#FLXWineDineDistill Part One: Bubbly and Booze #SLWT #WBC15

Damiani Brut Sparkling

A good time always starts with sparkling wine.  Even when you are on a bus! As part of #WBC15 I was one of 30 bloggers on an excursion #FLXWineDineDistill an evening dinner starting with cocktails and a tour at Finger Lakes Distilling, then moving next door to Damiani Wine Cellars, and a 12 wine, 3 course tasting menu by Scott Signori from the seasonal, organic Stonecat Cafe.

It all stared on a bus, as some adventures do.... Damiani's newest winemaker Phil Arras`10 popped the first cork, and poured freely. It was a terrific way to travel the 25 miles from Corning to Burdett, NY, on the east side/Banana Belt of Senaca Lake. As we listened to the history of the wine and area, and toasted the impending expansion of Phil's family (awaiting baby #2...would he get the call while on the bus???) The celebration of all things Finger Lakes began. We drove through Watkins Glen, and talked about the Gorge, the Raceway, waterfalls and the inventive protests of the local food and wine community's Protest Banquet against the storage of LP gas under Seneca Lake.  The more I heard, the more I admired the area and its people.

To my surprise, we pulled into the drive way of Finger Lakes Distilling.  New York is having a love affair with artisanal spirits, and this was to be my first visit to a New York State distillery.  It is uncovering hidden gems like Seneca Lake is the best part of the Wine Bloggers Conference. I never would have visited the distillery on my own.  Yet there I was loving every minute of it. Waiting for us on the bar were displays of New York Sour (featuring McKenzie Rye Whiskey and Damiani MC2) and a delicious drink with gin and apple brandy (this drink is lost to memory, as after all the sparkling wine and Rye Whiskey, there was NO way that I would be taking accurate notes.... And this was just the beginning of the evening!

We toured the distillery with Brian McKenzie, former Vice President of an upstate New York bank, and Thomas Earl McKenzie, a winemaker, brewer and distiller from Monroeville, Alabama. They are not related, but share a historic Scottish whiskey distilling last name. Having spent some quality time in Scotland tasting whiskey, it felt great to hear the stories and taste the product of the New World. At that moment, as Brian talked about meeting his wife in High school, working as a bank VP, meeting Thomas Earl in 2007 and starting the distillery, I was a very proud and slightly drunk American. Peace, Love and Finger Lakes!

End Part One.  Stay Tuned for a 12 wine, 3 course tasting menu, a yoga loving vineyard owner and waterfall slate as a serving dish.... You can't get more local than that!

A Blogger Challenge #covertocover13 #bittenword #bonappetit

After discovering The Bitten Word last year while searching the web on how to can tomatoes. (Their video is CLASSIC) I never canned the tomatoes, but did become and ardent "Bitten" and when tZach and Clay announced their "2013 Cover to Cover Challenge" (cooking the entire September issue of Bon Appetit) I signed up faster than you could say, "Cook a complicated dish on the same holiday weekend that Shea and Tommy are getting married in front of 300 people".

What can I say?  I am an overachiever.... or insane.  Maybe a little of both.

This year, hundreds of "bittens" signed up to cook for the challenge. I was assigned Lamb Tatare.  Well, there were some rules (finish by 9/6 and try to stick to the recipe); so, I ended up having to "cook" my dish on Labor Day, and no one in the house will eat raw meat, and since my transplant, raw meat and raw eggs are off the menu, I made the tartare by the rules and then add a twist ending so that we could all eat it.

Gathering and assembling the ingredients was pretty straight forward:  grocery shopping in two states, - I found preserved lemons at Fairway Market in Queens, and then bought some amazing lamb loin at Whole Foods in Fairfeild, CT; my knife roll packed in the trunk, and we didn't speak of having to buy two copies of the September issue of Bon Appetit (one in NYC and one for CT after I left the first copy on the bedside table in NYC). 

For pairing, I already had a bottle of 2008 Lenz Cuvee sparkling wine from the Lenz Winery on the North Fork of Long Island (in my opinion, the best sparkling wine produced on the East Coast).

Here is how it went:

"Cooking" a tartare is just chopping really good ingredients.  My master plan was to cook it (using heat) then, after I made the raw dish per Bon Appetit, I was going to make a cooked dish.  I kept my lamb trimmings, and started a base of Greek meat sauce:  Tomato, lemon, salt & pepper, onions, olive oil and cinnamon; as I trimmed, I threw in the lamb bones and scraps.  Soon the whole house was smelling AMAZING.

