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