Lost and Found

Wing Night Sauce Selection,
feel free to mix'n'match!

 So there is a moderately good excuse for this post being late. Not a great one, mind you, but oh well. This past Thursday we celebrated Champagne Thursday and Wing Night simultaneously. I forgot my journal for tasting notes, and so used a piece of paper. I then proceeded to lose said piece of paper until Sunday. 

Wing night was a success, we had it at the farm, and Drew and Sarah joined us. Shane won (did you know that Wing Night is competitive? Yeah, some of us make ourselves sick trying to win...), he had 21 wings, 3 pepper poppers, and a self proclaimed although unverified 8 cookies. Drew was a close second with 20 wings, 3 poppers and 3 cookies. 

In any case, the bottle chosen was the bottle that Drew and Sarah gave to us for our wedding. We thought it would be a nice treat for everyone. 

September 24, 2015

This week we had the lovely Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec Champagne. This bottle is sweeter than the Brut we had a few weeks ago. This made it a big hit with the guests of Champagne Thursday. 

Off the top, it has a sweet smell, like ripe yellow apples or a over ripe pear. It has a dark straw colour, and a moderate amount of bubbles. 

In first tasting, the apples are still there, as are the ripe pears. Shane and Sarah also tasted oranges, almost reminiscent of triple sec. 

It's wing night, gotta bring the
reaper sauce

My mom, who doesn't drink much champagne, and really can't do much in the way of bubbles or dry wines, weighed in with "That's nice", which is a bigger deal than it seems. When we've celebrated with her in the past, she has a few sips from one glass and then goes back to whatever she had been drinking before. She said she could drink this for an evening, finished her glass, and had another! I think given the sugar content, drinking this for an evening would leave you with a wicked hangover in the morning... 

I found this one didn't quite have the volume of bubbles I'd have liked, which gave it a smoother mouth feel. As this is a sweeter champagne, the lack of bubbles, although smooth, also gave it a somewhat syrupy mouth feel. 

Because who doesn't want to say
they've drank Veuve straight from
the bottle? Class it up, folks!

Drew and Sarah had tried the brut a while back, and found it very dry. They didn't like it, even with orange juice (I know! The sacrilege!!). They quite enjoyed this one, so that leads me to make the following statement: If you aren't sure that you like dry champagnes, and want to try a Veuve Clicquot, go with this demi-sec rather than the brut. It pains me to say that, because Shane and I both preferred the drier variety, but I think if you are trying to appeal to the greater population, the demi-sec is the way to go. This isn't to say that we didn't enjoy this bottle. The atmosphere was primed to enjoy the bubbly, and we thoroughly did. It was lovely, and I would argue that, for our amateur palates and noses, it has more depth of flavour that the brut, it was easier to pick up on the different fruity notes and aromas than the brut. 


Tyson was absent from the Champagne Wing Thursday, so sad, I know. He and Magic (my parents' dog) don't get along very well, and so he stayed home. That didn't stop us from bringing him his cork though, so don't worry. He enjoyed it briefly, chewing it in half quickly and then discarding it. 

Verdict: Yes, it was a big hit with the guests of Champagne Thursday, it went over better than the brut would have with this crowd. That being said, Shane and I prefer our bubbly a bit drier. 

~S

• Brand: Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin S.A.
• Type of Grape: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay
• Sweetness: 45g/L
• Price: $74.30
• Tasting Notes: Hints of yellow apples, ripe pears and sweet oranges. Pairs quite nicely with medium spicy wings which cut through some of the sweetness. 

My Handsome Brut

Well, another week is wrapping up. Shane had the kids this past weekend, a rainy and cold time was had by all. I was away with my mom on a motorcycle trip. The rain prevented a few of our activities, but we still have a good time. And, as an added "bonus", I did gain a bit of confidence with respect to riding in the rain. 

This Champagne Thursday was a bit special, we've been busy getting ready for a friend's wedding this coming weekend (getting me a dress - ugh, and gift shopping - because yes, we left it 'til the last minute) and so we haven't really had a relaxing evening. When we got home from our running around, there was a package waiting for us at the post office. So we packed the dog into the car, rolled down the windows and set off to pick up our prize. Turns out, our photographer, Jessica, had express posted our wedding album to us so that it would arrive for Champagne Thursday. So thoughtful and lovely. 

September 17, 2015

This week's bubbly was chosen purely because of the label. We are happy to admit that we do that quite often. This one, oh man, it has the perfect label. The perfect name. The perfect confidence in the description. This week we had Handsome Brut, from Angel's Gate Winery. And man, was he good. 

When my handsome brut popped the cork on this Handsome Brut, he immediately smelled raspberry donuts - tart raspberries and a sweet bready smell. I smelled granny smith apples in the glass, nice and tart. 

Upon drinking, Shane got tart raspberries while I maintained my crisp apples. It made the backs of my cheeks pucker a bit before giving way to a sweeter finish. There are lots of bubbles, medium size, and since it feels a bit sweeter, the bubbles give it a creamy mouth feel. It is a touch light on the acid for us, we like our bubblies to bite back a little bit more than this guy does. It would be great on a cool night, because it's smooth and consistent. 

Verdict: Yes, we'd absolutely get this again, but not on a summery day as it's not as crisp and refreshing as some other choices. It is a little outside of our normal price range though. 

