Tag: Grenache

A Sibling of an Old Favorite, March Comes in with Dibon Cava Brut Rosé

There are a few great stories to tell you about our choice of a sparkling wine to toast the month of March. This month we picked Dibon Cava Brut Rosé, another great value with bubbles. This one is 100% Garnacha!

Its sibling, the Brut Reserve (with the orange label behind this month's choice), is a longtime favorite of ours and of a bunch of people we rely on for great wine guidance. When Penny spotted the Rosé on her monthly shopping stop on Cambridge Street, she grabbed a bottle.

This wine is brought to our area by one of our favorite importers, Oz Wine Company from Haverhill, MA. We've learned over the years that the Oz name on a wine is a pretty good indication that we are going to like it.

We've noticed one of our favorite dining spots with a noted cocktail program uses Dibon as a mixer for their sparkling wine cocktails. Smart move! And, at around $12 a bottle, one you could copy.

While she was at it, Penny grabbed a bottle of our original Dibon as a thank you gift for a great gentleman who has given us wonderful service for the past few years. He has mentioned to her that he loves sparkling wines and wants to learn more about them. What better lesson than a great wine that costs about the same as some beers.

Dibon is widely available. The Rosé is a bit harder to find. We picked up ours at City Liquors, 620 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA, 617-945-0095, Price: ~ $12.

Related:

Celebrating February with an Impressive Budget Sparkler– Dibon Cava

Here’s more about: Our Sparkling Resolution

And Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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March 1, 2017
A French “Value Sparkler” with No Compromises, le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux

Anytime we can enjoy a sparkling wine with raves that include, "uncompromising value," it’s impossible to keep it to ourselves. Laurens le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux, $14.99 at Bauer Wine & Spirits, is a wine that had us from the first, wonderful sniff.

While the aromas have been described as, “green apple, acacia flowers, and apricot,” to us it had hints of a toasty Champagne.

As we've often said, "… with a good bottle of bubbly, you don’t need to keep topping the glass." While, some wines at this price point are best served very cold, this sparkler doesn’t require a constant chill to mask any off notes because there aren’t any!

Renowned wine guru Jancis Robinson has called the wines from the Limoux region, “a combination of French finesse and good value.” She finds that the most interesting wines in this area come from small producers like, “Jacques Calvel at Domaine J Laurens, whose fizz is really very fine …” and that, “the best fizz can be a great-value alternative to champagne …“ Not surprisingly, Robinson’s Limoux recommendations include Le Moulin Brut NV Blanquette de Limoux.

Although Limoux is part of the Languedoc, which always makes us think of outstanding red wine varieties (Syrah, Grenache…), we’re learning that there’s much more to love from this region.

Laurens le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux (Alc. 12% by Vol., another plus) is made mainly from the area’s Mauzac grape and is our choice to welcome September.

(For our regular Sunday Dog readers, we raise a glass to you and all beloved canine compaions. When the first falls on a Sunday, we do slip in a wonderful wine for toasting the dogs we love and who have shared our lives. Sunday Dog will be back next week.)

More About Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

September 1, 2013
A French “Value Sparkler” with No Compromises, le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux

Anytime we can enjoy a sparkling wine with raves that include, "uncompromising value," it’s impossible to keep it to ourselves. Laurens le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux, $14.99 at Bauer Wine & Spirits, is a wine that had us from the first, wonderful sniff.

While the aromas have been described as, “green apple, acacia flowers, and apricot,” to us it had hints of a toasty Champagne.

As we've often said, "… with a good bottle of bubbly, you don’t need to keep topping the glass." While, some wines at this price point are best served very cold, this sparkler doesn’t require a constant chill to mask any off notes because there aren’t any!

Renowned wine guru Jancis Robinson has called the wines from the Limoux region, “a combination of French finesse and good value.” She finds that the most interesting wines in this area come from small producers like, “Jacques Calvel at Domaine J Laurens, whose fizz is really very fine …” and that, “the best fizz can be a great-value alternative to champagne …“ Not surprisingly, Robinson’s Limoux recommendations include Le Moulin Brut NV Blanquette de Limoux.