I opened a  bottle of Corona, and started chopping:  shallots, capers from the cupboard, and preserved lemon, the meat was chilling in the freezer. I even had a little mint plant that I was able to harvest some leaves from to add to the mix. 

The spices were straight forward, fresh ground pepper.  I used peppercorn that V brought home from Istanbul, so I felt VERY exotic!

I tossed the ingredients with some healthy glugs of olive oil, cracked a fresh egg, strained the the whites away so that the yellow yolk could nest in the meat, and I sprinkled the whole bowl with Cypriot salt flakes.

It all went together really easily, and soon enough, with the meat sauce bubbling away, I was making toast from the baguette and styling my photograph for the Bitten Word to publish. The flavors were amazing.

But that was only the beginning.

As soon as I tried a bite of the tartare (it was delicious) I pulled the toast, soaked it in some milk, transferred the tartar to a big mixing bowl, and started to make meatballs.

The first meatballs, I served as a Tapas, with a side of green beans.  Then I set about making the Best. Shepherds. Pie. Ever.  I was serving and Irish/Mexican household, and it was a hit.  I added some pan roasted grape tomatoes for color, and I piped the rich mashed potatoes for a fancy finish, and we all dug in and loved it.  I'll make this combination of flavors over and over in the next few years.  It really was that good.

Slideshow from Lenz Winery:

Dinner at God's Mountain Estate #JoyRoadCatering

Once upon a time, I had romantic dreams of what my life would be like.  Dreams of amazing evenings with friends and strangers whose stories, by morning would add to the tapestry of my life.

Dreams came true at the God's Mountain Estate Sunday Vineyard Dinner, overlooking the mountains and Skaha Lake at sunset, drinking amazing wine, eating delicious, inventive food, and listening to stories filled with intrigue (someone meeting their secret sister for the first time), and laughter (You're from New York?  We're from New York - what train?  - and the conversation went on...) Now, a month later, I pinch myself.  "Did this really happen?" Well, according to the photographs, yes it did.  I am a very lucky woman.

We were in Penticton, British Columbia for our Annual Wine Bloggers Conference, and my friend Valerie (check out her Wine Dog Review) had found this Vineyard Dinner as part of her post conference trip.  I quickly invited myself along to Joy Road Cuisine du Terrior's Alfresco Vineyard Dinner.

When the taxi picked us up at our hotel, we were in pioneering cowboy country, and when it dropped us off a few miles down the road, we stood looking at a huge, Mediterranean manse with an outdoor kitchen and blue striped chaise lounges by the swimming pool.

We had been magically transported to a British Ex-pat's Costa del Sol villa for Sunday Supper, catered by Joy Road, disciples of the venerable Alice Waters, overlooking the vines that grew the grapes for the Riesling that we would be drinking, under the shade of the lucky trees that get to witness this magical convergence weekly during the summer. All this just a few hours east of Vancouver on Canada's west coast.

I should preface what I write about this, knowing that you can't buy any of this Canadian wine in the United States.  There are strict import/export laws, this makes the Oliver/Okanagan region of Canada a hotspot for wine tourism.

It started with bubbly - Blue Mountain Brut.  A crisp, traditional bubbly with strong lemon overtones - I popped a field strawberry in my glass and enjoyed the view as we chatted about Sarah, our elegant proprietress with dancing eyes, and a passion for dogs, and other beautiful eclectic things.  It is no secret that I want to be Sarah when I grow up.

Dana Ewert from Joy Road led us through the evening, and started with a sublime passage from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, beginning with “Let things taste of what they are....” and then the meal started.

Roasted Spanish style olives, home made bread and a long boards of Cameron Smith's charcuterie, quince paste and mousse de foie. The wine and the conversation flowed in between oohs and ahhs of "taste this" and passing bread, pouring olive oil and and maybe just a little hoarding of the mousse de foie.

(I'm not necessarily blaming the wonderful man from Scotland, but he certainly was an enthusiast!) There was plenty of food to go around, it was just so delicious, we became proprietary!

