NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier, France, Wine Review

Score: 
91
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$60.00USD

This is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir.  It was disgorged on October, 2017.  Light golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose has minerals, slight lemons and a bit of spice/oak.  On the palate, this has good acidity.  It has a lemon hard candy quality to it, that I find enjoyable.  Lots of energy.  Long finish.  This should drink well for the next five to seven years.  It will pair well with most foods.  

2006 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame, France, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2006
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$115.00USD

Always nice to revisit this wine.  This time it was in a tasting with other sparkling wines and tasted blind.  It started out quite tight and took some time to open up.  It continued to open up all night long.  it was the groups wine of the night though not mine.  Light golden in color.  The nose has a lemon/citrus quality to it along with minerals and slight ginger.  On the palate, the citrus carries thru with nice minerality.  Good acidity.  This is just starting to enter its peak period and  should be good for another decade or more before slowly starting to fade.  With the (better) 2008

NV Moët & Chandon Champagne 150th Anniversary Impérial Brut, France, Champagne, Wine Review

Score: 
90
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$45.00USD

This ubiquitous Champagne seems to be everywhere and sometimes, that means it can be easy to look past it (for wine geeks anyway).  It is quite good.  This is actually a special bottling to celebrate their 150th anniversary of their founding in 1869.  It is a blend of equal parts Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (30% to 40%) and the rest Chardonnay.  Golden in color with a bit of copper.  The nose is nice with toast, apple and slight ginger.  On the palate, this has nice full carbonation.  Good acidity.  Slight tannins.  Pears and apples.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should cont

NV Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Cuvée Sainte Anne, France, Wine Review

Score: 
91
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$42.00USD

This is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  It is 50% from 2013, and 50% from 2014 and 2015.  It was disgorged on 12/2017.  Silvery gold in color.  The nose is interesting with toast, pear, slight dried floral notes but also this interesting chocolate quality.  It took some time to open on the palate and continued to improve all evening.  Notes of pears with good acidity.  A slightly oily texture.  A bit clipped initially on the finish, that worked itself out with air.  This needs some time to develop.  It certainly should improve with a couple of years of good cellaring.  Then, it

NV Pierre Paillard Champagne Grand Cru Extra Brut Les Parcelles, France, Wine Review

Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$40.00USD

Great label with lots of info.  The base wine for this NV wine is 2013.  it is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.  This bottle was disgorged on 04/2018.  It is also a really good wine.  Medium gold in color.  The nose has apples, honey, and slight ginger and minerals.  On the palate, this has a nice backbone of acidity.  Tart apple fruit.  Lots of depth and complexity.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should for at least the next five to seven years.  It will work with just about any food.  

2015 Schramsberg Vineyards Crémant Demi-Sec, USA, California, Calistoga, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2015
Score: 
89
Grade: 
B+
Current Price: 
$38.00USD

This is an interesting blend.  It is 67% Flora, 19% Chardonnay, and 14% Pinot Noir.  Flora is a crossing of Semillon and Gewürztraminer that was created in 1938 by Harold P. Olmo at the California Agricultural Experiment Station.  Light golden in color.  The nose has seltzer, slight marzipan and peach.  On the palate, this is slightly sweet.  Apples and apricots.  Turns sweeter on the finish.  This is enjoyable on it own but would work with a not too sweet peach/apricot dessert.  Drink over the next couple of years.  

NV Canned Oregon White Bubbles, USA, Oregon, Wine Review

Score: 
86
Grade: 
B
Current Price: 
$7.00USD

This is a canned bottle of sparkling wine.  It seems to be some sort of Champagne blend that sells for $7 a 375ml can.  It's easy to make fun of this wine, but I found it fine.  It would probably be a bigger hit with millennial's and Gen-Z'ers than a bunch of crabby old men.  Light golden in color.   Not much of a nose to it.  Slight minerality.  On the palate, this is slightly sweet, slightly tart.  Citrus.  Some minerality.  Easy to drink.  Quick finish.  There is a place for canned sparkling wines as they are easier to transport (and safer) and open.  

NV Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier

Score: 
90
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$35.00USD

This is a blend of 40% Pinot noir, 40% Chardonnay, and 20% Pinot Meunier.  This is drinking very nicely.  Light golden in color.  The nose has red apples, brioche and slight toast.  On the palate, this is easy, crisp and very enjoyable.  The apples come thru with an underlying minerality.  Good acidity.  Nice finish.  This should be consumed in the next few years.  It is quite food friendly and will go with almost any food.  

NV Nicolas Maillart Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé, France, Wine Review

Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$50.00USD

Very nice showing for this wine.  Deep salmon pink with some orange swirls in color.  The nose has strawberries, some active yeast aromas, and a bot of cherries.  A nice mousse with small bubbles.  On the palate, this has nice cherries with some orange and an interesting milk chocolate note.  This has a nice complexity.  Good acidity.  Drinking well now; it has a nice verve and freshness that won't last.  It probably should be consumed in the next coup,e of years.  This went well with crackers and olives but would really go with just about anything.

2016 Schramsberg Vineyards Brut Rosé, USA, California, Calistoga, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2016
Score: 
91
Grade: 
A-

This is a sparkling wine from California.  Oddly enough, I tasted it while stopping for lunch in Napa at the Oakville Grocer.  A couple seated next to me had ordered a bottle for lunch but only finished two thirds of it, and offered us the rest.  Who am I to refuse such a generous invitation.  The wine itself was very good and indeed, better than I had expected.  It is a blend of 64% Pinot Noir and 36% Chardonnay grown.  It is a pale pink/orange color, clear and bright with a good amount of smaller bubbles.  The nose is nice with strawberries, raspberries and a touch of yeast.  On the palat

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