Although Limoux is part of the Languedoc, which always makes us think of outstanding red wine varieties (Syrah, Grenache…), we’re learning that there’s much more to love from this region.

Laurens le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux (Alc. 12% by Vol., another plus) is made mainly from the area’s Mauzac grape and is our choice to welcome September.

(For our regular Sunday Dog readers, we raise a glass to you and all beloved canine compaions. When the first falls on a Sunday, we do slip in a wonderful wine for toasting the dogs we love and who have shared our lives. Sunday Dog will be back next week.)

More About Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

September 1, 2013
A French “Value Sparkler” with No Compromises, le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux

Anytime we can enjoy a sparkling wine with raves that include, "uncompromising value," it’s impossible to keep it to ourselves. Laurens le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux, $14.99 at Bauer Wine & Spirits, is a wine that had us from the first, wonderful sniff.

While the aromas have been described as, “green apple, acacia flowers, and apricot,” to us it had hints of a toasty Champagne.

As we've often said, "… with a good bottle of bubbly, you don’t need to keep topping the glass." While, some wines at this price point are best served very cold, this sparkler doesn’t require a constant chill to mask any off notes because there aren’t any!

Renowned wine guru Jancis Robinson has called the wines from the Limoux region, “a combination of French finesse and good value.” She finds that the most interesting wines in this area come from small producers like, “Jacques Calvel at Domaine J Laurens, whose fizz is really very fine …” and that, “the best fizz can be a great-value alternative to champagne …“ Not surprisingly, Robinson’s Limoux recommendations include Le Moulin Brut NV Blanquette de Limoux.

Although Limoux is part of the Languedoc, which always makes us think of outstanding red wine varieties (Syrah, Grenache…), we’re learning that there’s much more to love from this region.

Laurens le Moulin Blanquette de Limoux (Alc. 12% by Vol., another plus) is made mainly from the area’s Mauzac grape and is our choice to welcome September.

(For our regular Sunday Dog readers, we raise a glass to you and all beloved canine compaions. When the first falls on a Sunday, we do slip in a wonderful wine for toasting the dogs we love and who have shared our lives. Sunday Dog will be back next week.)

More About Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

September 1, 2013
Plan Pégau 2009 “Baby Chateauneuf du Pape”

A couple of bottles of Plan Pégau 2009 were sitting in our wine rack. This wine had been introduced to us as a "baby Chateauneuf du Pape" by Howie Rubin at Bauer Wines.

A few nights later, Gretchen Jones (@moralbeast) mentioned a great Cote du Rhone that she was enjoying. That sent me to the rack to pull the Plan Pégau and plan a meal around it.

As students of wine, we learn by researching the wines that come our way. We had already been told that this was from one of the great Chateauneuf du Pape winemakers, Laurence Féraud from Domaine du Pégau. Her wines can run four to five times the $14.99 price tag on this one.

The importer, Hand Picked Selections (HPS) says the 2009 Plan Pégau, "offers a true and loud echo of the flavor and style of Domaine du Pegau Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A perfect illustration of the HPS mantra of quality, character and value, it always seems to have a bit of that magic Châteauneuf funk!"

We paired it with a rib eye after reading a comment from Wine & Spirits Magazine that this wine was, "…a red to sink your teeth into…mouthfilling and delicious, the vinous equivalent of a good aged steak."

From the moment we opened the screwtop, Plan Pégau made an impression. Photographing it was torture. It has a big presence and was sending out enticing aromas that made us want to get straight to tasting.

From this one we learned about rapé.

Blogger Edmonton Wine Host ran a post on Plan Pégau and reported that it might contain some rapé from Pégau. He explained, "Rape means left over juice, skins or crush from a previous harvest. Also can be a winery way of 'disposing' of extra juice from an excellent harvest."

We knew about second labels, like Oregon superstar producer Owen Roe Winery's O'Reilly's line. Now we know about another way to hunt for unexpected quality at a great price. Find out if it is the baby sister in a great family.

We plan to buy more!

If you see this wine at a good price, grab it. We loved it and expect it will be just as good over the next couple of years.

What's on your wine shopping list? 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.

March 6, 2012