Browse Tag

sparkling

Take this job and Chauvet

[hand]Quartz Reef “Chauvet” Méthode Traditionelle (Central Otago) – Apple and geranium, with a complex and floral nose flittering atop a crisp palate of lemon, more apple, and somewhat obvious froth. Long and lingering, precise throughout, but it could use a bit more refinement, bubble-wise. (3/05)

0007

Blot “La Taille aux Loups” Montlouis Pétillant “Triple Zero” (Loire) – Flat and chalky, aromatically unexciting, and yet absolutely palate-cleaving. This is an…aggressive…choice for a by-the-glass pour, and (as I’ll find out later), it’s not alone in that regard. (4/06)

Rafa

Nadal “Avinyó” Cava Brut “Reserva” (Cataluña) – Almond, certainly, with an appealingly dry scrape to the bubbles; it’s not delicate or fine, but it is highly quaffable, with a little lagniappe of light-skinned complexity. If you’re interested. (6/08)

20 + Bullwinkle + a needle pulling thread

Brun “FRV100” (Beaujolais) – In the pantheon of sparkling pink beverages, this is the pirate king; assertive, boldly-iconoclastic, rebellious, and showy. The purplish fruit with a heady, freshly-pulled beer froth never “forms up” into a traditional wine structure, but instead comes in waves and eddies of texture and intense flavor. It is, it is a glorious thing. (6/08)

Brut force

Boxler Crémant d’Alsace Extra Brut (Alsace) – More austere than a crémant should be, reminiscent of the older style of exceedingly ungenerous crémant that does the category no favors. It tastes sort of like paper. So I guess there’s something Boxler isn’t brilliant at, which I suppose is somewhat of a relief. (5/08)

Yó, Adrian

Avinyó Cava Rosat “Reserva” (Cataluña) – The crisp pink fruit is there, but the almond-like nuttiness remains. It tastes dirty…not in an unclean way, but in that you can actually taste a soil-like bass note. Thus, it portends heaviness, but turns more agile with food. (5/08)

Euganeics

VR dei Colli Euganei Prosecco Spumante “Extra Dry” (Veneto) – Overly-buffed yet sharp at the core, and somewhat flavorless. An essentially meaningless wine. (5/08)

Count Champagneula

[vineyard]Taittinger 1990 Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs “Comtes de Champagne” (Champagne) – Brioche, biscuit, old butter, and fine-grained dandelion pollen, shown delicately but plainly. This would seem to be fully mature. (5/08)

French puns

JP Brun “Terres Dorées” Mousseux “FRV100” (Beaujolais) – In the cause of experimentation, this is served at room temperature rather than slightly chilled to pair better with a blackberry pie. It’s a successful experiment; the sweeter and bigger (that is to say, body-forming alcoholic) aspects of the wine are slightly emphasized, slightly damaging its on-its-own balance but enhancing its ability to go with this not particularly sweet dessert. Chilled, it achieves more of the fluffy puppy equilibrium that I’m used to, and it’s a “better” wine with the proper bit of shiver, but it tastes slightly tannic with the pie. (5/08)

Rare form

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin 1988 Champagne Brut “Rare” (Champagne) – Sweet and fruity, dominated by strawberry and lemon. It’s ripe but simple. Not much more to say, really; Veuve remains, for me, a disappointing house. All the more so for their popularity. (4/08)