Tag: Haverhill

  • Here’s to April with a Glass of Dibon Cava Brut Reserve, a Can’t Miss Favorite!

    When we set out to make 2018 a year of celebrating some of the best, most memorable sparkling wines we’ve tasted during the years of keeping Our Sparking Resolution, Dibon Cava Brut Reserve immediately came to mind.

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    Not only is this a perfect, everyday bubbly that’s very reasonably priced, but it’s also extremely versatile and an exceptionally handy sparkler to have on hand at all times. We’ve seen Dibon used as a mixer at some top restaurant bars. And, when one prestigious eatery first came to Boston a few years ago, it charged more for a glass of Debon than for the entire bottle! (Perhaps an oversight, however it did give us some idea of the markup they were using on wines.)  

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    It’s a wine we often recommend to anyone who likes bubbly whether a lifelong aficionado or someone just beginning to explore sparklers. It’s a great way to share with friends (Our Westie Poppy gifted a bottle to her favorite butcher and he is now a Dibon fan.) It's also a great way to make new friends as you share not only a bottle, but also show them how delicious a value wine can be.

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    Another plus, in this year of old friends, is that Dibon comes from another favorite, trusted, and local importer, OZ Wine Company of Haverhill, MA. Our many OZ experiences make up happy to choose any wine from this line when we explore a shop or wine list. (We do wish wine lists included categories for some of the great importers.)

    Here's some of what we said in our first post about this outstanding cava:

    "If 'balance' is a fault, then it’s this wine’s only fault! It will please a wide range of tastes …"

    "It's light, refreshing, and inviting. Very food-friendly …" 

    "Dibon Cava would be a perfect opener for a party, at a restaurant with friends, to begin a meal or an evening. And, a special way to celebrate the start of a new month. Salud!"

    Related:

    Our Sparkling Resolution

    Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

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

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino (Top) The others are courtesy of Dibon.

  • Pinot Meunier Lands Lead Role in Champagne Laherte Frères!

    Consider this your invitation to November’s opening of Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut. We’ve saved you a choice seat for this sparkling performance that has charmed critics around the globe.

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    Our BostonZest reviewers have nothing but praise for the delightful lead role so skillfully delivered by Pinot Meunier – usually offering a talented, but limited, supporting role in many a Champagne blend. 

    Here, the Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut blend is:

            60% Pinot Meunier

            30% Chardonnay

            10% Pinot Noir

    CHE_1903

    We were impressed by:

    • A toasty, chalky nose
    • A big pop of flavor as soon as the wine hits your palate
    • You might think it was a Rosé with that first burst of fruit – it was the Pinot Meunier taking a bow!
    • Good acidity and tiny bubbles
    • A lovely Champagne with a personality all its own
    • This wine could develop a cult following
    • We liked its flavor profile best when served at about 55º F

    The winemaker points to, “… a subtle blend of our three varieties and the diversity of our Terroirs: a fine and complex blending with fruitiness and delicacy.” 

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    Other applause from well-known reviewers:

    Wine Spectator, “Well-spiced and mouthwatering, offers a finely detailed bead and expressive flavors of black raspberry, dried apricot, orange blossom, fleur de sel and crystallized honey, minerally on the finish. 92 / 100.

    Antonio Galloni – Vinous: 90 /100

    Jancis Robinson: rating 16 / 20

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    It should also be said that this sparkler is imported by Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. To us, seeing the Oz name on a bottle always means quality and that we’re likely to enjoy his selection.

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    We purchased our bottle of Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut at City Liquors in Cambridge for $45. Penny was told it has become a favorite of sommeliers in Europe.

    Here’s to the very important month of November! Santé! 

    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: © 2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

  • Pinot Meunier Lands Lead Role in Champagne Laherte Frères!

    Consider this your invitation to November’s opening of Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut. We’ve saved you a choice seat for this sparkling performance that has charmed critics around the globe.

    IMG_3713

    Our BostonZest reviewers have nothing but praise for the delightful lead role so skillfully delivered by Pinot Meunier – usually offering a talented, but limited, supporting role in many a Champagne blend. 

    Here, the Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut blend is:

            60% Pinot Meunier

            30% Chardonnay

            10% Pinot Noir

    CHE_1903

    We were impressed by:

    • A toasty, chalky nose
    • A big pop of flavor as soon as the wine hits your palate
    • You might think it was a Rosé with that first burst of fruit – it was the Pinot Meunier taking a bow!
    • Good acidity and tiny bubbles
    • A lovely Champagne with a personality all its own
    • This wine could develop a cult following
    • We liked its flavor profile best when served at about 55º F

    The winemaker points to, “… a subtle blend of our three varieties and the diversity of our Terroirs: a fine and complex blending with fruitiness and delicacy.” 

    IMG_3711

    Other applause from well-known reviewers:

    Wine Spectator, “Well-spiced and mouthwatering, offers a finely detailed bead and expressive flavors of black raspberry, dried apricot, orange blossom, fleur de sel and crystallized honey, minerally on the finish. 92 / 100.

    Antonio Galloni – Vinous: 90 /100

    Jancis Robinson: rating 16 / 20

      IMG_3703

    It should also be said that this sparkler is imported by Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. To us, seeing the Oz name on a bottle always means quality and that we’re likely to enjoy his selection.

    CHE_1899

    We purchased our bottle of Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut at City Liquors in Cambridge for $45. Penny was told it has become a favorite of sommeliers in Europe.

    Here’s to the very important month of November! Santé! 

    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: © 2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

  • Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

    DSC_6393 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

    It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

    DSC_6379 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines. 

    "Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

    He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

    Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

    "There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

    DSC_6397 - Version 32012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Winemaker's Tasting Notes

    Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

    What makes this Portuguese wine special?

    Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

    Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

    And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution   

    Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.


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


  • Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

    DSC_6393 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

    It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

    DSC_6379 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines. 

    "Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

    He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

    Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

    "There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

    DSC_6397 - Version 32012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Winemaker's Tasting Notes

    Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

    What makes this Portuguese wine special?

    Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

    Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

    And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution   

    Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.


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