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!) 

Celebrante with Bailly Lapierre

After a weekend of zip-lining, hiking, eating and drinking up at Mont Tremblant, we are back home and back into the swing of our semi-normal life. And what an exciting week it has been! After two years in our home, we have finally broken down and gotten internet!! It may not sound so exciting for anyone else, but after two years of using our phones for Facebook, email and general web browsing, with spotty service at best, and begging (harassing?) friends to download TV shows we've missed, we will now have somewhat spotty (but FAST!) internet service to call our own (but it doesn't reach the bedroom... or shop...). And while I would have thought we would celebrate by binge watching Netflix and downloading galore, this has not been the case. We've been marathon watching the first season of Prison Break. I watched it when it was released TEN YEARS AGO (I can't even believe it), but Shane never did. I've heard they are doing another season soon, and so I thought we could watch it. The first season is awesome. I remember loving it at the time too, and then the next season was less awesome, and then I lost interest... We'll see how it goes this time around. 

Tyson didn't like that this "Champagne"
didn't have a cork...

August 27, 2015

Champagne Thursday started a little differently this week. On the way to Mont Tremblant we stopped by a brewery (remember, the traffic? How could you forget?) and picked up a special bottle of beer, the Celebrante, which is a strong beer made with Champagne yeast. How interesting! So we thought we'd give it a shot, and when more appropriate than a Champagne Thursday?

It was nice, it was quite sweet, and had a thicker, almost syrupy mouth feel. It reminded us both of La Fin du Monde, a strong beer by Unibroue. 

It reminded Shane of banana bread, and dried fruit, like raisins. It has a warm orange-y feel, like a heavy white beer. 

Welcome back to Champagne
Thursday, Tyson!

But not to worry! We didn't stop there, we didn't use that in place of our traditional bubbly!  

This week we had a bottle of Bailly Lapierre Reserve Brut, Cremant de Bougogne. It came highly recommended by our Champagne Guy (yes, we have a Champagne Guy, don't you?), who happens to love Cremants. Looking back through our Champagne Thursday Facebook posts, it was actually one we had back in November of 2014 as well. I knew that label looked familiar.

It's very light in colour, as shown in the picture, and nicely dry. It is quite smooth, not acidic, and very easy drinking. The bubbles are small and quite lovely. 

But that's about it... It is a lovely bottle, we don't have anything bad to say about it, that's for sure, but we don't have anything memorable to say about it either... We didn't really pick up on many different flavours or aromas (nothing bready like last week, nothing fruity like some others), just a nice, safe, sparkling white wine. 

Verdict: We enjoyed it, and we would have it again. It's like that movie that you have on your shelf that you can watch over and over again if nothing else is on, and be satisfied after. It may not be your favourite movie (although, it may be), but you can always throw it on and watch it again. For Shane, that movie is Dogma, for me it's Poolhall Junkies or The Boondock Saints. 

Until next week!
~S

• Brand: Bailly Lapierre
• Type of Grape: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay and Aligote
• Sweetness: 8g/L
• Price: $19.95
• Tasting notes: Lovely, dry sparkling wine, easy to drink, smooth and not acidic. It would pair nicely with just about anything, like a roast chicken dinner, but not something too rich in flavour that would overpower the bubbly. 

Better Late Than Never

Lesson learned: better prep is imperative to timely blog posts while on vacation. 

This post is a bit late coming in, but these things happen. No one follows anyways ;)

The reason this is so late (and yes, 4 days is very late, inexcusably so) is because Shane and I celebrated Champagne Thursday up at Mont Tremblant. I did not do my prep work beforehand, so it just got lost in the bustle of a mini-vacation. 

The week was busy enough, the kids were over for the weekend, Shane's daughter was very sick (yuck), there was a mini-birthday celebration for Nick (Shane's middle one), and then packing and preparing for our get-away.

We left work early on Thursday, around lunchtime, and drove to Montreal to visit a brewery that we had tried a mixer pack and really only liked one of the beers in it. Unfortunately, you can't get a full case of the one type unless you go to the brewery: Brasseurs du Monde... So we did. And traffic was a nightmare. Welcome to Montreal. 

August 20, 2015

Part way to Tremblant we realized we had forgotten glasses. Knowing the bottle that we had chosen, I felt it very necessary to stop and get some, rather than just drinking it out of a wine glass, or worse, a coffee mug. We stopped at the Rob McIntosh factory store near Lancaster and found a reasonably priced set of 4. They look fancier than they cost. *phew*

We did eventually get to Tremblant, and while we were unloading the car, we put the champagne in the freezer (it had been in the cooler all day, so was still a bit cool, but we wanted it to lower the temperature just a bit more). An extra special bottle, for an extra special location. 

