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!
For wine fans, you likely are familiar with Sauvignon Blanc- the popular grape grown all over the world known for its high acid and lovely flavors.
But have you tried the rarer Sauvignon Gris- a pink skinned mutation of the popular grape? Truly, these are a bit harder to come by, and we were fortunate enough to find a bottle of Eric Chevalier's Fie Gris from the Loire Valley and what a find this one was!
We honestly would not be upset if more wineries planted this alongside their Sauvignon Blanc holdings!
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.
Famille Bougrier's Rose d'Anjou was an interesting one to us as the primary grapes in the bottle were a blend of Gamay and Grolleau- two grapes we are not accustomed to see in rose wine compared to widely grown counterparts.
Although the flavors in this bottle were somewhat simple all around, we are interested in trying more roses with this kind of makeup!
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!
Whenever we travel, especially to regions that are not known for wine production, we often pick up a bottle or two of sparkling wine at duty free to enjoy somewhere beautiful.
Whenever our duty free shopping happens in Europe, odds are good we are picking up a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne to enjoy if only because it is at a vastly lower price point than we are able to find at home.
For a bottle that you are paying for the name recognition as much as you are what is inside, a lower price point is always welcomed!
We are big fans of Champagne Dumenil, and in the past have tried gems like their Dumenil 1999 and Dumenil Les Pecherines Cuvee which we adore.
Another bottle from this producer we finally got the chance to enjoy is their Reserve NV wine, Dumenil Reserve 22 edition, and while perhaps not as intense as the previous two bottles (which are on the higher end of their portfolio), it is still a gem for those looking for a bottle at a slightly lower price point!
Although I generally found my WSET Diploma D3 tasting exam to be, in a word, brutal, there were some silver linings to be found. In particular, the 12 wine lineup included some fantastic examples of wines found all over the world.
One such bottle we were fortunate enough to taste blind was an aged Pomerol- a Merlot heavy red blend from the right bank of Bordeaux known for making some of the finest wines in the world.
Not only was that the first Pomerol I had ever tried, it was also exceptional. So much so that the day after the wines were announced, I stopped at a wine store, purchased a bottle of Chateau La Rose du Temple Pomerol, and brought it home to enjoy- hoping it'd be anywhere as delightful as the bottle I enjoyed on my exam.
It absolutely was.
As far as grape varietals are concerned, I have to admit that Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio is not one I typically seek out. This relatively mild grape has a reputation for being somewhat simple as far as character is concerned.
I had always known that Alsace was said to produce the most intense and robust Pinot Gris, and when I stumbled upon a bottle of Domaine Weinbach's Clos des Capucins Pinot Gris, I knew I had to pick it up to try.
Arguably my favorite winery in Alsace that has only ever had wines of the highest quality? I can get behind that and didn't look back.
As it turns out, Domaine Weinbach's Pinot Gris is just as spectacular as all of their other bottles, and is helping change my mind on this oft-overlooked grape.