Steak before Mashed

Gotta love long birthday weekends, right? I'm pretty sure we are both still recovering. Although Shane and I had our birthday party back in June, his birthday was just this past weekend. We popped a bottle of the bubbly we made in December for the wedding-birthday party, it seemed fitting for the birthday. We altered our "It's Thursday!" glasses a touch to represent the actual day. 

As it was just our homemade (or store-made) stuff, I didn't feel the need or desire to blog about it. But I did make a couple notes in our Champagne Journal so we can compare it when we try the next bottle. (Shane got a lot of black licorice this time, yuck, hopefully that goes away... Luckily, I didn't get that flavour).

August 6, 2015

So we were a little late getting started this week. My parents wanted to take Shane out for a nice birthday dinner. I got to tag along. Thank goodness! I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on Friday, so I really wanted something I could sink my teeth into (all of them) before going on my mashed potatoes and gravy weekend diet. Steak has always done just the trick. 

Photo from the engagement shoot

This week we are drinking a fun bottle that Mark got us as a gift. It happens to be the same type we used as a prop (and as a nerve relaxer) in our engagement photos. It's a lovely prosecco from Blu Giovello in Italy. It's got a holographic label, which after a few glasses, we had to turn around... 

This week we tried something different. I read recently that we've been drinking champagne all wrong. Apparently, it's best for the flavour and aromas of the champagne if it is sipped from a white wine glass, which allows the aromas and complexities to open up, without being dispersed too quickly (as it would in any larger glass). Anyway, we decided to try this (after the first glass and photo, of course). 

Tyson is naked. Shane says it's for the ladies.

In doing the comparison, I took tasting notes from both glasses. I must say, I did notice a difference. The wine glass did  give it a fuller flavour and more aroma, however next time I would just do one glass in it to get the flavours, then go back to the regular glasses we use. Drinking a whole bottle of bubbly out of a wine glass just felt weird, especially when the pen was down and we were legitimately just sipping.

First impressions, this was a paler in comparison to last week's Chateau Moncontour, lots of nice small bubbles. It was very quiet in the nose in the tall glasses. 

The first sips (out of the bubbly glass) were super tart and sour. As Shane said "I feel like Sylvester the Cat after drinking the alum", he then proceeded to try and find a video of this, but to no avail. After watching several minutes of Bugs Bunny clips, he gave up. 

In the wine glasses, it had a sweeter smell that we couldn't identify. The taste was still quite sour (in a sour candy sort of way), although mellowed out as it warmed up a bit. Shane describes it as having an "essence of sweetness" without being sweet. It has a scent that could only be described as a sweet fruit (can't quite identify it) but it didn't come across as a sweet prosecco. It seemed like a hard fruit, like an apple or pear, but not an apple or pear. 

Verdict: We would definitely get this one again, value for money is great for just an every day celebration. 

Have a great week!

~S

• Brand: Blu Giovello
• Type of Grape: Not specifically listed, but likely the Glera grapes
• Sweetness: 18g/L
• Price: $13.95
• Tasting Notes: Quite sour/tart for a bubbly with this high of sugar content (it surprised me to see this when I looked it up), sweet smelling, hard sweet fruit aromas. Would pair nicely with a steak and blue cheese spinach salad (oddly specific, I know...).