Then came the home grown Wild Goose Gods' Mountain Riesling, paired with asparagus, and olive oil confit steelhead. As each course was set I was reminded that this moment was very special.  A dream fulfillment really.  These moments are rare in life, but need to be celebrated.  Just writing abut that evening allows me to relive it - did I mention how lucky I am?

I was surprised,because I had already had the chance to have some amazing wine,  the next wine poured was the most amazing wine that I had during my Canada trip. Pentage Hiatus, a Bordeaux blend of 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Franc.  WOW. I'll admit it.  My glass was perpetually full, and  I was depressed that I was leaving the next morning at 3am, so I could not swing by their tasting room to buy some contraband bottles to pack in my checked luggage.

Pentage is the vineyard next door, and their wine is estate bottled. When I asked one of the women who works for Joy Road about the Pentage, she smiled... they are friends.  The Okanagan is a small world, and Pentage is owned and run by Paul Gardner & Julie Rennie.  Visiting them is the strongest pull for my return visit.

Our vegetables were radishes, kohlrabi and baby turnips with rhubarb butter and baby chives, and there was a side of Swiss chard with pickled currents.

Our salad was a delicious blend of local greens, and there was a spring pea risotto that elevated the meal, and then, Joy Road cooks  brought out plates of braised green garlic shots with olive oil bread crumbs, lemon and anchovies.  My question to Valerie was "could this get any better?"

The main protein was a ham roasted in organic hay.  This was my first exposure to hay roasting - I grew up in the country, and the smell of newly cut hay is still a trigger memory for me.  Having that happy childhood scent memory entwined with this delicious meal was a part of the alchemy that made this a magical evening.   You really could taste the subtle flavor, it was sublime, and paired perfectly with the chocolatey undertones of the Pentage Hiatus.

Dessert was fresh picked strawberries with wild rose vanilla bean & honey cream meringues with a special hint of ginger added for Sarah (I am now a convert to ginger meringues, and I will be trying to recreate these at home)

There was a tisane of fresh chocolate mint, literally just picked from the garden, washed and put in a tea pot, with boiling water poured over it.  As I sipped, I wanted to have a mint garden to make this tea whenever I wanted it. Then it came to an end; as the sun set on our beautiful evening, our taxi arrived.

Throughout the night, I envied Sarah's dogs.  The were loved by all, and their lives consist of being companions and frolicking in the vineyard, above all, they lived at God's Mountain. No taxi would be bringing them back to the hotel - I guess that is the ultimate sign of a perfect evening...  I didn't want to leave.

Dundee Hills Oregon Wine Tasting @Sokol Blosser Vineyards #WBC12

We've just had a snowstorm.  It s January 2013, I've poured myself a glass of scotch, sat down at the computer, and now I am reminiscing about the Dundee Hills in Oregon.

August 2012  The first cork was popped by Sokol Blosser's Jenny Mosbacher on the bus. (now THAT's hosptality!)  I was traveling with my favorite wine professionals, Luiz, his wife Nanci #WINELOVER, Valerie #CHEZVINO, and forty or so other close wine blogging fiends (that is a freudian typo for friends!) from the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference.

The white wine that we sipped from plastic cups as we drove through Portland, Oregon to the Dundee Hills is lost to my distant memory, but was good, and a great way to introduce us to the amazing regon that is the Dundee Hills.  I had already fallen in love with Anam Cara wine at Valerie's birthday party just days before, but little did I know what was to come....


The event was held in the bosom of the rolling Dundee Hills, at Sokol Blosser Family Estate.  The area is beautiful, and good for growing grapes too.  After a outdoor tour and lecture on the terroir (really, I just used the word terroir in a sentence, and my head didn't explode) from Argyle Winery's wine maker Rollin Soles, we were ushered into the Sokol Blosser fermenting room for a tasting provided by the local wineries.

I am biased to bubbly.  The first wine I tasted was a sparkling wine from Argyle, their `09 Brute.  I may have yelled at Rollin "Why don't you sell this in London?!?"  It was my favorite of the night, and to this day remains my favorite American sparkling wine. It rocked my world (and I was still sober).

But why stop there?  I love writing about wine because it affords me the opportunity to taste so many fantastic/uncommon/small production types.  Lang Pinot Gris, Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir, they stand out as delicious wines that I really liked.  What started as a Trader Joe's Wine Shop blog has turned into my own personal discoveries, and had led me on adventures that are ripped from the pages of romance novels. REALLY. But I write about those stories on my private "50 Shades of Wine Writing" blog.

