Champagne Reviews
New Year's Eve had a great start with a wine pairing with each course at Oceannaire. Simply fabulous would be the description, although there was some minor embarrassment that I had forgotten glace meant ice in French. You would think that seeing vin, and knowing that meant wine, would help me deduce "ice wine", but no, it didn't. Yeesh. Anyway, everything from the pate's to the duck salad to the amazing lobster with even more amazing butter/vanilla sauce to the Baked Alaska was scrumptious.
Moving onward to Champagne tastings. Each of us bought a Champagne to taste and evaluate, so I thought I'd share the overall results.
Indiana Champagne ($15) - I wondered how Easley Winery could possibly get away with calling it that since technically the term Champagne can be applied to sparkling wine coming out of Champagne, France. Then I realised that's the wine name, with the wine descriptor at the bottom being the typical "sparkling wine". Clever! Anway, it was very sweet and smooth, probably an excellent match for chocolate, although we didn't have any at the time.
Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs Brut 2003 ($30) - I DO know what blanc means, and I still don't understand the reasoning behind titling it "White of Whites". This is a sparkling wine from California. It was quite good, nice dryness with some complexity that was enjoyable.
Perrier Jouet Champagne Grand Brut ($35) - A product of France, this is allowed to be classified as a champagne, but they all have the same happy bubbles :) It was extremely subtle, tasting a bit like a blend. Easy to drink and smooth.
Perrier Jouet Champagne Brut 1996 ($99) - The vintage age of this champagne from the same vineyard put some complexity and kick into it. It was heavier bodied than Dom Perignon's late 90's vintages, but as a slightly cheaper competition, I could happily take the Perrier Jouet over the Dom.
My favourites was the Schramsberg and '96 Perrier Jouet, but all were really enjoyable. Having these tastings up the expense tree really helps determine how much you want to spend because honestly, people would probably get the same kind of bubbly enjoyment out the Schramsberg and save $70.
