V-A-C-A-TION!

Vacation was the first word I learned how to spell when I was little. Mom and dad used to sing it to us when we were all loading into the RV (and a lot of the 2 day drive) for our annual trip to the east coast. It impressed my teachers, seemed like such a big word at the time, so many letters. Now it's a big word for other reasons, it has so many different meanings that it must be big. It means family time. It means alone time. It means travel time. It means adventures, walks, hikes, food and drink. It means a journey and a destination. It means fun and laughter and love. How a word with just 8 letters can mean so much is beyond me. I'm just thankful we got one. 

On one of our hikes, we had a visitor!
She was not bashful at all.

Shane and I spent last week up at Mont Tremblant. We were hiking, walking, sipping, eating, and generally enjoying. It was his birthday also, so we enjoyed a bottle of bubbly to celebrate. We enjoyed snacks on the mountain side, snacks by the river (did I mention that we ate a lot?), we did the tree top obstacle course (Shane is afraid of heights, but he rocked it! So proud!), walked quite a bit, wandered a little, and worked our way through the TV series, Entourage (one of Shane's favs, we should have enjoyed the Entourage bottle this week...). 

This is actually a very full post, as we were on vacation and got a little silly... We had some on the mountain, you'll see, it's fun. Then we had some in the evening, a special bottle from Hinterland, and THEN, we decided we weren't done, so we went up to the SAQ in the village and got another bottle... Oh my, so let's get started.

August 1, 2016

This was a spur of the moment decision. We weren't planning on having bubbly on Shane's birthday, but Facebook reminded us of a photo we did a few years ago and then recreated last year, so we thought "what the heck, let's go for it!". So up we walked to the SAQ and we chose this bottle because of the name. There is a ski run at Tremblant that shares the same name, so we thought it was quite fitting. 

On popping the top on C'est La Vie's Petit Bonheur, we thought it smelled fruity and dry. The first couple sips were dry-ish, not too much, but not too bad either. We noticed that there was an underlying fruity tone, but we struggled to identify which fruit it was reminding us of... We ended up giving up that fight, it wasn't happening... maybe peach?

This one isn't a "dry your mouth out" bubbly, but it tastes and smells dry. It would be a good one for someone trying to venture into the drier bubbles. Overall, we liked this one, but we weren't sure why. It's not offensive, but there's also not much going on. It's dry, but not too dry. It's fruity, but not specific. It's got nice bubbles, and a gorgeous colour. It would be better extra cold, ours didn't have much time in the fridge. It was not as good nearing the end of the bottle when it was a bit flat and warm... But most aren't, so we won't hold it against them. 

August 4, 2016: Take 1

We picked up this bubbly on our Niagara tour in May. We went to the winery specifically for this bubbly. We knew we had to bring it on a hike, on Champagne Thursday, up at Tremblant. 

This fun bubbly is from Between The Lines in Niagara on the Lake: a fun little winery that is becoming more main stream because it's producing sparkling wine IN A CAN! So great!

Anyways, the notes on this are a little lacking, because they were taken mountainside on my phone. Also because it was in a can, so the bubbly didn't get a chance to really open up for us. 

We did note right away that it was sweeter than we would normally get. Not fruity sweet, either, just sweet wine sweet. It doesn't have a syrupy mouth feel though, which does help to mask the sweetness. It's got nice bubbles, and (remembering from the winery) a nice golden colour. It's very reminiscent of a moscato style wine. It's nice, it's fun, and we'd get it again for this type of thing, but not for a full on Champagne Thursday. It's a fun novelty bubbly, but a bit sweet for an everyday (or every week) bubbly for us.

Yes, this has a slight filter, but it's a realistic
demonstration of the colour of the wine

August 4, 2016: Take 2

We brought this one specifically for Champagne Thursday. We wanted to have something a little special, and this one is near and dear to our hearts. We have had a couple bubblies from Hinterland before (they're right around the corner from us - sort of - in Prince Edward County). We had their Whitecap for Champagne Thursday Night Football, and their Rosé on Christmas Eve last year. 

This week it was their Borealis. This one is a tart, tart bubbly. Very "suck your cheeks in, dry your tongue out" tart. It has a fruity scent, perhaps strawberries? We put a light filter on the picture, only to make the colour of the wine pop. It was a gorgeous rosé, with lots of little sharp bubbles. Shane felt it important to note though "if you get a bubble in your eye, it stings a lot". Thanks for that. 

It's got a distinct smell, but we weren't quite sure what it was reminding us of. Shane thought roses, a touch floral, and I thought maybe cranberries, very ripe and sweet-tart. Shane wrote down a quote from me: "I'm really liking this!". 

This was the bottle that led to the next, as we were enjoying it so much. So yes, definitely would get this sucker again. Yum yum. 

August 4, 2016: Take 3

Oh my. Yup, so that happened. Our third, and final sparkling wine for the day, was Sieur D'Arques Première Bulle . I'm glad that we did this one though, because it made for a very neat picture. Ahh what a couple glasses of wine will do for our amateur photography skills, right? 

On popping the top on this one, we got a nicely dry, appley smell coming out. The first couple sips were a touch sweet, but that might have been just based on the backdrop that the tart Borealis gave us. It became a lovely light and fruity, but slightly dry bubbly. 

Tyson wasn't able to join us this week,
but we know y'all need your puppy
fix, so here he is, happy with my
parents after being picked up from
camp.

At first there was lots of bubbles, and they were nice and big, creating a nice and sharp mouth feel. They mellowed out and tapered off later on, and finished with a smoother, slightly heavier feeling. It is a very fun bottle though, although it had "headache" written all over it (not actually, and not because of the wine, but because of our -at the time- current and future drinking habits of the evening...). We'd probably get it again if we could find it in Ontario. 

Needless to say, August 5th was a bit rough. 

~S

August 1, 2016: Petit Bonheur

• Brand: C'est La Vie
• Type of Grape: Syrah
• Sweetness: 11g/L
• Price: $15.05
• Tasting Notes: Fruity, bubbly, a moderately okay rose made better with bubbles. Would go nicely with some popcorn on a hot afternoon. Or made into a slushie!! Why didn't we do that??!

August 4, 2016: Origin

• Brand: Between the Lines
• Type of Grape: Vidal
• Sweetness: 67g/L (no wonder we thought it was sweet! Holy smokes!)
• Price: $17.95 for 4x 250mL cans
• Tasting Notes: Sweet, nice flavours, remeniscent of a moscato. Would be great pool or beach (or mountain!) side on a hot sunny day.

August 4, 2016: Hinterland Borealis

• Brand: Hinterland
• Type of Grape: Gamay Noir
• Sweetness: 18g/L (at least, their 2014 was, not sure about the 2015...)
• Price: $23.00
• Tasting Notes: Fruity and tart, floral scents mixed with berries. Would be lovely by the fire, or on a hot summer's day. Very versatile. Very delicious. Best paired with another bottle of Borealis *wink*

August 4, 2016: Première Bulle

• Brand: Sieur D'Arques
• Type of Grape: Not noted
• Sweetness: 7.3 g/L
• Price: $19.30
• Tasting Notes: Nicely sweet and tart, light and fruity bubbly. Would pair nicely with a dark chocolate dessert - something that's not too sweet, but rich and creamy.