Tag: brut

Toasting August with Billecart-Salmon: A Tale of Two Bruts

We can’t think of a better way to ring-in a new month than by toasting with two glasses of bubbly from one of our favorite Champagne houses, Billecart-Salmon! No, wait. Actually, that would be four glasses and two bottles.

In this post, we explore two Champagne styles: ours and that of some of our wine-loving friends. The right wine is the wine you like! Besides, anytime you’re able to justify opening multiple bottles of these French jewels, the happier the occasion becomes.

However, in the interest of full disclosure, we actually opened our Champagne Billecart-Salmon Extra-Brut at the beach, last summer. Extra Brut is the driest designation of Champagne styles containing less than 0.6% sugar per liter. While this Billecart-Salmon contains the big three: Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay, they point out that, “No sugar has been added to the dosage.”

Billecart-Salmon says, “A Champagne full of brightness and purity … harmonious minerality … balanced finish” Download More about Billecart-Salmon Etra Brut.

We say, “tight … a bit stern … but, focused”

As for the Champagne Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve, we lifted our glasses to welcome August 2013, took our first sips, and couldn’t stop grinning!

We say, “round … mellow … friendly … magical … drink slowly through the temperatures” (allow to warm in your glass)

Billecart-Salmon says, “harmony … balance … persistent and abounding mousse … freshness … rich bouquet Download More about Billecart-Salomn BRUT RESERVE.

We began our love affair with Billecart-Salmon many years ago by falling for their Brut Rosé. Since then, we’ve come to appreciate the depth of this outstanding Champagne house and continue to try their many other offerings.

Whatever your taste in sparkling wine, we hope you’ll join us in a toast to month number eight, à votre santé!

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Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

August 1, 2013
February Sparkles with a Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé

What better way to greet February than with the lovely sparkle of a Crémant de Bourgogne. Whether you’re celebrating love, welcoming a new month, or toasting the promise of an early spring, this gorgeous bottle of bubbles from La Maison du Crémant in eastern France will make you happy.

We selected this Brut Rosé at Bauer Wine & Spirits where they describe the wine as having, “aromas and flavors of sweet strawberries, bread dough, red currants, and a hint of lavender.” The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay blend is “refreshing, bright, fruity, and fresh.”

We enjoyed this sparkler even more as it warmed in our glasses, while we shared an outstanding cheddar, a favorite baguette, and one of Penny's homemade apple/raisin crostatas.

It’s a Crémant that would be comfortable in most any setting – with a meal, hors d’oeuvres, or for simply a toast and conversation. “For the money ($15.99) you won't be disappointed.” A sweetheart of a February sparkler!

And, if you're choosing a special wine for Valentine's Day, here are some of our recommendations.

Sophisticated Pink Sparklers for Valentines' Day

Share Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here are three of our favorite wine books.

The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

The New Wine Lover's Companion

The Wine Bible



Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

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The Best Sparkling Wine Under $25

Planet Oregon Pinot Noir, an Excellent and Very Green, Red Wine

Cremant d'Alsace pops with success

Valentine's Day 2013 – Romantic Dining in Boston

February 1, 2013
February Sparkles with a Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé

What better way to greet February than with the lovely sparkle of a Crémant de Bourgogne. Whether you’re celebrating love, welcoming a new month, or toasting the promise of an early spring, this gorgeous bottle of bubbles from La Maison du Crémant in eastern France will make you happy.

We selected this Brut Rosé at Bauer Wine & Spirits where they describe the wine as having, “aromas and flavors of sweet strawberries, bread dough, red currants, and a hint of lavender.” The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay blend is “refreshing, bright, fruity, and fresh.”

We enjoyed this sparkler even more as it warmed in our glasses, while we shared an outstanding cheddar, a favorite baguette, and one of Penny's homemade apple/raisin crostatas.

It’s a Crémant that would be comfortable in most any setting – with a meal, hors d’oeuvres, or for simply a toast and conversation. “For the money ($15.99) you won't be disappointed.” A sweetheart of a February sparkler!

And, if you're choosing a special wine for Valentine's Day, here are some of our recommendations.

Sophisticated Pink Sparklers for Valentines' Day

Share Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here are three of our favorite wine books.

The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

The New Wine Lover's Companion

The Wine Bible



Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

Related articles

The Best Sparkling Wine Under $25

Planet Oregon Pinot Noir, an Excellent and Very Green, Red Wine

Cremant d'Alsace pops with success

Valentine's Day 2013 – Romantic Dining in Boston

February 1, 2013
February Sparkles with a Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé

What better way to greet February than with the lovely sparkle of a Crémant de Bourgogne. Whether you’re celebrating love, welcoming a new month, or toasting the promise of an early spring, this gorgeous bottle of bubbles from La Maison du Crémant in eastern France will make you happy.

