Babies and Bubbles!



Now that's our kind of baby bottle!

Well last weekend was the Family Day long weekend and we went up to visit my new nephew (and his little posse) - and thus the cause for the late post last week. What a character he is, his mouth was open for just about the entire time we were there, including when he was sleeping. He is just teeny tiny, but with these giant long chicken legs. 


Proud Auntie right there

Also during the trip, in true Jenkins fashion, we stopped at a few breweries along the way. We visited Haliburton Highlands Brewery, Boshkung Brewery, and Sawdust City Brewing Co. We brought home a cooler of delicious brews, which unfortunately didn't make it through the weekend. Oops. 



First patio drink of the year!

The rest of the week was pretty chill. The weather has been getting a bit warmer, in fact, yesterday afternoon it was 15 degrees! So of course, we had top open the patio, at least for a little while! We had a couple ciders outside, while throwing the ball for Tys (and making a muddy mess of his undercarriage from all the running). It was very nice. Very relaxing. Until the sun went behind the clouds (or neighbour's house) and then it got cold and we bailed. 

February 23, 2017

This week, because we wanted to get home to the sunshine, we went to the LCBO near Shane's work, so we were on our own for the selection process. We ended up with Domaine J. Lauren's Blanquette de Limoux, Le Moulin. One of the staff at the LCBO (originally from an Ottawa store) spoke very highly of it though, and guaranteed we would be back for more. 

On popping the top, Shane said it smelled like fruit punch. When I got my glass, I agreed, it did smell exceptionally fruity. I got a sort of tropical or pineapple scent. Shane thought that it smelled quite sweet. I enjoyed it right off the bat as it was fruity like it smelled, but did come across quite sweet. Fragrant tropical fruits came through easily. 

Poor puppy just wanted to get back in the nest

Shane, on the other hand, did not like it. He thinks he maybe still had some of the flavours of our dinner in his mouth (garlic and curry), and so thought that it tasted funky, and not it a good way. He didn't really enjoy it the whole way through, if we're being honest. He did say that it was fruity, but had a stale taste.

Near the end, I was starting to get a bit of a liquor-y after taste in the back of my throat. As far as mouth feel goes, it had lots of soft bubbles creating a very creamy mouth feel. 

So, I guess needless to say, we were divided on this one. I'd recommend trying it, I don't think that Shane would... 

FOREWARNING: Next week's post will be late, or combined with the following week. We will be celebrating in Florida, sans computer. 

~S&S

• Brand: Domaine J Laurens
• Type of Grape: Mauzac and Chardonnay 
• Sweetness: 5g/L (SHOCKING!)
• Price: $19.95
• Tasting Notes: Tropical fruits, soft creamy bubbles. Tastes quite sweet compared to actual sugar content. Would pair well with warm biscuits. 

Wine-Walks and Liquorice Chocolates

So sorry, this is late. We had a pretty amazing, albeit busy, weekend (another story for another blog post though). 

The week itself was pretty low key. We had the kids for Valentine's Day and made pink pancakes, so that was fun. Shane got me flowers, and I got him chocolates... almost. Shane isn't a big chocolate guy, so I had to get a bit creative. I opened the box that I got, careful not to rip the sticker on the back so I could put it back together, dumped all the chocolate out, and replaced them with Liquorice All-Sorts (yuck). He quite liked it. And I thought it was pretty funny. 


We took the pup for a walk on Thursday, and Shane had seen some wine for the walk, in cans! So that was fun. It wasn't too bad either, once you got past the issue of drinking something not-fizzy out of a can, which is a bit odd. It was a simple pinot grigio. Not too much going on, but then again, it was in a can... 

February 16, 2017

This week, the LCBO didn't have anything new that grabbed us, so we went to the sale rack. They still had some of the Henry of Pelham's Cuvée Catharine Brut (non-rosé - you'll remember we had the rosé recently) for $9 off, so we chose that. We've had it before (on New Year's Eve 2015), but with its regular price around the $30 mark, it's one that we consider a splurge. 

On popping the top (and it had quite the pop behind it), it had a bit of a dry, yeasty smell. In the glass, it had a very, very pale straw colour, with lots of bubbles. I found when I stuck my nose deep into the glass, and took a big breath, I got a strange scent coming through. It took me a while to figure it out, but I swear I got hints of mint and chocolate. Shane just said "no" to that... Nice, right? 

It had a nice taste, and thankfully no mint chocolates. Shane said he got "wine", and that it was a bit sour-tart. I found the aftertaste to be a bit crab-appley. It had lots of sharp bubbles. Into glass #2, I started to find it was getting a bit sweeter, with more of an acid bite. It also made us quite burpy... 

When we were mostly finished the bottle, we took a peruse back to the previous notes for this one. We had marked the after-taste as the aftertaste you get from orange juice, when all the orange is gone and it's just acid left. And we completely agreed with that statement again this time. 

Overall, yeah, it was good. Predictable and easy to drink. 

~S&S

• Brand: Henry of Pelham
• Type of Grape: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
• Sweetness: 7g/L
• Price: regularly $29.95, on sale for $21.95
• Tasting Notes: Yeasty and dry bubbly, with nice acid level and sharp bubbles. Would pair nicely with a creamy chicken soup. 

A Happy Birth Day Champagne Thursday

Well, that was quite the Superbowl now wasn't it? We actually watched the whole thing (well, Shane may have napped through part of it...), we don't normally last that long. But it's a good thing we did, things certainly turned around for New England in that last quarter. Wow. 

