Tag: Sparkling

WSET Advanced

2008 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale to med- lemon, aggressive froth upon pour
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, mineral, citrus, reserved fruit
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acid, med+ to long length
All in all: Very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

2008 Schramsberg Blanc de BlancsSheesh. I’m wishing I had more time to get to know the sparkling wines better because we were rushed through them due to time constraints. Oh well.

I later tried a Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs (2007 vintage, I believe) some time later that autumn (for an amazing send-off dinner for a friend), and I remembered why I loved Californian sparkling wines. Unfortunately the information from trying the 2008 Blanc de Blancs didn’t sink in well enough, and I didn’t realize that I’ve tasted a wine from this iconic producer in the past.… read more

WSET Advanced

2004 Pierre Gimonnet Brut Reserve Blanc de Blancs

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med lemon, aggressive froth upon pour, bubbles
Nose: clear, pronounced intensity, yeast, mineral, citrus, butter, bread
Mouth: dry, med to med+ body, med+ acid, med+ to long length, med+ to high intensity, med- alcohol, delicate bubbles
All in all: Very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

2004 Pierre Gimonnet Brut Reserve Blanc de BlancsAlthough blasphemous, I really have to admit: sometimes I’m not the biggest fan of Champagne, and I rejoyced when I found out that I wasn’t alone.

For me, it’s just the fact that the intrinsic acid of Champagne can often be too zippy for me. Complexities derived from the traditional method of sparkling wine add legitimate and intricate bready, yeasty, and biscuity tones, but the price usually (and personally, most importantly) doesn’t justify it for me.… read more

Quaffing

holiday wines with the co-workers

Posted on by Josh

Overdue post, but it’s all good. Some time in December one of us hosted another staff get together complete with an amazing multiple-course home-cooked meal, which included:

– roasted celeriac soup
– kohlrabi slaw with cranberries and walnuts
– beet salad (with goat cheese)
– braised white beans
– roast chicken

It was so good that most of the food is still weirdly vivid in my mind despite this being around 4 weeks ago. Alas, I don’t remember the wines as well – I do remember one of us trying to act as a lion for a charades clue. The phrase was “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

Oh, and one of us was sick which sucked, which means we had no mashed potatoes.… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Joan Raventos Rosell Cava Brut

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, deep lemon, bubbles
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, yeasty, funk, metallic, floral
Mouth: dry, med to med+ body, med- to med acid, med to med+ length, bubbles don’t really last
All in all: Good quality; drink now (this particular batch was losing its structure).

[Edit: retried this on November 13, 2013.]

What a great value. From what I remember, this guy had a decent amount of stinky yeast on the nose. A quick internet glance tells me people didn’t like this as much as I did, but I think it had a nice amount of complexity despite the agreed-upon falling structure. I would definitely buy this again to reaffirm my thoughts. It’s quite possible that I’m praising it for more than it’s actually worth, but then again it looks like I fiercely circled “yeasty” in my notebook.… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Yellow Tail Bubbles

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, large bubbles
Nose: clean, youthful, med intensity, tropical fruit, fresher than comparison wine (Cava), grapey
Mouth: off-dry?, more aggressive bubbles, med+ body, med acid, med+ length
All in all: Very good quality; drink now.

Yellow Tail is such an interesting brand. It’s one of the only wine brands I knew before I started getting into wine (and more specifically, their Shiraz), and it’s probably one of the brands that is well-known in the wine world. Winecouver states it perfectly – I would say that the touch of residual sugar (in the wines I’ve had, most notably the Shiraz and Bubbles) makes it so welcoming to the non-wine drinking masses, and combined with (what I would guess is) inexpensive winemaking and marketing so brilliant that it makes its way into marketing textbooks, you have a success that angers no one but the wine savvy, who make a Shakespearean grimace into the distance and wonder why people aren’t drinking other wines.… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Breton Vouvray “La Dilettante” Crémant de Loire

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, lots of mineral, reserved fruit, touch of yeast, bitter edge, green apple
Mouth: dry, med bodied, med+ acid, med length
All in all: Good to very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

[Retried in February 2014]

So basically everything that was tasted during the latter half of this day was rushed, which resulting in the shittiest, most rushed (and incomplete) tasting notes ever (so messy that I can’t even read them). All due to the fact that our exam was right after our sparklings, anyways. 

I’m slightly disappointed I didn’t write more about this wine! In theory it’s interesting:
1) Having the “Vouvray” sub-region designation, we know that it’s 100% Chenin Blanc, which is my favourite white grape (for now, anyways).… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Mionetto Treviso Brut Prosecco

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, large bubbles
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, bubble gum, cotton candy, pear drops
Mouth: dry with a sweet impression, med bodied, low to med- acid, med length, low alcohol
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Prosecco is one of those bubblys that I feel has a bad reputation. More than often people assume that it’ll be sweet – which isn’t entirely false, but its unpopularity might be due to the fact that it has that less serious personality – especially if it has fun packaging like this (but that being said, it’s not so hard to find more serious Prosecchi. Usually.). 

And ironically enough, this was like sparkling white Beaujolais Nouveau and happened to get a solid 2.5… read more

Tasting

I NEED A BIGGER KNIFE. (UBC Wine Tasting Sesh #2)

Posted on by Josh

Long-ass day. Doesn’t seem so bad in retrospect, but I woke up early for a 9AM thing at UBC, took the 99 to the last stop for work, and then needed to travel all the way back to UBC to lead Part 2 of the sort-of-intro-to-wine themed tasting, all while wearing pants that weren’t jeans, one of those shirts you’d hate to spill wine on, and shoes that didn’t fit just enough to make my feet cry. The garb was fitting for all of the day’s events but for this day in particular, I would defs have lead a wine tasting wearing nothing but seven layers of random comfortable 7-foot-long linens, cinnamon-bun-Homer-Simpson style. I was that uncomfortable (ugh rain + sickness).… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Duval-Leroy Brut Rosé Champagne

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale orange, bubbles
Nose: clean, pronounced, developing, more ripe fruit, bready, red fruit (strawberry), smokey/mineral
Mouth: dry, med to med+ body, med+ acid, long length, med+ intensity, med- alcohol
All in all: Very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

Tasted against the NV Lugny Rosé Crémant de Bourgogne.

I’m not going to deny a glass of (rosé) Champagne. Because number 1: that would be stupid; number 2: rarely do you get that chance unless you’re rich as balls; and number 3: it’s really an experience in itself, no matter how ephemeral. And the pinkness makes it more interesting.

And yes – I do admit that the differences between this and the Crémant were almost indistinguishable unless you *really* stuck your nose in there and got a real sense of the characters of the wines – but perhaps the non-vintageness of the wine was at fault.… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Lugny Rosé Crémant de Bourgogne

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale orange, bubbles
Nose: clean, pronounced, youthful, yeastiness, light strawberry/watermelon notes
Mouth: dry, med body (delicate bubbles), med acid, med+ length, med- alcohol, med intensity
All in all: Very good quality; drink now.

Tasted against the NV Duval-Leroy Brut Rosé Champagne.

This taste comparison was obviously set up to show the differences between a rosé Crémant and a rosé Champagne. Disappointingly enough, it was hard to pick up those definitive toasty notes in one of these wines and not the other. Amusingly enough, what this comparison showed was the potential for great Crémants to exist, something which is apparently not a common thing. Plenty of delicate bubbles, and there was some stinky yeastiness on the nose, along with some light red fruit notes.… read more