Jean Vesselle Bouzy Champagne Cuvée Friandise Demi-Sec Rosé NV
A lively conversation ensued around the Jean Vesselle Bouzy Champagne Cuvée Friandise Demi-Sec Rosé, a debate centered not on this wine’s formidable 32 g/l dosage, but rather it’s dark crimson color, which Delphine Vesselle insists is pink. Wafting aromas of cherry clafoutis, raspberry purée, rose petals and a faint smoky edge. The attack is more […]
Mailly Champagne Grand Cru L’Intemporelle Brut 2009
he color of sun-bleached straw, Mailly Grand Cru L’Intemporelle Brut 2009 offers up a garland of creamy bubbles and lilting notes of white peach, buttered scone, white flowers and smoky minerality. There is slightly more weight on the palate than one might anticipate given the nose, a plunge through discreet layers of pear and stone […]
J. de Telmont Brut Champagne O.R. 1735 2002
One of the more intriguing Champagnes I had the pleasure of tasting while in Champagne is J de Telmont’s 2002 Brut Champagne O.R. 1735. A delicate mousse preceded by lemon curd that unfolds to something more distinctive, like Meyer lemon and a very pretty top note of white flowers, chervil and chalk. Telmont uses natural […]
Argyle “The Art of Sparkling” Trio — Christin Engelberth Label
Argyle’s new Art of the Blend series is stunning. The wines are sold as a trio, with each bottle featuring an artist chosen from a juried competition. From the winery’s website: “After nearly thirty years of growing and making World-class wines in the Willamette Valley, we have opened the Argyle House to our Community to interpret […]
Veuve Clicquot Champagne La Grande Dame Brut 2006
Named after the venerable Widow Clicquot herself, La Grande Dame Brut 2006 is a blend of 53% Chardonnay and 47% Pinot Noir. The nose is expressive—bioche dipped in honey, baked apple and a whisp of smoke hanging above richer aromas. The attack is deep and vinous, and there is a lovely creaminess at the center. […]
Veuve A. Devaux Champagne Sténopé 2008
Champagne Sténopé 2008 sports telltale braille on it’s packaging, a giveaway that Michel Chapoutier has a hand in this particular bottling as well as Champagne Devaux. According to the winery, they never “discloses the blend,” that said, it’s the color of sun-bleached straw, with earthy overtones lending a serious edge to notes of lemon pith […]
Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut Millésimé 2002
As stately as I expected it to be (can one really expect anything less of a wine as legendary as Cristal in one of Champagne’s most celebrated vintages?) glinting pale gold, the color of a freshly-minted coin. The 2002 Champagne Cristal Brut Millésimé is imbued with soaring notes of pear and smoke, brioche and chalk. […]
Sokol Blosser Evolution Sparkling Brut NV
Convivial and crisp, Sokol Blosser’s Evolution Sparkling Brut is one of the better priced sparkling wines from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It offers up a nose of green apple, pear and white flowers. On the palate, it’s lively and crisp. It’s not a complex bubbly, but it is pleasantly carefree on a Sunday afternoon. 11.5% ABV | […]
ROCO Rollin Michael Soles ‘RMS’ Willamette Valley Brut 2013
This is a brilliant wine. The RMS Willamette Valley Brut 2013 is ROCO’s first sparkling wine, a new release, it’s a perfectly-poised blend of 67% Pinot Noir and 33% Chardonnay that fairly blossoms in the glass; red berries, pear, and apricot vie for dominance, floating above this, spice, white flowers, freshly laundered linen. That same yin-yang […]
Mumm Napa DVX Rosé 2009
Perhaps my favorite in a lineup of Mumm Napa sparklers I’ve tasted over the past few months, the 2009 DVX Rosé is alive with aromas of macerated strawberry, red apple skins and a really nice though quite subtle earthiness. A 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the DVX spends four years en tirage, and […]