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Moet & Chandon Champagne Imperial

A birthday celebration is always more complete with champagne, particularly one as amazing as this one.  The Moet & Chandon Champagne Imperialwas a gift from dear friends, and was a great accompaniment for fresh sushi (courtesy of Kurumi).  We popped this bubbly and hit the chopsticks with big smiles.  It was light, fruity, and had a deft touch that helped make the night into a memory.  Here’s what the big shots say about it:

Moet & Chandon Champagne Imperial

Moet & Chandon Champagne Imperial

The color is an elegant golden straw yellow with amber highlights. Its aromas are radiant, revealing bright yellow-fleshed fruits (i.e., apple, pear, yellow peach), honey, floral nuances (e.g., lime blossom) and elegant blond notes (i.e., brioche and fresh nuts). The palate is seductive, richly flavorful and smooth combining generosity and subtlety, fullness and vigor, followed by a delicately fresh crispiness (fruit with seeds), to reveal the magical balance of champagne.

A must-have again soon!

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Santa Julia Malbec Reserva 2009

Santa Julia Reserva - Malbec Argentina

Santa Julia Reserva - Malbec Argentina

This Argentinian malbec we recently enjoyed…like many others, as a celebration for making it through our respective work weeks.  I do not recall what food accompanied this delicious treat, but know this bottle we would gladly do again–soon!  Definitely lighter than a cab or a merlot, and slightly weightier than a pinot noir.

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Horse Heavens Hills 2009 Les Chevaux Red Wine

This deep, rich red blend caught our attention at our local Bottle King, where its 90 point Wine Spectator rating was being promoted.  We uncorked and, not waiting even five minutes for the wine to breathe, sipped immediately–it was really heavy by comparison to the pinot noir that usually appeals to us.  And here’s why:

34% Cabernet Sauvignon
34% Merlot
18% Syrah
10% Malbec
3% Cabernet Franc

And it is aged in both French and American oak barrels for 18 months.  We sipped while enjoying shrimp cocktail and then gourmet grilled cheese (mozzarella cheese, basil, and roasted red peppers) sandwiches with seasoned potato wedges.  Kicked up comfort food to ease us into the weekend.

Horse Heaven Hills 2009 Red Wine

Horse Heaven Hills 2009 Les Chevaux Red Wine.

Not sure how much of this is marketing and how much the actual truth, but this is the brief summary of the wine and the region from the bottle itself: “Washington state’s famed Horse Heaven Hills, named for the wild horses that once roamed this area, have been home to the Columbia Crest winery for over two decades.  Our winemaker blends innovation and tradition to capture this unique basalt and bedrock terroir creating wines that highlight the intensity of these grapes. Les Chevaux (French for ‘the horses’) is a special blend of varietals from the Horse Heaven Hills AVA and personifies the legacy of the wild horses that once roamed this fabled area.”

Was fun and would be a treat to serve, but we would probably opt for something a little lighter in this situation next time.

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Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label

Veuve Clicquot Champagne enjoyed to ring in 2012

We had this delicious champagne–a favorite of Bec’s–to celebrate the start of 2012!  Having slipped away to upstate New York, we were staying at the “Sky & Water House” near Woodstock for the occasion with our friends Angela and George.   It was a nice place and we enjoyed thoroughly the peace and the quiet afforded by the place.

Veuve is amazing under any circumstances, and certainly a great treat to celebrate such a milestone as the coming of the new year.  Our dinner consisted of steak (grilled on our deck!), fresh asparagus, and even sweet potato fries.  All were great but none so much as the champagne and the New Year’s celebration.

