wonderful, quiet New Year's Day on Sunday. I spent most of the day out in the garden, which I always enjoy. We had a casual dinner at home, with me making mac and cheese with bacon and spinach (always yummy) and an upside-down banana cake, a new favourite recipe. Accompanying it, we had Maison Lenique 2005, with its intense apple flavour and lots and lots of bubbles. All in all, it was a good day.

Yesterday, a group of us went to Ransome's Dock for lunch, and in his infinite wisdom, my husband pre-ordered a magnum of Billecart-Salmon rose. There's something about a magnum of champagne, the bottle just seems endless, although we always manage to finish it. The champagne was only eclipsed by the fantastic company and the most delicious dessert - a gingerbread pudding with ginger sauce, cream, and custard. It was to die for, the kind of cooking I've learned to expect at Ransome's Dock.

A great start to the New Year, now to some more healthy eating for the rest of January...

Good Bye 2010

Having had such fantastic champagne at Christmas, my husband and I took a serious look at our stock and discussed what we wanted to put in the fridge for New Year's Eve. We had a lot of good choices...but we both agreed that having been disappointed with the bubbles in some of our recent bottles, we wanted a 'sure thing' for the evening, something that would taste great and be bubbly enough. In went a bottle of Billecart-Salmon brut reserve, my favourite of the Billecart's that we own.

I guess there's no such thing as a 'sure thing', though. We wrestled opened the champagne early on in the evening, the cork being particularly difficult to remove. It looked and tasted OK on opening. But halfway through my first glass, and unusually for this champagne, the bubbles disappeared. I couldn't believe it!! My husband and I agreed that, if we were drinking the brut reserve for the first time, we wouldn't have known it was an off bottle, just thought that it was only an OK champagne (and disappointing for the price). But knowing how stunning and bubbly this champagne usually is, we knew something wasn't quite right. Hopefully our one remaining bottle of this wine will be in top shape.

So good-bye to 2010. It went out with a bit of a fizzle, but we're really looking forward to 2011 and have a bottle of Maison Lenique in the fridge to welcome in the New Year!

Christmas Morning

The very first gift that I opened on Christmas morning was waiting for me in the fridge - a bottle of Krug Clos du Mesnil 1990 (thank you!!). What a wonderful way to start Christmas day!! We popped the cork and sipped it while we opened the rest of our gifts. It remains one of my favourite champagnes, with flavours of nougat and toasted, buttered bread (perfect for breakfast!). It also had a fantastic amount of bubbles, which almost made me forget that this champagne is 20 years old. Surprisingly for me, it was the only champagne we drank on Christmas, but it's so good that it's hard to follow with anything else.

More Bubbles Please

A while back, Jancis Robinson wrote up her top sparkling picks for the holidays in the FT. One of her recommendations appealed to me - the Eric Rodez Cuvee des Grands Vintages - because the winemaker used to work at Krug. How can you go wrong with that?

I tracked a bottle down from Gauntley's, and opened it last night to go with the lemon-caper chicken with broccoli risotto that my husband made. It was a very good match with the food, the 60/40 pinot noir/chardonnay blend of the wine making it weighty enough for a meal. It has a wonderful toffee-apple aroma and taste, a big, full mouthful of flavour. There are two drawbacks, though. First, it goes sour just after you swallow it, although for only a second, and then leaves a lovely, honey finish. Second - NOT ENOUGH BUBBLES.

To all of the sparkling winemakers out there - if you're going to make a wine with bubbles, please make sure they last through the glass. And if you're writing about wine with bubbles, please tell your readers when the bubbles don't hold up. It's so disappointing to spend £40+ on a bottle of bubbly only to be drinking something practically still after 15 minutes.

I Should Have Listened...

There's an excellent wine expert at Selfridges - a young woman - who has helped me before and has a pretty good understanding of what I like. The last time I was there, I spotted a bottle of sparkling wine from Brazil, Miolo Millesime 2006, and had picked it up. When the lady at the shop saw me with it, she shook her head and told me she didn't think I would like it, as it would probably be two sweet and too floral for my taste. So I didn't buy it then.

But curiosity got the better of me, especially since I haven't had a Brazilian sparkling wine before. I was in Selfridges earlier this week, and since the bottle is only about £16, I couldn't help but buy it. And the wine expert (who wasn't there that day!) was right - while I didn't find the wine offensively sweet, it was mustily-floral, leaving a very heavy aftertaste in my mouth that I really didn't enjoy. I'm surprised that so many reviews of this wine on the internet think it's a fruity wine, because I wasn't getting any of that (part of me wonders, too, how many of the reviewers actually tasted it rather than just repeating the company schpiel about the flavours).

So, wonderful wine woman from Selfridges - hats off to you for being able to accurately describe the wine and for knowing that I wouldn't like it. Next time I won't be so driven by my curiosity and will only buy what you tell me to : )

Let it Snow...

My husband is supposed to be away this week with a friend of ours, so I stocked up on some bubbles to enjoy while I was home alone. But the snow scuppered their plans, the flights were cancelled, and they're now here with me, helping me tuck into my champagne stash.

On Monday, we popped open a bottle of Francoise Bedel's Entre Ciel Et Terre. It is a predominantly pinot meunier champagne, being a 72/14/14 split of pinot meunier, chardonnay, and pinot noir. I bought this on-line from Gauntley's, having gone there to buy something else, but recognising this bottle from a trip to Epernay last year. I can't remember if I actually drank this champagne when I was there since I didn't blog about it, but it had a very distinctive label that caught my eye. I will remember it now. It started off well, having a slight whiff and taste of brine that opened into more honey-and-apple flavours. But the bubbles didn't last through the glass, a big disappointment for me. I will have to pass the next time this bottle catches my eye.

Last night, the guys were drinking martinis while I opened a bottle of Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2008 that I bought from Ocado. This maker has been racking up awards, including beating several big-name champagne houses to be named best sparkling wine of the year by Decanter magazine. The Bloomsbury is a chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier blend and I can see why the maker is winning awards. The wine had a clean floral aroma - a little bit like freesias - followed by a very pleasing grapefuit taste. It also had loads of bubbles, and it will be interesting to see how they hold up in the capped bottle in the fridge. Unlike some of the other English sparklers that I've had, this one wasn't distinctive because it had a strong or unusual taste. This one was much more polished and I think I would be hard-pressed to distinguish it from a French champagne. We'll have to include a bottle in our next blind tastings! I'm looking forward to trying more from this maker, and considering the bottles are in the low-£20 range, they won't break the bank.