Twofer

It's been a crazy week, hence the missing post from last week. I had meant to do last week's post on the weekend, but it fell by the wayside. Then I was away for work and just got back last night.

So I hope you'll forgive me! 

Anyways, I guess I'll get right to the meat of it.

February 18, 2016 - International Drink Wine Day

We celebrated this week with a lovely bottle of Château Moncontour Cuvée Prédilection Brut Vouvray from 2012. On popping the top, we got a couple difference scents... I got a raw pizza dough, where Shane got vanilla... Quite different... 

This was a very bubbly bubbly. It was a beautiful medium straw colour. It had a nice sweet flavour, but a dry mouth feel, which is a bit odd. It had a nice acid balance as well. As far as flavours go, aside from sweet, it had an earthy taste, which we have had trouble describing to each other. It isn't grassy, and it isn't like dirt or rocks... It has a bit of a minerally taste, but not like vitamins, and it's quite nice. Almost like a mineral water I guess.

Onto glass two, we were getting a few more flavours, I though maybe peaches, Shane thought maybe apples or pears. Nothing too overwhelming, which probably caused the split decision. In any case, we both quite liked it, but it was a little burpy... :)

We would definitely get this one again.

February 15, 2016

As I was away, Shane picked out this one. He was working from home, and so this is one from the Napanee LCBO (a lovely store, but the selection is pretty tame...). We have had this brand in the past, and quite enjoy it usually (did you catch that? Usually...).

This week we got the Freixenet Gold bottle: Carta Nevada Brut. We've had their black bottle before, and it's quite lovely. 

This might have been my own fault, I may have primed us for disliking this bottle accidentally. I was silly, and mentioned to Shane that Freixenet is a sister company connected with the Beef Stew bubbly we had a while back... I should have just kept that little tidbit to myself... 

Anyways, I didn't. I told Shane, and thus the night began... Right off the get go, it smelled a little off. We tried to ignore this. The taste was okay at first, light, refreshing, not super tart and not much as an aftertaste. But we couldn't ignore the slightly off smell, and we were starting to be able to identify the scent as the beef stew that we loved so much... (sarcasm).

I tried to ignore it some more, getting some positive notes in our journal: it's got lots of nice bubbles, it has a nice mouth feel and it's not too acidic. But try as I might, the scent was seeping into the taste, and it was starting to taste a bit beefy... And once it started a little, it started a lot, and soon it was like drinking a savoury bubbly. 

Needless to say, we wouldn't get this one again.

~S

Feb 18/16

• Brand: Château Moncontour
• Type of Grape: Chenin Blanc (I think, I'm having trouble accessing the website)
• Sweetness: 13g/L
• Price: $19.95
• Tasting Notes: Sweeter flavour with a drier mouth feel, hints of hard fruits, and earthy tones. Would pair nicely with a baked brie or another creamy cheese. 

Feb 25/16

• Brand: Freixenet
• Type of Grape: Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada
• Sweetness: 10g/L
• Price: $12.95
• Tasting Notes: Light and refreshing, lots of bubbles. A meaty/savoury flavour. Would pair nightly with fresh bread or savoury pastries.