Virtual Tasting for Charity Week 6, Dec 27th - Jan 3rd : What else but Sparklers? But especially rosé ones

WINE TALK
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Well we’re at week 6, and hopefully still going strong as we run up to and through New Year. And I hope you’ll be happy to support a rather desperate group of people in my part of the world.

The theme for this week is, of course, sparkling wine of any sort because 'tis the season for it. But especially rosé fizz, because it’s a favourite of mine, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen people in champagne tastings say “I really should drink more rosé”!

The charity I would like to support is Bethune House.

My home, Hong Kong, is an odd place in many ways, but one of the most noticeable is that a huge proportion of the middle- and upper-class households here are heavily dependant on what are known as “Foreign Domestic Helpers” - women (almost entirely) from The Philippines, Indonesia and a few other countries. They live in their employers’ homes, and act as cooks, cleaners and nannies, enabling both adults in a household to work full time. Often they have to look after the grandparents as well. Many of them work very long hours, but they do it because the money they get (currently about US$650/month plus generally very basic accommodation and food) is significantly more than they could earn at home.

When this works well everyone is happy, but, in the cramped accommodation that many have in Hong Kong, or even simply when they get ill, things sometimes go badly wrong. And with roughly 500,000 FDHs in this city there are quite a few every month who find themselves assaulted, abused, unpaid, or simply kicked out on the streets. And this is where Bethune House steps in - they provide a refuge for women in dire straits who need help to find legal advice, perhaps medical attention, or simply a roof over their heads. And they are supported entirely by charitable donations.

So, my Donation to this great cause will be:
HK$15 (about US$2) for each Tasting Note of a sparkling wine you add to this thread
HK$30 if the sparkling wine is a rosé (including Oeil de Perdrix champagne)
An extra HK$15 in each case if accompanied by a photo of both the bottle and the taster

If you make a donation direct to Bethune House then let me know and I will match it up to HK$800/US$100 each time.

Thanks in advance for supporting these women in their time of need, and I look forward to joining you in lots of virtual (rosé) sparkling tastings! :clinking_glasses:

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So, since it’s already the 27th here I’ll kick things off with a really very excellent rosé champagne:

  • NV Minière F & R Champagne Influence Brut Rosé - France, Champagne (27/12/2023)
    28/41/31 PN//PM/C. 6% PN Coteaux Champenois. 76/24% 2017/2016. 8 months in oak; no malo. Bottled 6/2018. Disgorged 8/2021; dosage 3.8g/l

    This is an excellent fizz. The nose is surprisingly buttery given the "no malo", plus some saline freshness. The palate has wild strawberries, some minerality, some blood orange citrus; nice complexity. The finish is quite long, but the weak point of this wine for me is that it ends on a slightly cloying note which seems strangely out line with the professed 3.8g dosage. (I note that the data on the producer website claims 8g/l dosage for whatever batch was current then.)

    Overall this is probably a rebuy (at the ~US$57 I paid), but it needs to be drunk with food given the way it finishes; this is not an aperitif wine. (91 points)

And a very dodgy attempt at a selfie out of my window looking over Hong Kong harbour. This would work better before midnight when they switch many of the building illuminations off…

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Bump, bump, bump…! I’m in for $800HK

Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks Brian - very much appreciate the support - I’ll add my matching $800 into the total at the end of the week.

And I very much enjoyed a couple of bottles of that earlier this year too.

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I guess people are taking a break between Xmas and New Year, or maybe it’s just going to be a very quiet week here…

Anyway, this evening:

  • NV Robert Barbichon Champagne Rosé de Saignée - France, Champagne (28/12/2023)
    Again the 12/1/2021 disgorgement entirely from the 2017 harvest.

    This bottle is similar to the one in October: dark red fruit and chalk on the nose; fruit on the palate tending towards dark red cherries and ahints of raspberry and strawberry; minerality and light tannins appearing after the fruit and persisting into the quite long finish.

    As always, this is an interesting wine - not one I'll buy cases of, but worth dipping into from time to time as a slightly different aperitif or with, perhaps, roast lamb or some other dish where a light red wine might also be appropriate. (89 points)

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Tried this bottle of traditional method Cremant de Jura from Rolet. Good stuff! If I had tasted blind, I’d have said Champagne as it shows a nice chalky mineral note and some classic brioche. After that, there’s not a ton of complexity - the fruit stays in the lemon, lemon pastry realm without going much deeper, but it’s still nicely balanced with much better acidity than I often find from sparkling wines outside champagne. I’d happily buy this again. Tossed the bottle before I could get a picture of it including myself, but maybe that vague reflection in the glass counts!

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Great cause, Paul! HK$500 donation sent!

  • 2016 Ultramarine Blanc de Noirs Heintz Vineyard Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (12/28/2023)
    Fantastic bottle. As others have noted, this is the best UM BdN I’ve had to date. Seems to be in a prime spot now. Citrus and mineral notes; a bit of richness balanced by a racy but not aggressive acidity. Paired well with fresh-out-of-the-fryer karaage.

Posted from CellarTracker

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2017 Lachini Sparkling Brut Rosé
Méthode champenoise from the Willamette Valley. Can’t find details on the blend, but the 2019 is 80%PN, 20% Chard.

