If you’ve read our wine reviews for a while, we generally always like to say don’t sleep on Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc. Yes, we adore the GSM blends of the traditional red Chateauneuf du Pape, but the white blends are always quite the surprise and are regulars in our drinking collection.
Brotte’s Les Hauts Barville Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc is a blend of Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Roussanne and Bourboulenc, and is one of those bottles that disappears quickly.
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!
Whenever we think of French sparkling wine, it is easy to go to Champagne.
But there are many other great wine regions producing their own delicious sparkling wines, often referred to as Cremants, using the same methods as Champagne just, you know, not in Champagne.
JC Calvet is one such producer, and makes a beautiful, and affordable, off-dry sparkling wine in Bordeaux from Merlot and Semillon in the 2022 vintage!
Note: It seems this wine has different grapes and blending percentages depending on the vintage.
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!
We take wine recommendations from strangers very seriously.
When we were at an agriturismo in Sicily, we met a lovely couple from the south of France that told us their favorite Provencal rose comes from one specific producer- Domaines Ott. They were adamant about it being the best, so much so that we knew we had to find a bottle.
We were lucky to sample it once at a restaurant, and finally stumbled upon a bottle of the Le Chateau de Selle Rose locally and picked it up despite its high price tag. Although we’ll be the first to admit that the price we paid was a bit more than we would’ve preferred, this was quite the tasty rose!
Sometimes a bottle of wine is so good that we immediately go out and buy another one. For Domaine de L’Enchantoir Terres Blanches, a beautiful Chenin Blanc from Saumur, this was just the case.
Well, sort of. This one was an instance of Angie opening the bottle of wine while I was out of town, regretting having it on her own, and buying it because it was just so good that I had to try it.
After opening a bottle to share, I can safely say, she was absolutely right. This one is a delight!
We always love a good Hermitage, as we’re suckers for all Rhone Syrah every chance we can get.
But it is rare that we find an older bottle available at a reasonable price, and we got just that with Cave de Tain Nobles Rives Hermitage 2011. 13 years of age at a reasonable price? We’re in!
We always love stumbling upon older bottles in the wild, and when we saw Domaine de Nizas Le Clos from 2013 (over a decade old) available at a local bottle shop, we knew we had to give it a try.
While it is possible that this Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre blend from Languedoc was perhaps past its peak, it still had a great of liveliness in it that made for a delicious pour!
We’ve been fortunate enough to try most of Champagne Dumenil’s bottles due to them being available by a local distributor, and have tried many gems (including their Prestige Vieilles Vignes which has been one of our favorites we have tried to date).
Their Amour de Cuvee is a Blanc de Noir style made with Meunier and Pinot Noir which hit us with classic Champagne notes as well as modest lees and a bit of age to go along with it!
Savoie is not a wine region I have been able to study much of, but with its proximity next to the Alps and bordering with Switzerland, my expectation was for crisp, high-acid wines all the same.
Domaine Labbe’s Vin de Savoie Abymes highlights the lesser grown Jacquere grape and hits exactly that in this high-acid but flavorful bottle!