Fancy, fancy. Poor Tyson  missed it :(

This week we cracked into a bottle we got as a wedding gift (I do notice a trend, the special bottles aren't typically bottles we buy for ourselves...). The very special and very fancy Veuve Clicquot Brut. Like I said, this is not a bottle we would purchase for ourselves, but thank goodness for generous friends. (It even came in a box, and you know what that means! Yup, way out of my price range!) 

When we first cracked into it, it had a bready-yeasty aroma, with hints of tart pears and melon. It has a lovely straw colour in the glass (not very well shown in the picture). 

The first few sips are very dry and smooth. It's very well balanced and not acidic or bitey at the back of your palate. The carbonation is a bit harder to describe. It's not bubbly, per se, not even the fine bubbles we've gotten in other bottle, but it's fizzy. It's a smooth fizz though... 

Later on, Shane said that it smelled like a "fresh loaf of delicious Portuguese sweet bread" (not sweetbreads, that'd be terrible in a champagne I think...). I've never had Portuguese Sweet Bread so I couldn't relate to that description, but it is oddly specific. 

When we were finishing up, Shane mentioned that as an after after after taste (he hadn't had a sip in a while) he had a raspberry taste left, and I found that my mouth was still a bit dry after quite some time.

It was glorious. A very special treat. Super delicious and very well rounded. It had various flavours come through as various points of the tasting, consistent, but slightly different from glass to glass. 

Verdict: Yes, if someone were to buy us another bottle, we would enthusiastically accept it, and do our best not to share. 

~S

• Brand: Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin S.A.
• Type of Grape: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
• Sweetness: 9g/L
• Price: $69.20
• Tasting notes: Well balanced, hints of pear and melon, aroma of fresh bread on the nose, slightly fruity aftertaste (I think it would pair well with a charcuterie platter with some sharp cheeses, but maybe that's just because I'm craving that...)

Champagne Thursday Night Football

Well, you'll be happy to hear that Champagne Thursday didn't miss a beat, even with me not being quite back to 100% after my stupid wisdom teeth coming out. There are still some pretty glorious holes in my mouth, but I've been back on solid foods for a few days. The antibiotics are wreaking havoc on my body though, ugh. 

We enjoyed a few pre-celebratory beverages outside in the sunshine, it was very relaxing. Playing ball with the dog (when it was our turn, of course, he's very particular about playing ball), sitting in the Adirondack chairs, taking silly selfies... ahh, it was paradise. We haven't really had a whole lot of time this summer to sit back and enjoy the sunshine and the season, so it was really nice to be able to take a time out to do that. 

Anyways, onto the important stuff. 

It was the first game of the pre-season for the Green Bay Packers!!! Rodgers was out in full form for the first quarter, pushing the limits and seemingly having a blast being on the field. 

Wait, that's not the important stuff you tuned in for? :)

August 13, 2015

This week's Champagne Thursday was brought to us by our wedding photographer, Jessica. When we first met her, she told us about a local sparkling winery over in Prince Edward County that we had never heard of... we were slightly embarrassed, being from the area, loving bubbly, and having never heard of, let alone visited, Hinterland. 

Tyson is clearly enjoying the
football game on TV

We have since rectified this - we went and visited them a couple days after our wedding as a little getaway. We loved their tasting area, very rustic and charming. Their bubblies were lovely, zesty and dry. We ended up picking up a bottle of their Rose (still don't know how to get accents in here...), and we're saving that for a special occasion (might be that it's Thursday!). 

This week we had Hinterland's Whitecap. After his first sip, Shane made the following announcement: Very tart green apples, there, write that in your little book. I think he was getting at the fact that the past couple bottles we have had, we have both struggled to get much in the way of distinct aromas and flavours other than "wine". 

This was not the case with the Whitecap. It jumped out at us as being very tart, sour, young green apples. It was a touch minerally on the nose, which would normally turn me off, but it didn't taste like licking a rock (thank goodness). The county has a pretty intense limestone bedrock, which comes through in many of the wines of the area. Sometimes it's overpowering, and some wineries do a better job of incorporating it with other flavours, Hinterland is obviously one of them. 

It was delicious. Really, really yummy. Nicely dry, nicely tart, a well-balanced, consistent, not too acidic sparkling wine. 

