Browse Tag

sparkling

Cava dweller

Canals Nadal Cava Brut (Cataluña) – Coarse chicken-flavored salt. Really. Clean otherwise, but exceedingly odd. (2/08)

Canals Nadal Cava Brut “Reserva” (Cataluña) – Bigger and more complex, with lemon, light yeastiness, and a pale sweetness. (2/08)

Antoni Canals Nadal Cava Brut Natural (Cataluña) – Makrut lime, lemon, apple, and lots of grassiness. Pretty tasty. (2/08)

Canals Nadal Cava Brut Natural “Gran Reserva” (Cataluña) – Fruity, showing lemon and clean, crisp apple mixed with skins. Long, with a notion of true complexity. (2/08)

Antoni Canals Nadal Cava Brut “cupada selecció” (Cataluña) – Oaky-tasting, and the rest is somewhat muted. Uninteresting. (2/08)

Sweet Melissa

Honey Gardens “Melissa” Sparkling Mead (Vermont) – Very cloudy, yeasty, slightly bitter, and volatile. There’s very little honey here, but rather a whole lot of pollen and a good deal of acrid, desiccating difficulty. I don’t like this at all. (3/08)

Stanley Bartucci

Bartucci 2004 Bugey Cerdon (Ain) – Lurid strawberry essence, bursting with geraniums. A little heavier than I’m used to, but still good. (4/06)

Whiteout

[vineyard]Larmandier-Bernier Champagne “1er Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Vertus” (Champagne) – If there were such a thing as mineral soda, this would be it. Not in the hyper-austere fashion of a sekt, but in a poised, brilliant, flowing way; elegant mineral soda as conceived by Frank Gehry, perhaps. (3/08)

Yves & H2O

Laurent-Perrier Champagne “Cuvée Rosé Brut” (Champagne) – Srawberry, raspberry, red apple. Floral. Very light. (2/07)

Patrick & Lalou

Duval-Leroy 1997 Champagne “Blanc de Chardonnay” (Champagne) – Ripe lemon curd, skins, and incredible intensity. Clean, with bubbles taken down to powdery fineness. (2/07)

David & Brown

Duval-Leroy Champagne “Rosé de Saignée” (Champagne) – Raspberry and heirloom apples (in other words, tarter and more flavorful than most), light-styled, clean, and crisp. Biting and complex. (2/07)

Lenoble rot

Lenoble 1998 Champagne “Grand Cru” Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) – Lemon and massive appleness. Bright and sharp, though perhaps a bit obvious. (2/07)

Nicene Crede

Bisol Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Crede Brut (Veneto) – Soft and yeasty; a pleasant froth of melon and honeydew. Pretty but ultimately insignificant. (2/07)