PnP, temp approx 50*F.
Pretty salmon color. Short, rough mousse. Tiny sparse bead that disappeared quickly. On the nose, it comes across as medicinal. Black licorice, browned (burnt?) sage/herb, and a bit of raspberry. About a 1 hour later, it hasn’t changed too much, though the dried herb note is growing stronger. The taste is pretty consistent, with a strong herbal medicine note followed by cherry and a mandarin (?) finish. It’s not for me.

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Contadi Castaldi Franciacorta Rose
Our first Franciacorta sparkling wine. Tasty, dry, fruity, interesting. ~$25.
Recommended

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Cheers, Paul

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2009 Deutz Amour de Deutz Blanc de Blancs. Outstanding from a magnum. Creamy, concentrated yet crisp. Peaches, apples and citrus with almond biscotti scents and flavors.

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Veuve Fourny Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut:

This is rather floral and sweet on the nose, which resulted in a significant level of surprise when I took the first sip and was greeted with bracing acids and a mouthful of minerals. The austerity mostly vanished as it warmed and took on peach and orange/grapefruit notes, though it remained pleasantly bracing to the end. Nice mid-palate depth, some roundness to balance the high acidity, and a long smoky and chalky finish with remarkable salinity and a lingering note of slightly underripe pineapple. As with other wines I have tasted from this estate, it has a nice balance between juiciness, acidity, intellectual interest, and ease of drinking. A very nice bottle.

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Thanks for all the TNs so far, and especial thanks to those who have added direct contributions of their own to Bethune House (which I will match when I sum up the week).

Maybe I should just clarify what may be a lost in translation thing from English to American… When I said “An extra HK$15 in each case if accompanied by a photo of both the bottle and the taster”, by “taster” I meant the person doing the tasting; it seems that people may think I meant a glass of the wine!

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Keeping the thread alive, this evening I drank a rather generic, but perfectly serviceable rosé champagne - working well, particularly when well-chilled.

  • NV Dival Cotel Champagne Rosé Brut - France, Champagne (30/12/2023)
    This brand is actually an MA (Marque d’ Acheteur, i.e. just a marketing brand). In the very small print on the back of this bottle is shows that it is produced by the Cooperative Generale des Vignerons in Ay. There's no information on base vintages, disgorgment or even blend (except that it includes PN PM & C)

    Anyway, briefly, this is a perfectly pleasant, well-balanced rosé. Fairly mouthfilling with red fruits but (just) enough acidity to not be cloying. But really very generic. Would be a very acceptable fizz for a non-oenophile party.

    OK, but not great, QPR at the ~US$34 that I paid. (88 points)

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Haven’t forgotten about this charity theme. Glad you are giving it a couple of days after NYE because we are on the road and won’t have our bubbles until the night of 1/1/24.

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Does a mildly corked magnum count? It should, because we still drank it. Drinkable but disappointing.

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Warning: The attached label picture may cause the viewer moral outrage or sexual nostalgia.

2013 J. Lassaigne Millesime BdB, no dosage.

I’ve really enjoyed this producer’s BdB Vignes de Montgueux ever since getting tipped off to it by @Marcus_Goodfellow at few years ago. Coming from this highly acclaimed producer located in the chalky geological oddity of Montgueux, I had very high hopes for this bottling. Delicious in its own right, tart and taut, leaning a bit oxidative. It seemed to be in a ready place with nothing held at bay for the future. But after two bottles in as many months, I am ultimately disappointed. At $130, this provided no more visceral pleasure than the Vignes de Montgueux at $50. Perhaps the intellectual types would have gotten more out of it, but I’m a hedonistic drinker. And my wife didn’t say “wow.”

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Repost from the Champagne thread.

De Sousa Grand Cru Blancs de Blancs Extra Brut Reserve:

I am really enjoying this. It’s quite distinct from all the other Cote de Blancs wines I have tried to date. It has an intriguing nose of tarragon, flowers, and shrimp shell. I didn’t pick up any fruit nuance at all. In the mouth it’s immediately round but focused. There is a seamless broadening in the middle, and a rather resonant finish, but the package is rather demure in the aggregate; at once frivolous and complex. This wine delivers its complexities of apple sauce, lemon peel, pineapple, smoke, coffee, tarragon, and salt with a whisper. It rewards quiet contemplation and attention but is easy to gulp with abandon. I adore the mouthfeel and goldilocks level of density.

I am drinking this in a restaurant an am unwilling to take a selfie, but I will appeal to the refs and ask them to accept this 11 second video of me doing a happy dance when buying a bottle of Champagne at a high end grocer. It looks more like a Myoclonic seizure. View at your own risk.

:camera_flash: Watch this video on Facebook Log into Facebook | Facebook

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I don’t do social media (this requires a login to view) so I’ll have to ask others to view this and judge whether it is worthy! :grin:

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Last night’s wine, the 2017 bottling of Doyard’s Vendemiare. First bottle of this a few months ago was a little washed out at first but opened up well. This one was ready to go. Lovely brightness, great focus. Not profound but extremely good. Excellent acidity and cut, and one of our favorite blanc de blancs. Last glass tonight, what a lovely wine. Great minerality, drive, and precision.

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Happy holidays to everyone!

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It really annoys me Facebook won’t let me download my own content.

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