Meanwhile, after a cold shower of Bronco Chardonnay... back to the tasting.

PINOT NOIR.  Yeah, Oregon rocks it.  The Stoller Pinot Noir Rose (no one can buy that anymore, it was delicious, and it went FAST).  Whew, I went back for more.  In between sips, I realized that I was living the life that Thomas Jefferson WISHED he could have had.  I was tasting premium American grown and made wine from Lewis and Clarke's backyard. I have live in Europe.  I have tasted the centuries old traditional wine, and it is great, as it should be.  But in the Dundee Hills?  I was drinking something distinctly American, Rollin is a man who wears a cowboy hat in the hot August sun, and looks the part, but he can hold his own with his peers from Maison Jaquesson.  After all, they are ultimately farmers, just with a different accent.

Sure, it's roots are European, and that shows, but we now"own" it.  As I sat with the LA rooted brand ambassador Lee Medina from Sokol Blosser over dinner on the patio with my Canadian, and Brazilian American friends, we were living Jefferson's dream, watching the sun set and planning for our futures. We've done it.  There is great wine to be had, and we don't need to fly to France to taste it.

Gruet Blanc de Noirs NV $13.99 ***

Styled and photographed by MEH

April 21, 2012 - Our first al fresco evening of the year!! Of course it called for bubbly. Gruet Blanc de Noirs is S. & JPH's "go to" bubbly - it is a surprising representation of their love for both classical Europe and the American South West in a bottle.  

Gruet is a family business: Gilbert Gruet and his wife Danielle had a dream of making Champagne.  At first in their native Bethon, France and then while touring the Southwest in the 1980's outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, they came across some transplanted French winemakers with vineyards.  This surprise discovery sparked an idea that consequently became Gruet Winery (run by son & winemaker Laurent and daughter Nathalie). Gruet winery is now firmly established in New Mexico, producing classic European wines that are sold throughout the "Lower 48".  (I have seen Gruet on the shelf at the Belfast, Maine Co-op Store). 

Gruet Blanc de Noirs is a gentle 12% ETOH blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay.  It's a classic Champagne sparkling wine.  Nice and toasty, with an effervescence that lasts but isn't too constrained.  The yeastiness is delicious and it has a creamy finish without being overpowering. 

This Blanc de Noirs is a subtle wine that worked really well with our patio "nibblies":  Cajun Peanuts, Truffled Mortadella, chunks of Parmesean, with slices of fresh, crusty French bread as a delivery system for pâté and JPH's homemade pork Rillette (quick thawed from the freezer).  Cheese sticks, sea salt bread sticks and homemade guacamole with tortilla chips rounded out the menu.  This was an impromptu night on the patio.  With an hour's notice, JPH ran out to shop and we were able to cobble together a feast.  What made all of these "nibblies" a feast?  Good, inexpensive, classic French sparkling wine from the American Southwest.

Another Southwestern treasure that S. & JPH have introduced me to:  Ed Samules, an artist that makes his home and studio near Santa Fe.  This canvas called "Distant Rain" now resides in the living room here in New York.  It is daily reminder of the colors, vibrancy and landscape of New Mexico.

Mionetto Sergio Rosé Prosecco NV *** $19.99 (gift)

This was one of my gifts from the Easter Bunny!  Little did EB know what happy feelings I have for Mionetto.  Their il prosecco was the last wine that I drank before I got "the call" for my kidney transplant! (That fantastic meal is a very happy memory)

I'll set the scene:  After a very long day at work, I arrived to find the dog guarding an empty house.  JPH had done the dinner shopping and sent me the menu along with a pairing.  I was confused, all of the ingredients were right there, but I searched the wine rack and the fridge high and low and could not find his suggested Vernaccia di San Gimignano to go with Chicken fricassee with rosemary, garlic and lemon, Asparagus with homemade mayonnaise and Cacio e Pepe (JPH is desperate to recreate a dish he tasted at a villa outside of Naples a couple of years ago).

It was opportunity knocking!  I had put the rosé in the fridge over the weekend, and I needed something elegant and bubbly to lift my mood after a long day of bureaucracy.  I grabbed Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, poured a glass of well chilled Sergio Rosé and with the dog patiently waiting at my feet for any scraps that may fall her way, I started cooking dinner.

