Wine Regions & Grapes
Sampling of Wineries
Acorn Andrea Oberto Atlas Peak Benziger Beringer Blandy's Bodega Navarro Correas Burgans Cantina Terlano Chimney Rock Chronicle Domaine Carneros Domaine de la Mordoree Dow's Dr. Loosen Emilio Lustau Fonseca Foxen Gaston Riviere Glen Ellen Hess Collection Innocent Bystander Kendall-Jackson Korbel La Caudrina Luna Vineyards Madeira Wine Company Martin Codax Masi Merryvale Mulderbosch Navarro Vineyards Pahlmeyer Roederer Estate Ruggeri Sawyer Cellars Sbragia Six Sigma Winery St. James Steltzner Vineyards Trinchero Winery Trione V. Sattui Winery William Fevre Wilson Winery
Category Archives: Champagne
Pierre Gimonnet Gastronome 2004
Pierre Gimonnet & Fils, Champagne, Premier Cru, Gastronome, Blanc de Blancs, Brut 2004 This wine is the epitome of green apples in a glass, bracing and wonderful. This profile is emblematic of the house style and the length is amazing. … Continue reading
Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Disgorged 2009
Egly-Ouriet, Champagne, Grand Cru, Brut Tradition nv The nose features biscuits and apples, apples that are fresh and those baked in an apple tart. In the mouth this bubbly is freshly fruity, embracing the taste of apples across the spectrum, … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
Tagged Egly-Ouriet
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Egly-Ouriet Champagne Pinot Meunier disgorged August 09
Egly-Ouriet, Champagne Premier Cru, Les Vignes de Vrigny, Brut nv disgorged August 2009 The nose features a veritable bread basket of smells from the boulangerie, buttered biscuits, freshly baked croissants and more great memories of France. In the mouth the … Continue reading
Prestige cuvee sparkling
Perrier-Jouet, Champagne, Cuvee Belle Epoque, Fleur de Champagne, Brut 2000 The cork was quite compacted and the bottle opened with hardly a whisper. The color is taking on a light golden hue. Yet in the nose it delivers the fresh … Continue reading
Posted in California, Carneros, Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
Tagged Domaine Carneros, Perrier-Jouet
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S. Coquillette Les Cles
S. Coquillette, Champagne, Grand Cru, Brut, Les Cles nv Give this some air to blow off the stinkiness then the complexity of baked apples emerges. In the mouth there is a soft profile, with lemony acidity and nice length. The … Continue reading
Pierre Morlet Champagne Grande Reserve
Pierre Morlet, Champagne, Premier Cru, Grande Reserve, Brut nv There’s a lovely biscuit character in the nose, graced with flowers. In the mouth there is lots of green apple and plenty of acidity in the elegant sparkler. The grapes behind … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Pommery Brut Royal
Pommery, Champagne, Brut Royal nv Sweet flowers greet the nose when you smell this wine, with citrus and candy. In the mouth you taste fresh fruit, with a complementary dosage, roundness and lingering candy – nice. The primary grapes behind … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Sparkling Dry
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Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1998
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Champagne, La Grande Dame, Brut 1998 The nose features an evolving medley of dried fruits and nuttiness. In the mouth it is quite acidic, tasting of oranges and brown spices. The unfortunate thing about this particular bottle … Continue reading
Dom Perignon 2000
Dom Perignon, Champagne 2000 The nose shows fresh stone fruit with a sense of fresh peach tarts, still warm from the oven. In the mouth there is the characteristic acidity, a taste of green apples yet enhanced by a lingering … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
Tagged Dom Perignon, Moet et Chandon
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Louis Roederer Brut Premier
Louis Roederer, Champagne, Brut Premier nv The nose smells of fresh bread, mushrooms and biscuits topped with cinnamon. In the mouth this highly acidic sparkling tastes of green apples and peaches and lasts for a long time. The grapes behind … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
Tagged Louis Roederer
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Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Disgorged 2008
Egly-Ouriet, Champagne, Grand Cru, Brut Tradition nv In the nose there is citrus, bruised apples and brown spices as in an apple pie. In keeping with the house style, the acidity is quite profound. This wine is quite tight, very … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve
Charles Heidsieck, Champagne, Brut Reserve nv This wine has developed toastiness, nuttiness and a sense of bread dough. The texture is lovely, creamy yet refreshingly acidic. This new bottling was disgorged in 2008 and given a hefty price increase over … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Penet-Chardonnet Champagne Grande Reserve
