My NYE sparkling wine contribution
New Year’s Eve: Deborah and I went to Phil & Meg’s for dinner. We brought a huge salad, a Costco apple pie (amazing!) and two sparkling wines – Trius Showcase Pinot and Harrow & Hope Brut Rosé (from Marlow, England).
Here I tasted Collet Brut Rosé Champagne; Anatolikos Vineyards Malagousia 2022; Tantalus Blanc de Blancs (Okanagan); Panizzi Vernaccia de San Gimignano Riserva 2017; Viña Costeira La Barossa Albariño 2021; Coraz de Puenta del Ea 2019 (Rioja); Patrick Jasmin Côte Rôtie (couldn’t see the vintage because the label was scuffed but it had some age); and Spinifex La Maline Barossa 2008 (Syrah/Viognier); and (with the apple pie and whipped cream) Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine 1997.
Tuesday, January 2nd: Our friend Leonard from Belgium arrived to stay with us for a couple of nights. He brought with him Belgian chocolates and a Belgian herb-flavoured liqueur Elixir d’Anvers and two bottles of Belgian wine from an urban boutique winery in Antwerp. The wines are bottled under the Chansaar label. The white is a blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Solaris, Sirius, Bacchus, Phoenix, Orion and Pinot Gris. The red, Pinot Noir and Regent. Patrick Nijs is both the winegrower and the winemaker.
Wednesday, January 3rd: Since Leonard is a lover of fine wines, I pulled out a treasure from my cellar, which we served with steak: Château Lafite Rothschild 1989 (it was fabulous!).
Too good not to show the colour!
Leonard preparing the French fries (in Antwerp he has a shop that sells French fries)
The wine we drank while cooking was from Quebec: Vignoble Picbois 2022, a blend of Vidal, Seyval Blanc and Geisenheim: pale straw in colour with a minerally, lanolin and citrus nose; medium-bodied, just off-dry with a lemony, white peach and lanolin flavour; well-balanced, good length. (89)
Other wines tasted (with dinner) this past week: Big Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2016; Exultet Estates The Blessed Chardonnay 2019; Bachelder Lowry 1984 Plantation’ Old Vines Pinot Noir 2018.