Verdict: In case it wasn't clear enough, yes, yes we would get this one again. 

Have a great week!! 

~S

• Brand: Hinterland
• Type of Grape: Vidal and Riesling
• Sweetness: not noted, but quite dry in taste
• Price: $22.00
• Tasting Notes: deliciously dry, young sour green apples, minerally nose (would be amazing with a light vinegar-y salad with pan seared scallops)

One thing I have to mention as a post script: On their website, Hinterland uses the word "Unctuous" to describe the mouth feel of this particular sparkling wine. I thought it was a great word, until I looked it up... Unctuous, when used to describe a person, means a sort of smug, sleazy, falsely enthusiastic person. When used as just an adjective for other things, it means oily, greasy or fatty in appearance or texture. I completely disagree with their choice of word to describe their product. I didn't find it had an oily or greasy mouth feel at all (we can all breathe a sigh of relief). I am sure they were going for the "smooth" side of the definition, but given the negative connotation that "unctuous" has, I would've chosen to either use "smooth" or practically any other synonym, rather than just throwing out an obscure word just for the sake of using it, without fully understanding its meaning or hoping that others won't. 
Doesn't mean I liked the bubbly any less though. Still delicious. Thankfully not unctuous. End rant.

Steak before Mashed

Gotta love long birthday weekends, right? I'm pretty sure we are both still recovering. Although Shane and I had our birthday party back in June, his birthday was just this past weekend. We popped a bottle of the bubbly we made in December for the wedding-birthday party, it seemed fitting for the birthday. We altered our "It's Thursday!" glasses a touch to represent the actual day. 

As it was just our homemade (or store-made) stuff, I didn't feel the need or desire to blog about it. But I did make a couple notes in our Champagne Journal so we can compare it when we try the next bottle. (Shane got a lot of black licorice this time, yuck, hopefully that goes away... Luckily, I didn't get that flavour).

August 6, 2015

So we were a little late getting started this week. My parents wanted to take Shane out for a nice birthday dinner. I got to tag along. Thank goodness! I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on Friday, so I really wanted something I could sink my teeth into (all of them) before going on my mashed potatoes and gravy weekend diet. Steak has always done just the trick. 

Photo from the engagement shoot

This week we are drinking a fun bottle that Mark got us as a gift. It happens to be the same type we used as a prop (and as a nerve relaxer) in our engagement photos. It's a lovely prosecco from Blu Giovello in Italy. It's got a holographic label, which after a few glasses, we had to turn around... 

This week we tried something different. I read recently that we've been drinking champagne all wrong. Apparently, it's best for the flavour and aromas of the champagne if it is sipped from a white wine glass, which allows the aromas and complexities to open up, without being dispersed too quickly (as it would in any larger glass). Anyway, we decided to try this (after the first glass and photo, of course). 

Tyson is naked. Shane says it's for the ladies.

In doing the comparison, I took tasting notes from both glasses. I must say, I did notice a difference. The wine glass did  give it a fuller flavour and more aroma, however next time I would just do one glass in it to get the flavours, then go back to the regular glasses we use. Drinking a whole bottle of bubbly out of a wine glass just felt weird, especially when the pen was down and we were legitimately just sipping.

First impressions, this was a paler in comparison to last week's Chateau Moncontour, lots of nice small bubbles. It was very quiet in the nose in the tall glasses. 

The first sips (out of the bubbly glass) were super tart and sour. As Shane said "I feel like Sylvester the Cat after drinking the alum", he then proceeded to try and find a video of this, but to no avail. After watching several minutes of Bugs Bunny clips, he gave up. 

In the wine glasses, it had a sweeter smell that we couldn't identify. The taste was still quite sour (in a sour candy sort of way), although mellowed out as it warmed up a bit. Shane describes it as having an "essence of sweetness" without being sweet. It has a scent that could only be described as a sweet fruit (can't quite identify it) but it didn't come across as a sweet prosecco. It seemed like a hard fruit, like an apple or pear, but not an apple or pear. 

Verdict: We would definitely get this one again, value for money is great for just an every day celebration. 

Have a great week!

~S

• Brand: Blu Giovello
• Type of Grape: Not specifically listed, but likely the Glera grapes
• Sweetness: 18g/L
• Price: $13.95
• Tasting Notes: Quite sour/tart for a bubbly with this high of sugar content (it surprised me to see this when I looked it up), sweet smelling, hard sweet fruit aromas. Would pair nicely with a steak and blue cheese spinach salad (oddly specific, I know...).