• Brand: Angel's Gate
• Type of Grape: Chardonnay, 100% Ontario grown
• Sweetness: 11g/L
• Price: $24.95
• Tasting Notes: Smooth and sweet, hints of tart raspberries, apples and bread, full bodied, creamy mouth-feel. Would be great with a warm seafood soup.

Swimming, birthday parties and bubbles!

Ahh, another week is just about over. And what a busy one it has been! We've traveled from Ottawa to home to London to home, we've taken Tyson swimming, had a puppy birthday party, and gotten a new bed... For these reasons, it will be a photo filled post today!

Okay, in chronological order: a puppy swim. Well, that's not entirely true. Tyson isn't a swimmer. He loves the water, just not the swimming part. He's a splasher. He's a wader. He's a fisher. He's a fetcher. He's just not a swimmer. He loves splashing around, chasing rocks, trying to attack the seaweed (or lakeweed?) but if he can't touch, he's not going. You can see in the picture that he's trying to give something the stare-down. Not sure if it's working, or if he's winning, but he's enjoying himself anyways. 

Next, a birthday party! His birthday was on Saturday, but as we were in London, we had his party on Wednesday when the kids came over. We all enjoyed carrot "cupcakes" (Tyson's was "frosted" with sour cream... yum?), there were presents, and candles and everything! Tyson loves birthday parties, especially when they are for him. Wednesday was also when we got our new mattress delivered, so Tyson enjoyed showing the delivery men his brand new toys, and trying to get them to play... 




September 10, 2015

Okay, now onto the reason you are here. Champagne Thursday! This week we had a nice bottle from our friends Rick and Liz. It was a lovely Cava by Segura Viudas, from Spain.

It had a dry nose, I thought it smelled of granny smith apples, but Shane thought it smelled like a can of peanuts. I thought this was a bit strange until I read the LCBO tasting notes in the morning, where it says that it has notes of cooked apple and toasted nuts. Who knew! (Shane did!!!)

We both thought it had nice bubbles, a little bigger than some others we've had recently, but nice none-the-less. 

It tasted of sweet, ripe apples, but it isn't a sweet bubbly. It's nicely dry, and has a nice balance between sweet and tart.

We had this while eating Chicago Mix Popcorn. If you've never had this, don't get it. It's addicting. It's caramel popcorn mixed with cheddar popcorn, and the sweet-salty is to die for. It sounds awful, but it's amazing. It's so good that when Shane dropped some onto the floor, he found it and ate it. And when it happened the second time, he ended up almost eating some of Tyson's cork... Oops! Waste not, want not. 

Verdict: Yes, it's a nice, balanced bubbly, at a modest price point. 

~S

• Brand: Segura Viudas
• Type of Grape: Not noted, but after doing some research, Spanish Cavas are traditionally made with 3 types of grapes: Viura (aka Macabeo), Xarel.lo and Parellada
• Sweetness: 10g/L
• Price: $14.95
• Tasting Notes: Appley and nutty nose, well balanced sweet-tart, nice apple flavours. Pairs well with Chicago Mix! I think it would also be nice with a lightly dressed salad with scallops. 

Better Late than Never, Take 2

Okay, so I failed. I told myself that it had been the last post that would be more than a day late. Yeah, right. Last week was crazy, and although I'm only going to fill you in up to Thursday, this past weekend was a little nutty as well! 

Last weekend, we had the kids over. It was dreary weather, so we all went bowling. We had a fantastic time, before this, I can't remember the last time I went bowling. This week I was in Ottawa for meetings from Tuesday through til Friday, so we had Champagne Thursday with my colleagues (Shane made the long drive from Morven to Ottawa for a glass!) (Yes, I know, what a sweetheart! Unfortunately, he was unable to sneak Tyson in to the hotel...)

September 3, 2015

This week we had a bottle given to us from my colleague for our wedding, the glorious [yellow tail] Bubbles. In the glass, this is an extremely pale yellow colour, almost colourless. It was very bubbly, as is apparent in the picture. 

On the nose there were hard sweet fruits, like very ripe pears, and a bit of citrus. 

First couple sips seemed very sweet, which prompted us to look up the content while drinking. Although it was a bit sweeter than we are used to drinking, it was not as high on the sugar spectrum as we expected it to be based on the taste (24g/L compared to our normal bottles in the 8-14g/L range). There were flavours of fresh fruit and ripe, sweet apples. The acidity was nicely balanced, and didn't claw at the back of our palates like some. 

The sweetness seemed to mellow out a bit further along, and the bottle was enjoyed quickly by many. 

Verdict: Yes, it's a nice, easy drinker, the sweetness would appease many people as it's not too sweet, but not so dry either. 

Have a great week, we'll chat in a couple days!

• Brand: Yellow Tail
• Type of Grape: Not disclosed (according to WhiskedFoodie, this allows Yellow Tail to change the grapes from year to year, taking advantage of the overproduction in certain markets, buying excess production and thus keeping the cost down for the end buyer)
• Sweetness: 24g/L
• Price: $13.95
• Tasting Notes: Moderately sweet, ripened hard fruit on the nose and palate, nice acidity levels (it would pair well extra extra-cold with a brunch of eggs benedict and girlfriends!)