Tag: Punxsutawney Phil

Here’s to February and Early Spring with Champagne Charles de Cazanove Stradivarius
Here comes February! And, we’re reaching for another sparkling wine to welcome this often unpredictable weather month. Instead of relying on that pesky groundhog to predict an early spring and put us in a good mood, we’re placing our faith in a reliable Champagne house that has served us well.

Having featured and enjoyed the bubbles of Charles de Cazanove twice in 2015, it only makes sense that their Champagne Stradivarius has real promise (and besides, we’re intrigued by the name).

Here’s what people are saying ...

The winemaker calls Charles de Cazanove Stradivarius 2000 …
- A symphony of meaning and passion
- Its unique flavour … provides an original harmony
- Bouquet opens on ripe fruit, walnut, and almond aromas
- A powerful, hearty finish
Wine Enthusiast gave Stradivarius (91 points) describing it as a …
- Ripe, beautifully integrated Champagne
- Beginnings of nutty, toasty maturity
- Full in the mouth with a delicate and creamy mousse
- Not for aging … an impressive wine to drink now
Bauer Wine & Spirits, where we purchased our bottle, had the most intriguing tasting notes …
- Yellow-gold
- Deep, toasty aromas of orange marmalade, gingerbread, brown butter
- A hint of floral honey and a livelier touch of lemon curd
- Supple in texture and gently smoky
- Broad candied citrus, poached pear flavors, late notes of buttered toast & spices
- Fully mature Champagne finishes with strong thrust, clinging honey, pear notes & very good persistence
Talk about a morale booster, how could we pass up an opportunity like this? Our notes to follow.

Oh, and, maybe we’ll slip some to Punxsutawney Phil just to loosen the guy up, a little. Cheers!

Champagne Charles de Cazanove Stradivarius 2000

70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, 12% ABV

$49.99 @ Bauer Wine & Spirits, 330 Newbury St., Boston

UPDATE (02.01.16) –

We toasted February with the Stradivarius, then chose the descriptions from above that we think fit best.
- Definitely a unique flavor
- Almond and brown butter aromas
- Nutty, toasty maturity
- Full in the mouth
- A hint of floral honey, gently smoky
- Broad candied citrus, pear notes
- Powerful, hearty finish
While this Champagne is not the lighter, everyday style we’re accustomed to, it is a nice change on the right occasion. And with certain foods, like the French onion soup we enjoyed with it tonight, it was outstanding.

UPDATE (02.02.16) – On a personal note, Thanks Phil.

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A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wie 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

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino

Photography: © 2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino, bottle display photo courtesy of Charles de Cazanove

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February 1, 2016
Skating in Shirt Sleeves, Show This to That Groundhog!

Before we listen to the opinion of some silly rodent from Pennsylvania, I think we should slip Phil a copy of this photo of a guy skating in shirt sleeves on Boston Common on February 1, 2012!

There were also other strange phenomena in Boston yesterday. Everyone wanted to be outside to enjoy the weather. We have proof. We walked into Neptune Oyster at 12:19 pm and were greeted by one of our favorite Neptune bartenders like this!

(Needless to say, these seats soon filled in.)

So Mr Phil, no matter what you say, we're going to enjoy each sunny day until it gets too hot to indulge in long hours outside. And, if it snows some more, we'll hold you personally responsible!

We told you this was not going to be an easy call for the rodent!

Groundhog Stressed Over 2012 Prediction!

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.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: © 2012 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, 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 2, 2012
Groundhog Stressed Over 2012 Prediction!

Phil's Magic Touch! (photo by AlicePopkorn)

I can only imagine the excruciating stress Punxsutawney Phil must be feeling as Groundhog Day 2012 approaches. Let’s be honest, the little guy is faced with a very difficult prognostication! His job description states that he must work his magic to reliably determine spring’s ETA. But, this year, the question is not how much time until spring, but is there enough time left for a "real" winter!

Of course, this suggests that we’ve gone from fall to spring having somehow skipped right over winter. And, if winter finally does arrive, will there be another spring or an abrupt switch to summer? It’s no wonder rumors are spreading about Phil’s clandestine visits to a special therapist.

"Phil Who?" (photo by hynkle)

Since Phil hasn’t returned our phone calls, we’ve made repeated attempts to approach some of his rodent-relatives. After all, it’s not much of a stretch to see how the groundhog could be mistaken for a large squirrel. The problem is, all of the Boston squirrels we’ve asked don’t have any Punxutawney connections– where’s facebook when you need it?

It’s looking, more and more, as if we’ll just have to wait for February 2nd and hope that Phil comes up with a workable solution. He always does! Good Luck, buddy.

Sunday Dog will return to this space, next week.

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Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Groundhog Photo: used under this creative commons license Some rights reserved by AlicePopkorn
Squirrel Photo: used under this creative commons license Some rights reserved by hynkle

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.

January 29, 2012