The winemaker itself writes as follows: “Clicquot’s signature Brut is loved all over the world for its crisp, full flavors, consistent quality and celebratory yellow label.  This classical dry champagne is a blend of two thirds black grapes (pinot noir and pinot meunier)  for body, balanced with one third chardonnay for elegance.  It has a fine, persistent sparkle and golden champagne color.“

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Buena Vista Ramal Vineyard 2008 Pinot Noir

One of our absolute favorites, from our trip out to the Carneros region of Sonoma Valley several years ago, is the Buena Vista pinot noir–this one from their Ramal Vineyard.  It’s so smooth, so polished.  While lacking the wine taster’s vocabulary or lexicon to adequately describe this pinot noir, I can say that I’ve never tasted its equal in all the pinot noir’s I’ve had.

This time enjoyed in the Catskills at the “Sky & Water House”, Becca and I had this Buena Vista while readying for the New Year’s holiday. A tray of italian peppers, onions, and sausage accompanied this particular bottle–which we started with hors d’oeuvres and finished after dinner in the great outdoors.

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Estancia Pinot Noir 2010

Estancia Pinot Noir

This enjoyable Central Coast pinot noir we enjoyed (okay, several of them) with Christmas dinner with the Heuseveldts and both Ma and Steve.  My brother had picked this out previously and knew it would definitely be a hit while we celebrated the holiday.  I think the delicious spread included the pinot, a perfectly cooked prime rib, smashed potatoes, a cheesy-cauliflower vegetable medley that Ma prepared, some scrumptious breads, and a light but tasty green salad (with dried cranberries!) that Laura had whipped up.

I didn’t actually remember to shoot the bottle until after we left our hosts’ house so I’m guessing on the year based on what I presume Steve paid, and this label is from an online source rather than showing our actual spread.  It was a fun and delicious wine to accompany our fun and festive dinner–the only shame being that we didn’t have more than the three (3) bottles to enjoy!  I don’t see this offered downstate here in NJ as much as I do up in Rochester but I’d gladly buy and drink it again!

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Tosca Prosecco

Prosecco Tosca

While shopping for holiday wines at our local Bottle King, I had an idea that a prosecco would be a fun buy…possibly as an after dinner drink but just perhaps to jumpstart the day in a mimosa or two.  This one is from the Prosecco de Valdobbiadene region, Veneto, Italy and, according to Wine Buyer, is supposed to be “…fresh peaches and apricots with a hint of nuts and fruit on the nose, clean and refreshing.”

Historically speaking, Prosecco is the name of the wine, the grape from which it is made,  and the town where the grape is believed to have originated.  The wine has a long pedigree, stretching back to the Roman Empire, and was our breakfast treat.  We did ultimately rock the mimosas, having them together with our traditional egg casserole, slices of cinnamon roll, fresh berries, and lemon scones.  Each of us poured his or her Prosecco to taste and it was a fun way to begin celebrating Christmas.

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Henry of Pelham 2009 Pinot Noir

Forgot to take a photo of this pinot noir (I think it is the 2009) that we enjoyed on Christmas Eve in Rochester, NY, with family.  The experts say it has “medium, ruby red color, with aromas of raspberry, cherry, and spice with light, tobacco notes; dry, medium-bodied, quite fruity with oak notes on the finish.”

Now, I don’t know all that, but I do know it was delicious and I’d gladly enjoy another bottle.  Dad poured, Pat cheffed it all up, and the whole family traded stories and smiles while noshing down on seafood newburg, asparagus, delicious bread, olives, and some of the most perfectly cooked prime rib I’ve ever eaten.  Perhaps the end of a tradition, the above, but hoping the Pelham makes it on to whatever the future holds for us all!

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Finca Copete Malbec 2009

This malbec we had over the course of two nights.  We opened this originally to enjoy with a pork loin–really perfectly cooked–and a fresh salad of mixed greens, sliced apples, and crumbled blue cheese.  The food was great but the wine needed more time to breathe.  Thus, we pulled it again a night later, after working through appetizers and a bottle of Mark West pinot noir, and finished the malbec with ravioli.  We like a malbec and thus had to give it a try but probably would put others on the list ahead of this one.

Finca Copete Malbec 2009