We selected this Brut Rosé at Bauer Wine & Spirits where they describe the wine as having, “aromas and flavors of sweet strawberries, bread dough, red currants, and a hint of lavender.” The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay blend is “refreshing, bright, fruity, and fresh.”

We enjoyed this sparkler even more as it warmed in our glasses, while we shared an outstanding cheddar, a favorite baguette, and one of Penny's homemade apple/raisin crostatas.

It’s a Crémant that would be comfortable in most any setting – with a meal, hors d’oeuvres, or for simply a toast and conversation. “For the money ($15.99) you won't be disappointed.” A sweetheart of a February sparkler!

And, if you're choosing a special wine for Valentine's Day, here are some of our recommendations.

Sophisticated Pink Sparklers for Valentines' Day

Share Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here are three of our favorite wine books.

The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

The New Wine Lover's Companion

The Wine Bible



Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

Related articles

The Best Sparkling Wine Under $25

Planet Oregon Pinot Noir, an Excellent and Very Green, Red Wine

Cremant d'Alsace pops with success

Valentine's Day 2013 – Romantic Dining in Boston

February 1, 2013
Toasting May with Thierry Triolet Champagne at the Beach!

While enjoying a bottle of Thierry Triolet Champagne Brut is a treat in itself, popping the cork at a beach in Provincetown elevates the entire experience to the level of “unforgettable.”

As we faithfully carry out Our Sparkling Resolution (raising a glass of bubbly to greet each new month) we’re always open to pushing the boundaries of our pledge.

We found this special sparkler at Perry’s Wine & Liquors in Provincetown where Scott O’Connor described Thierry Triolet Champagne Brut as creamy and a great value at $36.

Penny remembered the wine from a tweet by Gretchen (@MoralBeast) who called it, “… a remarkable Champagne! Dry but not too dry. It's a wonderful balance [with] an explosion of flavor!" Her brand new website is Urban Wine Dweller.

Despite our preference for pinot-forward sparkling wines, this beauty’s 60% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, and 5% Pinot Meunier held our attention from the first sip. The winemaker puts it simply and best, “… pale yellow with hints of amber is expressed on fresh and fruity notes.”

Our bottle didn’t last long. It was so good, we couldn’t resist sharing with our neighbors at the beach.

Thierry Triolet, a small grower who supplies grapes to major Champagne houses, also has been making his own wine for more than 25 years– which means we have a lot of catching up to do.

If this Champagne Brut is any indication of Thierry Triolet’s passion and expertise, we can’t wait to try his other vintages. Back in Boston, we followed Gretchen's trail to TerraVino Wines in Brookline and happily found another bottle to enjoy today.

Update: Sadly TerraVino Wines is no longer in business.

Check Out: Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

More about Our Sparkling Resolution

Finally, more of our Provincetown Posts!

We have a new favorite wine book that we are not only recommending to our readers, but buying as a gift for wine-loving friends. It's a treasure and we expect it to look a bit worn and well-used pretty quickly. It may even suffer a few wine stains but we doubt that Karen and Andrew will mind.

The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Here are more books from this team:

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea – Even Water – Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers

Becoming a Chef

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

May 1, 2012
Sophisticated Pink Sparklers for Valentines’ Day

Don't be afraid of pink sparking wine! We'll let you in on what wine experts have always known– some serious and elegant wines come with a blush of color. There are also plenty of classy, but inexpensive, pink options.

As regular readers know, we start every month with a glass of sparkling wine, and we share those choices with you. Today, we'll remind you of a few that are perfect for cork-popping on Valentine's Day. (Yes, we are our own Friday Link this week!)

If price is no object, consider a rosé from one of France's great Champagne houses. We've really enjoyed these two:

Champagne Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé - This is one of Penny's all time favorite wines. It's price has really skyrocketed during the years we've been telling you about it. But, sometimes only the best will do and Billecart-Salmon has earned it's place at the top of the charts.

Delamotte Brut Rose - Brix Wine Shop gave us the opportunity to taste this wonderful Champagne from Delamotte, the ledgendary house that produces Salon.

For a bit of France on a budget, slide out of the Champagne region and try a Crémant.

We suggest a bottle of Louis Bouillot Rosé. Even the lable looks like a party! This is one of our favorite beach wines.

For a real value sparkler, we'll move you to New Mexico. New Mexico you ask? Mais Oui!

Gruet Blanc de Noir is coppery in color and rich with pinot noir flavor, and it's heritage comes from another of the great French Champagne families. They also make a bright pink rosé.

From there, head north to Soter Vineyards in Oregon. One New Year's weekend, we tasted four great sparkling wines. The Soter was one of them. These wonderful wines, from a highly respected team with a great Pinot Noir reputation, will always be on our list of favorites. Try the Soter Rosé to see how much finesse American sparklers can have.

