bostonzest

Tag: grapes

  • We’ll Raise a Glass of Ca’ di Rajo Lemoss Bianco Frizzante to October 2019

    We are expecting good things from our October sparkler, Ca' di Rajo Lemoss Bianco Frizzante. It was a recommendation from Howie Rubin at Bauer Wine & Spirits. He's introduced us to many happy wine times across the years. It was good to welcome him back from his recent medical leave.

    IMG_5979

    Howie said, "This wine ticks a lot of boxes." He's right and he knows our taste.

    We love prosecco. Lemoss Bianco is made from 100% Glera grapes.

    We love low alcohol. Lemoss Bianco checks in at 10.5% ABV

    We enjoy a wine with a bit of personality. Lemoss Bianco is unfiltered and will be a bit cloudy in the glass. 

    We love a wine with a good story. This wine is made in an old method for Proseccos called Col Fondo. Here's a link to an article from Wine Spectator that explains the different methods of making sparkling wines. In brief they explain, "A col fondo Prosecco starts with a base wine, then there is a secondary fermentation, but the distinguishing feature is that the wine is not disgorged—that is, the lees are left inside the bottle."

    IMG_5987

    We like easy to open wines. Lemoss Bianco has the crown cap that was put on for its second fermentation. It was never disgorged and changed to a cork. 

    We trust specific importers. This one was imported by one of our favorites, Oz Wines!

    IMG_5981

    We purchased our bottle at Bauer Wine & Spirits.

    IMG_5991

    Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month!

    Join us and raise a glass to October 2019!

    Related Posts:

    Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast…

    A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

    Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2019 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • September’s Toast with Champagne Robert Barbichon Blanc De Noirs

    This month we are chilling a bottle of Robert Barbichon Blanc De Noirs. It's an organic, biodynamic, grower Champagne from a small producer. You may have noticed that we toast with a lot of wines similar to this one. Like many of you, there are flavor profiles, business philosophies, importers, and regional terroirs that we prefer over others. This wine checks a lot of boxes on our preference list.

    IMG_3047 copy

    Humboldt Importers describe this wine maker well, "Located in the Cote des Bar in the Aube region to the southeast of the Marne, the Barbichon family have been growing Champagne grapes for 4 generations. Today Robert Barbichon produces a range of elegant, stylish Champagnes with bright mineral-driven fruit and just a hint of toast."

    And (here's the part we especially like) Humboldt Importers characterize the Blanc de Noirs Brut NV as, "Crafted of pure Pinot Noir, it exhibits a creamy nose filled with bright white fruit, chalk/mineral notes and a crisp, elegant finish. 100% Pinot Noir from the Cote des Bar."

    Screen Shot 2017-08-16 at Wednesday August 16 20172.33.32 PM

    One of the fun things about this bottle is that it's a "Transatlantic Bubbles Selection." This is a new import category to us. But reading about their love of sparkling wine and the places where their selections are served makes us open to other wines from their portfolio. 

    They say:

    "Transatlantic Bubbles LLC. specializes in finding and importing grower-producer Champagnes that offer superior quality at a better cost to the customer. We are a trusted supplier in the growing niche market for recoltant-manipulant Champagne."

    We're looking forward to raising our glasses to the extension of this lovely summer that we have declared, "… will not end until October 15th, at the earliest!"

    We purchased our bottle of Champagne Robert Barbichon Blanc De Noirs Brut at City Liquors in Cambridge for ~ $45.

    IMG_4250UPDATE: (09.02.17) We had such high hopes for this Champagne and, well … at the risk of stooping to a cliché, "It exceeded our highest expectations!" We chilled the wine to ~ 55ºF and began tasting while enjoying some thinly sliced pork loin, pepper-flavored boursin, Jasper Hill Moses Sleeper (cows milk cheese inspired by French Brie), figs, and local cherry tomatoes – why skimp?

    This combination added to the enjoyment of the Barbichon Blanc De Noirs Brut which only improved as it warmed.

    Penny was haunted by a flavor she was experiencing tasted in the fruit of this wine. Then she realized it was like the charred, caramelized pineapple served with our Jamaican jerk chicken wings plate at Little Donkey. I liked the wine's yeasty character and hints of chalk.

    We both agreed that the full, rich, round, "elegant finish" remained throughout our meal. And, the best news, we saved some more of this lovely bottle of bubbles for today. 

    We are buying another bottle the next time we find this little gem! 

    Cheers!

    Related Posts:

    Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post: Join Us as We Toast …

    A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

    Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

    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: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino, Screengrab from Transatlantic Bubbles LLC

  • The Food Lover’s Guide to Wine: Book Review

    With our sparkler of the month on March 1st, we mentioned that we had put The Food Lover's Guide to Wine on our book wish list. That afternoon, we received an email from the authors Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg saying they would love to send us a review copy. 

    9780316045131_388X586

    It arrived a few days later and hasn't made it to a bookshelf yet. It has spent a few nights beside the bed as Penny's relaxation reading, we've used it explore a couple of new wines, and we're planning to feature some recommended producers as our Sparkler of the Month.

    Learn in various ways from a collection of great wine lovers.

    • If you were hanging outside our door, you might have heard us reading quotes from the book to one another. It has the greatest collection of quotes from wine lovers and wine experts you can imagine. Boston's own Cat Silirie is often cited.
    • Ed loves the pronunciation guide in the core listing of wines, grapes, and wine topics.
    • The system used to emphasize the importance of wine grapes, characteristics, and producers (by using bold and all caps in lists) is brillant and intuitive to use.
    • The end chapters on matching wines with foods, cuisines, and courses will have us exploring new options.
    • We love the gold boxes with great asides on topics. A few are already marked with page tabs. 
    • Since these writers believe that the wine you like is the right wine for you, they've prepared a series of recommendations based on your own taste. If you like a flavor, for example almonds, they give you a list of wines to try. If you like a particular wine, they give you others with similar flavor profiles.

    A Great Interview Grabbed Our Attention 

    We first hear about The Food Lover's Guide to Wine on the Heritage Radio Network show, A Taste of the Past. Penny listens to podcasts of food shows while she cooks, and this one was good enough for a shared listen during an afternoon of crab-cracking and conversation.

    Host Linda Pelaccio began by covering the history of American Wine (the book contains a timeline) and then a discussion of the book that really gave us an insight to the authors' points of view and how this book would fit into our collection. Here's a link to that show.

    Meet the authors and hear what some experts say about this book.

     

    We are not only recommending this book to our readers, we'll be buying copies as gifts for wine-loving friends. It is 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.

    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

    and of course

    The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

    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 add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.