Lovely Bubbly

Description

“My only regret in life is not drinking more champagne” Non, pas moi!
Attributed to John Maynard Keyes

Lovely jubbly -have no regrets & treat yourself to this daringly different selection of six bottles of my current favourite, & loveliest bubblies.

Frassinelli Prosecco Rose

Grape variety: Pinot Noir, Glera
Country of origin: Italy
Region: Marca Trevigiana
Vintage: NV
ABV: 11%
Charming Prosecco producers par excellence Roberta & Gianluca’s family tipple, is this delightful refreshing red berry & cherry scented Prosecco Rose, drink it on the piazza with a pizza.

Raventos Blanc de Blancs

Grape variety: Macabau,Xarello,Parellada
Country of origin: Spain
Region: Penedes
Vintage: 2016
ABV: 12%
With a proud unbroken history of wine production back to 1497 and a time when Colombus was discovering the Americas. Today Raventos is a model in sustainability. Biodynamic principles are incorporated in a system they term ‘Biosynergy’ which they use in the production of these terroir driven, sparkling wines. Great word, great fizz!

Francesco Bellei Pignoletto

Grape variety: Pignoletto
Country of origin: Italy
Region: Modena
Vintage: 2018
ABV: 11.5%
Got Prosecco fatigue? Then this is for you. Guiseppe Bellei was a pioneer of the ‘ancestrale’ method of sparkling wine production in the 1970’s when said Prosecco, made from the Glera grape, was not even a twinkle in the eye of the Harrys Bar mixologist who was to devise the game changing Bellini apero cocktail that conquered the world. Fermented naturally in a rather impressive bottle with no added sugar its lightly hazy and dry with mineral laden cut, great with antipasti fritto misto or just a good olive will suffice.

Henners Native Grace

Grape variety: Chardonnay & Pinot Meunier
Country of origin: England
Region: Sussex
Vintage: 2013
ABV: 12%
From a limited production of just 2900 bottles, not 29 million which is the average annual production of Moet et Chandon! This is for me certainly one, if not the, best English sparkling wine. 2013 provided the perfect conditions for this full, complex fizz. Autolytic with toasty brioche aromas, fine boned and with very good structure it will be interesting to see how this ages. With a superb illustrated label from the English naturalist & craftsmen Thomas Bewick, pour a glass, wander lonely as a cloud… In your back garden and forget Brexit ever happened…

Gallimard Champagne Brut Rose

Grape variety: Pinot Noir Chardonnay
Country of origin: France
Region: Aube
Vintage: 2014
ABV: 12%
Proud Champagne producers for six generations, excellent quality Pinot Noir is the key to this full flavoured traditionally styled coppery rose, pink it is not, not that there is anything wrong with pink, its just that this is not pink.

Soutiran Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs

Grape variety: Chardonnay
Country of origin: France
Region: Ambonnay
Vintage: 2008
ABV: 12.5%
On the Soutiran website it states “Champagne is a great wine” – allow me to explain. The chalk based Grand Cru terroir of Ambonnay has soil particularly rich in marine fossils (coccolite) that provide trace elements of magnesium and salty iodized notes which are perfectly realised in this superb Chardonnay based (rare for Ambonnay) gastronomic Champagne. From 2008, one of the greatest recent vintages, the base wines are fermented in barrel before blending and long ageing, in this case 10 years or more on the lees, before degorgement, as Soutiran say “time is one of the most important raw materials”.
And what of the resultant wine/champagne . . I hear you ask? I’m thinking along the lines of Corton Charlemagne meets Krug on the Montagne de Reims – and no, I’m not kidding.