We also say, "Olé" for the pink Spanish cavas like Segura Viudas Brut Rosé or their ARIA Pinot Noir Cava.

Related Posts:

If you don't have enough ideas here, go explore our entire wine post collection.

And, we've gathered all of our Valentine posts at Valentine's Day 2012 – Romantic Dining in Boston

Need some Valentine's Day gift ideas? Click over to Amazon and do some planning and if you do buy something there, they'll put a few coins in our tip cup.

Details:
Words: Penny & Cherubino
Photos: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

February 10, 2012
Remembering Pol Roger– New Year’s Eve Tasting Update!

Though I hardly knew him, I feel like I’ve lost an old friend. Our bottle of Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve Brut Champagne Vintage 2000 was that good.

As promised, here’s an update to our Toasting a New Year with Pol Roger! post.

Opening the bottle and carefully splashing our glasses half full, it was the aroma that commanded our attention. I thought, toasty. Penny said it reminded her of almonds.

The first sip had us using words like: mellow, lush, citrus notes, smooth with a dry finish, and just enough fruit for balance.

While outstanding on its own, this champagne was equally impressive with food. Trying a perfectly ripe piece of Truffle Tremor from Cypress Grove Chevre and long-time favorite Ascutney Mountain we found each enhanced the taste of the other. Bites were improved by sips, sips were improved by bites!

Truffled pâté with Penny’s own spicy cranberry chutney, plus a Dijon and sweeter bourbon molasses mustard did not intimidate our Pol Roger. It all worked!

As with all high-end champagnes we’ve tried, this one drinks well as it warms– actually revealing more of its character. You’re quite a complex guy, Pol Roger. What a memorable way to begin 2012.

Here's how this story began: Toasting a New Year with Pol Roger!

For more about our wine adventures, check out:

Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

January 9, 2012
Toasting a New Year with Pol Roger!

We’ll be spending New Year’s Eve with Pol Roger (Champagne)– perhaps saluting the memory of the man who sold his first bottle of wine 163 years ago!

As we head toward the beginning of a new month and more importantly a new year, we always look forward to selecting an interesting bottle of bubbly. However, this time a special sparkler appeared on our door step (a gift from a friend and wine merchant) and immediately bumped everything else in line.

Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve Champagne Brut Vintage 2000– when the name on the bottle has that much going on, how could we resist?

Besides, our benefactor knows our taste is for a pinot-forward sparkler, in this case 60% Pinot Noir – 40% Chardonnay. As this champagne house puts it, the pinot supplies “body…strength” and the chardonnay the “finesse…lightness.” (Something to keep in mind when selecting a champagne to fit your taste.)

As descriptions go, we can expect the aromas of: “ripe, expressive fruit…dried apricots and poached pears and honey…” (who writes this stuff?) “…a champagne of harmony, elegance and generosity.” The wine is said to pair well with, “Rich, full-flavored dishes…Distinctive dry cheeses…”

All this just increases my curiosity and raises my expectations. But, can this storied champagne really live up to the hype? We’ll soon find out and promise to report back in early 2012– look for an “update” to this post.

That update is here: Remembering Pol Roger– New Year’s Eve Tasting Update!

Happy New Year!

For more on our wine adventures, check out:

Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people that are part of the places and services we cover. Often, those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

December 29, 2011
Favorite Holiday Sparklers from Cava to Champagne– Our Friday Link!

Our favorite sparkling wines for your holiday shopping list make up today's Friday Link.

During the past four years, we’ve been saluting each new month with a glass of bubbly– it’s Our Sparkling Resolution.

Here are some of our favorites, beginning with the more budget-friendly…

Always on hand, it’s that good! Nino Franco Prosecco

A relatively inexpensive sparkler for beginners and experts alike,
Segura Viudas Brut Rosé

An inexpensive sparkler with nice balance, Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs Sparkling Wine

Looks like a party! La Rosée 2009

A lovely way to greet your guests, Adami Prosecco

An old friend, in more ways than one, Argyle Brut

Excellent growers choice, Pierre Peters Champagne

Getting a bottle of Movia Puro Rosé open could be the hit of the party!

Sparkling Wine Can Be a Small Luxury or a Big One, Champagne Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé

To help you with your shopping for New Years Eve, we’ve added a Sparkling Wine Tab (Top of Page) to make it easier to keep up with Our Sparkling Resolution selections.

Enjoy!

Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Fine wine glasses that are dishwasher safe? While Ed insists on washing our stems, I can't swear to it but the manufacture says that, the Schott Zwiesel Tritan Crystal Forte Collection can go in the dishwasher. We do put our barware from the same line through the dishwaser all the time.

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people that are part of the places and services we cover. Often, those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

December 16, 2011