The Champagne region is full of many famous producers whose names we easily recognize, but never have tried before.
After staring at Moet & Chandon's Imperial Brut at the store for many years, we decided that it was time to finally try this famous wine. After trying this, we do have to admit, we can see why it is popular- although we wish the flavors were as intense as the aromas!
One of our fears with California Chardonnay is that they can often be quite oak and malolactic fermentation forward. While these have their place, we often find the intensity to be not for us.
But when we find one that has a prominent intensity that hits our tastes, we absolutely love it, and Lloyd Cellars Chardonnay from Carneros was one such bottle- oak and malo forward, but very well balanced and how we like it.
If there are elements of a white wine that we do not enjoy too much, it would be overuse of oak and/or malolactic fermentation to the point that it overshadows the flavors of the base wine.
A little? Great! A lot? We really aren't into it.
Meerlust's Chardonnay out of South Africa was one such bottle, and we honestly wish it was just a bit more restrained in the oak here. This one packs a punch!
We've read about Pol Roger Reserve Champagne for many years, and it is always one of those bottles we put off buying due to a slightly higher price point than we'd normally prefer.
When we finally decided to grab one of these, we wondered why it took us so long. Yes, the price can be fairly high, but it is also a rather delicious bottle of sparkling wine!
Ferrari is synonymous with traditional method sparkling wine in Trentodoc in northern Italy, and is one of those bottles you've likely seen in the store many times due to its wide distribution.
We have been getting more and more into Italian sparkling wine made in Champagne style and decided to pick this one up and enjoyed it for an all-around lovely bottle for flavor and price point!
When we normally think about rose wine, we often think of young, fresh bottles meant to be enjoyed shortly after bottling.
But Cavaliere Nero Rose Reserva is not your typical rose, and this sparkling bottle from Trentodoc is meant to have a bit of age. We were fortunate enough to try a sample bottle of the 2015 for this review, and at nine years old this rose still has a lot of life left in it!
I have to admit, my experience with Trentodoc sparkling wines has been fairly limited. My first time I think I ever had one was on my WSET Diploma D4 exam, and since then, well, that was it. Truly, it was a region of sparkling wines that I knew very little about!
So when I had the opportunity to try some sample bottles provided courtesy of Trentodoc, I was quite excited to learn more about their traditional method wines from the region.
Up first? Monfort's Le General Dallemagne Extra Brut from 2015. With 60 months of lees and a few more years of time in bottle on top, this was one stellar bottle!
During our dry January, we decided to try some non-alcoholic wines to see what they were like.
We quickly realized that sparkling NA wine was among our favorite, as the characteristics of the bubbles and, often, added sugar to offset the lack of alcohol, works nicely for the style. To put it bluntly, sparkling wine is sometimes sweet, so added sugar works.
Noughty makes an interesting sparkling Chardonnay that, while well made, reminded us a bit more like a sparkling cider than it did a sparkling wine.
We always love taking reader suggestions when it comes to delicious wine, and Champagne Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellar was one such bottle.
This beautiful Champagne was nicely balanced and had a decent hit of lees character while starting to show some tertiary development. Although the price for this one was a bit higher than what we'd prefer (particularly in the USA), it was a great one to try all the same.
Whenever we drink Champagne, we often go for the more common blanc de blanc or blanc de noir bottles over rose and other styles. But when we found Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial NV at a duty free store at an approachable price point, we knew we had to give it a try.
If you are looking for a sparkling wine with some intense red fruits and, admittedly, more mellow lees character, this one may need to be on your radar!