This really is a good all around Italian Prosecco Rosé.  It's a bright, bubbly and refreshing blend of 70% Raboso and 30% Lagrein grapes with a hint of raspberry dryness that is not sweet.  And, at 11% ETOH there was no risk of me getting "experimental" with my dinner prep. (ahh, the things I have done under the influence of Australian Shiraz must never be published while I am alive...)

As I sipped and cooked dinner, S. and JPH came home bearing a box a Macaroons for dessert and revealed the secret hiding place of the Vernaccia. (there were two bottles in the beer drawer)  JPH stepped in and made the Cacio e Pepe and we all sat down to a really nice dinner.

Mionetto is well known for producing good, inexpensive bubbly that really adds a highlight to any day or meal. $19.99 is a high retail price.  It can be found for $12.99 and for that price it is a "MUST BUY" - really, why not make Tuesday night a special occasion?

And just so you know, the wine was great as a stand alone sipping wine,
really good with dinner and with the Macaroons???  PERFECT!

Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut NV $13.99 ***

My last bottle of wine for 2011 was this Gloria Ferrer.  What a good, middle of the road, appeal to everyone in the crowd bottle of bubbly.  It is light, creamy and very easy to drink.

I could easily make this my go to champagne style wine for entertaining.  Creamy enough that Mum would like it, complex enough that my wino friends would like discussing the layered flavors (hint of crisp green apple and ripe honey pear) & slight bit of toast and cheap enough that the wallet won't complain too much if I splurged on a few bottles.  Win/Win in my book.

Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut is 91.2% Pinot Noir and 8.8% Chardonnay.  I served it with almonds and small bites on crackers:  Salmon with a creamy dill sauce and pork rillette (from Thomas Keller's Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing). At 12.5% ETOH, there's  not even a hint of a headache on New Year's Day. (did I already say win/win??)

Why did I choose Gloria Ferrer as my New Years Eve wine?  Firstly because it is USA grown and produced:  Gloria Ferrer Caves and Vineyards, Sonoma County, CA (a Freixenet company).  Secondly,  I liked their Blanc de Noirs when I tried it at WBC 11 ( I am sentimental that way); Third, you can't beat the price $13.99 a bottle.

It was a quiet night saying good bye to 2011.  A year full of highs and lows;  some great wine: Jacquesson Rose and the beginning of my love affair with Banfi.   Travel: London (February), Maine (May, November), Virginia wine country, WBC 11 & Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg (August), Euphora in Greenville South Carolina (September) and then back to London (November). I am a very lucky girl.

I'm looking forward to 2012: What's to come?  Some North Fork Long Island Vineyard visits(Spring); A week on a boat (July), Napa and my CSW exam (July), a trip to Oregon Wine Country (WBC12 August) and in between... many many sips of wine.  Hopefully I'll be writing about them all along the way.

Cheers!

Jacquesson Dizy Terres Rouges Extra Brut Millesime Rosé `04 $90.00 ****

I drink Champagne when I win,
to celebrate…
and I drink Champagne when I lose,
to console myself. 

Napoleon Bonaparte

I was in London.  Felix brought it home one night after work.  We chilled it, popped the cork and enjoyed.  It really is a celebration Champagne.  Since  I don't get to London very often anymore - we made it a weeknight celebration of my whirlwind 10 day trip (an early Christmas present from S. & JPH).

Jacquesson Dizy Terres Rouges Extra Brut Millesime Rosé is a remarkable deep rosé that on first sip is dry, (seriously extra brut) and then creamy with a taste of tart wild strawberries. Each glass became more magical. I think that we may have over chilled it at first.  As I sipped and ran around the house looking for spots to take a picture, we ran a serious risk of having no wine to photograph.  It is THAT good.

Historic, exclusive and delicious.  Did you know that the house of Jacquesson was founded in 1768?  Did you know that once upon a time, if you bought a brand new Aston Martin, it would be delivered with a case of Jacquesson in the boot?  Did you know that this is the richest, driest and most elegant Rosé Champagne that I have ever tasted? Oh, and Napoleon liked it too.  He bestowed his seal of approval on the house in 1810.