Penet-Chardonnet, Champagne, Grand Cru, Grande Reserve, Extra Brut nv There is a light golden color in the glass and the biscuit notes are quite developed in the nose – very complex. Besides the biscuits there are browned apples, cherries and … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Laurent-Perrier Demi-Sec
Laurent-Perrier, Champagne, Demi-Sec nv The nose is sweet and toasty. The wine is moderately concentrated and mildly sweet making for an easy starter beverage at Sunday morning brunch. The grapes behind this wine are 45% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Sparkling Lightly Sweet
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Egly-Ouriet Brut Rose Grand Cru
Egly-Ouriet, Champagne, Grand Cru, Rose, Brut nv Concentrated red fruits mark the nose. The mouth repeats this expression of fruit on a layer of minerality. – very young, very dense and very long – yes. The grapes are sourced from … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Jacquesson Cuvee No.732
Jacquesson, Champagne, Cuvee No.732, Brut The name of Jacquesson’s nv brut changes with each successive base wine, the current release being No. 732. The nose features floral notes, sweet in nature, like jasmine with a sense of candied fruits – … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Tarlant Brut Zero
Tarlant, Champagne, Brut Zero The nose features minerality, toast and citrus fruits. The mouth is bone dry and austere, like biting into the pith of an orange. The grapes are roughly 1/3 each of the players in Champagne, namely Chardonnay … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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Dazzling Champagne
I had the opportunity to meet with two respected growers from Champagne at the WineWise and Terry Theise tasting today in San Francisco. Both are producers as well, crafting dynamite sparklers, each with their own house style. If forced to … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Noir
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A touch of sweetness
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Champagne, Demi-Sec nv There are floral and candy notes to smell while the mouth has a smooth fruitiness accented by the touch of RS. The grapes behind this wine are 55% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 15% … Continue reading
Good coop
Nicolas Feuillatte, Champagne, Brut nv There’s a fruity, round expression to this bubbly. The house delivers moderate but fairly priced concentration for Champagne, as most multi-vintage blends have crept toward $40 and beyond. The grapes are 40% Pinot Noir, 40% … Continue reading
Posted in Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Sparkling Dry
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The diversity that is sparkling wine
J, Russian River Valley, cuvee 20 nv Clean, fresh, fruit, tasted at the winery in May. This wine has the zip of fresh green apples. The base wine is from a recent vintage with 25% oak-aged reserves adding to the … Continue reading
Posted in California, Champagne, Chardonnay, France, Italy, Moscato d'Asti, Muscat, Piemonte, Sparkling sweet
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Sparkling the world over
La Morandina, Moscato d’Asti DOCG 2007 The ’07 is just as vibrantly fresh and full of orange blossoms as the previous vintage. There’s lots of residual sugar and the light body and freshness that you expect in Moscato d’Asti. P&B … Continue reading
Sparkling brut
We’ve looked at different styles of brut sparkling before. This flight illustrates some more contrast in what this word can mean. Roederer Estate, Anderson Valley, Estate Bottled, Brut nv This wine is consistently the personification of green apples – lip … Continue reading
Posted in Anderson Valley, California, Champagne, France, Mendocino County, Sparkling Dry
Tagged Laurent-Perrier, Roederer Estate
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Night o’ pink sparkling
Tonight we taste 8 different bubblies on the pink side, from Spain, north to Burgundy and Champagne and finally back home to California. Codorniu Cava Pinot Noir Brut nv Earthy and coarse – a real disappointment. All Pinot Noir fermented … Continue reading
Comparing Bruts
Brut and Natural are words that we use to describe the final dosage or sweetness level of sparkling wine. In France, Natural, Brut Nature or any of the various proprietary names communicating the same, ranges from 0 to 6 g/l. … Continue reading
Love that Bolly
Bollinger, Champagne, Special Cuvee Brut nv This wine is typically quite complex with earthy notes that are not always embraced by those who favor more fruit-forward styles of sparkling. While I’m a fan of fruit too, I love the multitude … Continue reading
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