The Week of Christmas and New Years

Some highlights of 2016

Well, Christmas has come and gone, as has the last Champagne Thursday of 2016. We had a beautiful Christmas, and followed the traditions that we've had for the past few years. We got the kids for a visit on Christmas Eve when we went out to Shane's Dad's place and caught up with family and friends. After we returned the kids to their mom's, Shane and I turned the fire on the TV (and in the fire place), and enjoyed a bottle of wine, sometimes red, this year sparkling, and listened to a few Stuart McLean Christmas stories, starting with our favourite: Dave Cooks the Turkey. Christmas morning, I slept in (what a gift!) and we opened each others gifts while the turkey was in the smoker. Then we went out to the farm for the afternoon/evening with my parents. Boxing day the kids came over and opened their gifts (spoiler alert, paint ball guns!). 

And then we relaxed. Watched some of The Walking Dead, and ate and drank - maybe a bit too much... 

New Years Eve we had the kids, which was great. We had some fireworks, a boatload of Chinese food, a bit of bubbly, and quality time. We actually made it to midnight this year. I know, crazy. So that about wraps it up. Better get on with it, as there are 3 bottles in this post. I want to wrap up 2016 all in one post. 

So, let's get started. 

December 24, 2016

Tyson is ready in his Christmas pyjamas 

We didn't have to go hunting for this bottle, it was given to us by work colleagues. We enjoyed [yellow tail] Pink Bubbles by the fire on Christmas Eve. 

This one had a really big pop, and started to fizz. Shane was able to cover it with his mouth while getting it to the sink to clean up, and ended up a little burpy. He claims he almost choked. A bit dramatic. 

Now, something to keep in mind is we were expecting this one to be quite sweet. The first couple sips had a big berry flavour, and a dry winey flavour. Shane admits that it was considerably drier than he thought. 

It was a touch one dimensional, but quite nice and predictable. It did gain a bit of a sweet momentum after a glass or so. We thought it would be great for someone trying to get into bubbly. 

It's a nice bottle: sweet, nice bubbles and one-dimensional (which isn't a bad thing, it also translates to a predictable, consistent bubbly).

I swear I deliberately put them on my feet that way,
thinking it would look more natural because I
usually sit with my legs crossed... turns out
it just looks like I put them on the wrong feet... 

December 29, 2016

The last official Champagne Thursday of 2016. We are very lucky to have such thoughtful (step) kids in our lives. They got us the most magnificent Thursday socks. 

For the last Champagne Thursday of 2016 we chose a bottle from South Africa, Avondale Armilla. This one didn't have much of a pop under the cork, and Shane said he got a bit of a bready or yeasty scent from the bottle. 

In the first sip, I got a sour apple flavour, which was very different from Shane's "toast" flavour. He got a bit of a sour taste a few sips later. It also had caramel notes, like Werther's Orignals, but not a right out of the package, almost like they had been put in the oven and toasted a bit... 

It had nice, crisp bubbles, and was a nice, light straw colour. Overall, it was just okay. We didn't have much to say about it, it tasted like wine with hints of toast and caramel. Hopefully 2017's Champagne Thursdays start better than 2016 ends (at least champagne-wise.)

December 31, 2016

Tyson got dressed up for NYE. The rest of us
were in PJs... 

This is an unofficial review as it wasn't a Champagne Thursday. We picked up a bottle of La Jara's Prosecco for NYE this year. Now, I'm not sure if it was the couple beers we had prior to this, but man, we had a heck of a time figuring out this bottle's brand. We were thinking maybe (A)ARA, (A JARA, and everything in between. We had to look it up. So it's officially LA JARA. On further research, they have quite the line up of organic sparkling wines, although we've only ever seen this bottle in the LCBO. 

This one had a medium sized pop under the cork. In the first couple sips, I got a strong green apple flavour. We also though it had a dry scent, with nice sharp bubbles. It was a bit winey, and quite tart. Nick thought it tasted like some of the flavoured sparkling waters we have around the house... Not sure if that's good or bad... 

Overall, it was nicely dry, albeit a bit one-dimensional, predictable and boring. We both thought it reminded us of a bubbly pinot grigio.  Shane gave it a 4.5/10 and then downgraded to a 4/10. It had a great label though.

Happy New Year everyone, best of luck in 2017!

~S&S

December 24, 2016

• Brand: [yellow tail]
• Type of Grape: Not noted
• Sweetness: 25g/L
• Price: $13.95
• Tasting Notes: Simple, moderately sweet bubble, berry forward flavours. Would pair nicely with a grapefruit salad. 

December 29, 2016

• Brand: Avondale
• Type of Grape: Chardonnay
• Sweetness: 11g/L
• Price: $29.95
• Tasting Notes: Winey flavour with hints of toast and caramel. A touch of apple at first. Would match nicely with bruschetta on a crostini.

December 31, 2016

• Brand: La Jara
• Type of Grape: Glera
• Sweetness: 8g/L
• Price: $16.95
• Tasting Notes: Green apple forward, dry bubbly, reminiscent of a pinot grigio. Would be nice on its own, super cold, on a sunny, hot afternoon.