Jacquesson et fils produces Champagne Grand Cru in various forms.  Since 1798 they have given each blend an individual number, starting with No 1.  On their website, I can see #725.  They now call it the 700 series. Jacquesson produces an award winning Avize Grand Cru Recolte and some very exclusive Grand Vin Signature bottles.  All are priced accordingly as rare gems in the champagne world.  If you get a chance,  try a sip and see what Napoleon was going on about.

Let me rave about the label as well.  It is in English; beguilingly simple and straightforward.  Easy to read and tells me everything that I need to know as a consumer about the production.  It really is exclusive.  Only 4,520 bottles were produced that year. It is a blend of 71% Pinot Meunier, 29% Pinot Noir.  The wine sat on the lees for 5 years and then was disgorged in 2009.  Even at 12% ETOH, it has a miniscule 5g of sugar per liter.  The grapes were grown on the lower slopes of Dizy, a village in the Champagne region of France.  (there is even a lovely rose colored map of DIZY on the front label for the directionally challenged (like me))

Jacquesson Champagne quietly exists in a rarefied world.  Beyond artisanal, it is a classically produced Grand Cru that has withstood the test of time.  You won't see it advertised, you won't see it being swilled by a rock star or celebutant in People Magazine.  You'll see it on the best wine lists, in discrete multimillion dollar wine cellars, and maybe (if you are lucky) in a gift bag presented to you by a generous friend with great taste.

Heidsieck Heritage Brut Champagne NV £14.24/$21.93 ***

London. This wine made me re-think my star system. This has been my favorite champagne of the week so far and it has been the lowest priced.  (what does that say for my taste-buds?) It was poured for our "Thanksgiving in Knightsbridge" Dinner.

This Heritage Brut is a great example of an off-dry Champagne. It has a slight hint of sweetness. (just a bit of residual sugar).  I have an American palate, to quote Laura Williamson, MW from the seminar "Bubble Mania" at euphoria "We talk dry, but we drink sweet".  It is true.  I have a semi-sweet tooth and I have decided to embrace it. Now I have to go back and review a few of my champagne posts - there really were some very dry Champagnes that I like, but to be honest, I prefer a hint of sweetness.

Heidsieck markets this as their entry level into fine Champagne.  I don't really get designer labels (which is why most of my clothing comes from LL Bean).  But I do understand quality. This really is a good Champagne and for the money, it was a GREAT Champagne to serve as an apéritif at our Thanksgiving Dinner.  Even though it is impossible for me to navigate Piper- Heidsiek's website, I was able to get some winemakers notes:  Pinot Meunier / Pinot Noir / Chardonnay  12% ETOH

What is amazing is that VCE is able to buy great Champagne on offer (sale) from her computer on the kitchen table.  She can research and order on-line then have it delivered to the doorstep.  This bottle came from Waitrose's (a local Supermarket) Wines Direct.  Because of this service, we are tasting quite a few varied Champagnes this week, which is great for multi-tasking.  We're efficiently ordered from the computer on the kitchen table while catching up on the latest Downton Abbey and Desperate House Wives episodes on telly.

As for pairings, Champagne goes with almost anything.  In the case of this bottle, it was opened while I was cooking.  I had to pace myself, as we had already been into the Gin and Calvados.  As VCE handed me a glass, I was making stuffing.  Careful not to get over imbibe too early, I took a delicious sip, tossed the rest of the glass into the bowl with the stuffing, along with the balance of my Calvados Cocktail. I gave the stuffing a final stir and popped it into the oven for an hour.  Then I poured myself a second tall, cold  bubbly glass of the Heritage and moved on to making the candied yams. (The stuffing was the first empty serving dish at dinner!)

Taittinger Brut Reserve NV $40.51 ***

I am still in London and it's Champagne week for me.  This was the choice to drink for nights three and four.  It is dry and very sparkling.  As a stand alone sipping wine after a long day of shopping by 6PM this took the edge off.  It is festive in an adult sort of way.  I've converted the case price of 26 British pounds to the $$ price above.

12% ETOH with a blend of 40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier. This is a refined,  elegant champagne. You really can't go wrong if you like a dry champagne.  It isn't cheap though.

Heidsieck & Co Monopole Blue Top NV $35.00 ***

I am in London.  Tonight, before we go to dinner, we've opened a bottle of this classic Heidsieck Monopole Blue. It is a crisp, bright, with a slight yeastiness (brioche) Champagne. Refreshing and easy to drink.