Other than that (and actually including that), our week has been pretty quiet. We have been watching some TV upstairs in the Cuddle and Blanket Nest, and Tyson has been thoroughly enjoying that. Think about it, people paying attention to him, blankets so he doesn't have to self-regulate his temperature, and naps, oh glorious naps. It's Puppy Paradise. 

February 9, 2017

Introducing  the stunningly handsome
Harvey Raymond, y'all can swoon now.

This Thursday was a pretty special one: my sister had her baby! Our beautiful brand new nephew, Harvey Raymond, was born at 5:36pm at 6.2lb. 

Unfortunately, our Champagne Guy didn't hear about the celebration, so he wasn't around to help steer us in the right direction. We ended up with a South African bottle from Krone: their 2015 Krone Rosé Cuvée Brut. 

On the pop, Shane was "ooooh, it's gonna be a sweet one..." (we had checked before buying, it wasn't supposed to be a sweet one, we're pretty careful about that). I thought it smelled like Swedish berries candies, so right on line with the "sweet" that Shane got. I also thought it smelled a bit like apple cider, like a Strongbow or something. Shane didn't agree. 

The first thing I noticed when I had my first sip was the bubbles, lots and lots of sharp bubbles. Shane didn't like it at first, but started to come around after a couple sips. I didn't mind it right off the bat, but the taste didn't quite match the smell. It wasn't as sweet as it smelled, which was a bit off-putting because you think you know what you're going to get, so it's a bit shocking. But it's good that it wasn't as sweet as it smelled. 

This is our Cuddle and Blanket Nest aka Puppy Paradise

I still thought it tasted like cider, and after a glass, Shane started to agree. Shane even said "it's a lovely sparkling cider". Would we get it again? No. Is that because it was bad? No. It just didn't jump out at us as being a sparkling wine. 

Also, we took issue with them calling it a "rosé"... The only thing rosé about this one was the label. Although maybe it's a rosé because they use Pinot Noir grapes, not necessarily because of the colour? Either way, it's not pink. 

Til next time, 

S&S

• Brand: Krone
• Type of Grape: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
• Sweetness: 13g/L
• Price: $18.95
• Tasting Notes: Lovely tasting cider, would pair well with a fresh crusty loaf of bread. 

New Vintage... Old Show.

As we ramp up for Superbowl weekend, we are simultaneously closing out a full week. My mom hosted (I helped) a baby shower for my sister; we did a book theme and it was a huge hit. The premise was that people would bring books instead of cards (which are read once and then thrown away) and write their little note in the book for the baby. I found one of our childhood favourites: Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. 

This is only some of the food that was out,
my layout ap can only include 9 pictures.

We also had all sorts of book themed food: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Give a Mouse a Cookie, Junk Food, etc. etc. etc. Leave it to my mom to go overboard with the food. But it was a great shower (in my humble opinion), with lots of laughs (our aunt brought a diaper changing kit which included gloves, tongs, protective face masks and eyewear), lots of great company, food, and some amazingly generous gifts. My sister left knowing exactly how much love was pouring out of all of us for both her, and the lil' bub she's carrying. This beautiful little family in the making. 

This week Shane and I also joined the gym. And we've gone once too. We are going again tonight. Trying to get in shape for our trip to Florida this March. We booked those tickets too. Like I said, it's been a full week.



February 2, 2017

This week when we were browsing the LCBO, we saw a familiar label: Jackson-Triggs' Entourage (this link is for the 2013 vintage), but this time it was in a BOX! (We all know what I think about bubbly in boxes: get your fancy pants on!) We looked back to the previous blog post to see what the difference was, and it was vintage. The last time we had the Entourage, it was the 2011 year, and this was the 2012. We didn't bother actually reading our previous review, and it's probably a good thing we didn't, it seems that although we quite liked it last time, we thought that for the extra money, it needed a medium special occasion... Last night was certainly not a medium special occasion... 

We're quite taken with watching Netflix on the big screen,
right now we're finishing up Prison Break, which is less
startling than seeing the giant zombies that we were
getting with The Walking Dead... 

On popping the top, Shane got a yeasty-berry scent, but not the normal "Carnation Instant Breakfast" that usually accompanies those two flavours for him. My first sip was quite dry, and very bubbly. Shane said the bubbles were crackly ones: like "a bowl of Rice Crispies in front of the Christmas fire". Very specific bubbles. I also got a touch of stale vitamins, but luckily that scent didn't last. 

We decided that it was mainly a pineapple flavour, which explained the tart and sweet feeling. Near the middle of glass #2, Shane said that he was getting notes of almond and maybe vanilla on the nose, but only occasionally. After a few more sips, I was able to come around to the slightly vanilla claim, but I still didn't get almonds. It lead to a smooth, creamy mouth feel. 

That being said, every now and then we got a few very tart sips. It was an interesting bottle, certainly not boring, certainly not predictable. It was strange how almost every sip was different from the last. In a nice way. There was a lot of variety in this bottle. We think that the 2012 is WAY better than the 2011 vintage. We really liked it, and not just medium-special-occasion amounts. More in the we-want-to-drink-this-all-the-time amounts. 

Hope you all enjoy the Superbowl! 
~S&S

• Brand: Jackson-Triggs
• Grape: Not noted
• Sweetness: 11g/L
• Price: $24.95
• Tasting Notes: Very complex bubbly, with notes of pineapple and vanilla. Would pair well with pancakes for brunch.