Legend has it that Monopole Blue was the official Champagne of the Titanic.  All I can say to that is serve it well chilled : ).

24% Chardonnay, 48%, Pinot Noir, and 28% Pinot Meunier; 12% ETOH .

It was great with Maria's Spanikopita.

This may be a week of champagne reviews.

Bubblemania Wine Seminar #euphoriagreenville

11am Saturday morning.  I took my seat at the back row in the Westin Hotel's  Poinsett Room and watched as dedicated euphoria volunteers poured sparkling wine for us.

It was a beautiful sight to behold.  Bubbles, blithely bouncing bubbles bursting to the top of our glasses.



 Laura Williamson, MS, CWE introduced us to each glass.  The smells, the tastes, the processes that brought them into this world. When to drink them:  "You don't want a five year old prosecco".  What the grapes bring into the flavor process:  "Pinot Noir gives the earthy dimension".  What is it with aging anyway?: "Acidity is the key component for ageability".


For me, Laura's gem statement of the day was "We talk dry, but we want sweet".  With regard to wine sold in the United States, that is so true.  No wonder our best seller is Riuniti Lambrusco.  There is a huge market for sweet. But we love to discuss other nuances.  When I read people writing about wine, it is like our national sweet tooth is a dirty secret.  Well, I'll say it, I LIKE sweet wine. I drink it, I write about it, and I won't hide it.  After all, I was raised on Boone's Farm Tickled Pink.  (but I still love my Tempranillo!)

One of the highlights of this session (besides the wine and the teacher) was that in the volunteer section was Alexandra from Devereaux's Restaurant.  She had some GREAT pairing ideas and would come up and share them with us.  She also had a cooking tip to share.  "When cooking with dark meat, use black pepper.  When cooking with light meat, use white pepper".  Hmm, you wouldn't think sparkling wine with anything peppery normally now would you?  But I bet that something with a bold flavor, like the German Raumland Pinot Blanc Brut Prestige or even The Gloria Ferrer would pair really well with a pork loin stuffed with cornbread, dried apricots, cranberries and raisins.  (Great, now I am hungry.)

Laura said something that made my ears stand up: "There's great sparkling wine coming out of England".  Wwhaaat? I asked myself.  There are vineyards in England?  How did I miss that?  I must go now and find out where these English vineyards are.  And so, this will be my 2012 wine project.  (after I pass my CSW)

Here is a run down of what we tasted that morning:




Segura Viudas Brut Reserva, NV DO, Cava  $8.99
A nice dry Spanish bubbly.

Mionetto IL Prosecco DOC di Treviso $13.00
I smiled.  This was the last wine  I tasted before my kidney transplant in `08.  It was a lovely happy flowery memory.  (the wine was flowery too!)

Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs Sparkling NV $20.00
Hello old friend!  I love this California sparkling wine. It is one of my go to bubblies.  I savored this glass.

Moët & Chandon "Imperial" NV  $34.99
Yes, here we are in France with the big boys.  Our first "Champagne" of the day.  I've never been a label person. (unless I am labeling someone... but I digress) It was nice to taste one of the classics. This is the wine that replaced White Star.

Moët & Chandon "Imperial" Rosè NV $50.00
Pretty, strawberries.  I liked it. Soft, creamy and elegant.  Ok, this is what the money is for.  What a great special occasion wine.


Raumland Pinot Blanc Brut Prestige `02 $65.00
My first vintage sparkling of the day, and it was from a small German producer that leaves the wine on the lees for 5-7 years.  Now this is what a wine seminar is all about.  There were only 500 cases of this wine produced.  It is exclusive.  Laura had it because she works for the distributor.  It was the richest sparkling that I tasted for the day, and it had a long finish.  Which is remarkable (to me) for a sparkling wine.

Umberto Fiori Moscato d'Asti DOCG $10.99
And we end our tasting in one of my favorite corners of the world Piemonte, Italy. This super sweet dessert sparkling is like drinking a luscious over ripe pear from a bottle.  Crisply chilled, it is a magic elixir, and it is only 6% ETOH.  All sweet, no hangover.  (maybe a diabetic coma, but hey, what a way to go!)


Here's a slideshow from all three of the wine seminars of the day: