H. Billiot & Fils Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé | 2000 Pierre Gimonet & Fils Champagne Fleuron Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Brut | Renardat-Fache Bugey du Cerdon | 2003 Kreglinger

Last evening was a night of great pleasures, marred only by the absence of my wife. Ed Thralls and his lovely wife played host to myself and one of the (excuse the pun) bubbliest personalities I’ve ever met, Ms. Alva. I think this is a great example of the first and most important half of the social media buzz.

Ed had reached out on Facebook for assistance in helping find a Champagne or sparkling wine that his wife enjoyed. Alva came to the rescue, offering to help a fellow oenophile in need. Alva is the co-founder of one of the most exciting events happening in 2010, the Independent Champagne and Sparkling Wine Invitational, ICSWI (ick swee) for short. She is also a very upbeat and cheery lady, who with every pop of the cork made her own sounds of glee.

Alva provided 3 bottles of sparkling, including 2 grower fizz and 1 from Tasmania. Ed provided a bottle of Bugey Cerdon, the same wine which made a strong run for the title in the Popeye’s Online Wine Pairing Challenge. In addition to the wines, he and his wife played hosts and also provided some outstanding ribs (sorry, I forget the name of the place), fresh oysters (from the shores of Texas), popcorn (yum), cheese (gruyere and Ermitage Brie) and crackers. Me, I brought my charming self of course. Oh yeah, I also brought the lightning with a box of Popeye’s spicy fried chicken.

H. Billiot & Fils Grand Cru Ambonnay Brut Rosé Champagne

First thing to notice are the Grand Cru and Ambonnay in the name. You know how the French (and for that matter, us to) like to rank things, especially their wine estates and vineyards. Well, the Champagne region is no different. The top sites are ranked Grand Cru and if you see it on the label, it means all the grapes were sourced from the highest quality vineyards (so someone says) in the land.

The wine was a beautiful rose quartz color, one of the prettiest rosés I’ve seen in a while. The nose was uniquely yeasty for this style, something I was very surprised to find since I usually associate that with older vintage wines or particular houses which age their wines longer on the lees before disgorgement. On the palate, it was filled with red fruit, touches of blood orange and a long supple finish, providing a solid tension for pairing with the ribs. Yes, ribs. I commented that if I owned a BBQ restaurant, I’d definitely feature several sparkling rosés on the menu for their are few finer pairings in the world than pork and pink bubbly. The next time you are planning on BBQ, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of pink bubbles. You are (aren’t you?) probably picking up a bottle for Valentine’s day, so go ahead and get two. This was wine of the night for me. Outstanding.

2000 Pierre Gimonet & Fils Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne Fleuron

Ahh, the wonders of Blanc de Blancs. When paired with oysters, it is like drinking how it was to watch Fred Astaire and GingerRogers float across time and space. For those of you who don’t enjoy raw oysters, I’m sorry. Perhaps you can try them steamed, grilled or fried.

Alva called this right off the bat, a wonderful note of crème brûlée that calls from the distance, like an overheard conversation on a still summer day from hundreds of yards away across an open wheat field. There was less fresh bread than I expected, though it did become more prevalent for me as the wine warmed up. One other quick note before I forget, we drank this (and the remainder) of the wines from Riedel Riesling glassware. This was suggested by Alva to help soften the bubbly wall that Ed’s wife was experiencing with her ability to enjoy Champagne. Back to the wine. I also detected strong green fruit notes, primarily granny smith apple, along with osyter shell and a spritz of ginger juice. This wine not only rocked it with the oysters, but was fantastic with the gruyere, where I got this wonderful smoked nuttiness from the combination. Outstanding.

Renardat-Fache Bugey du Cerdon

Never heard of Bugey du Cerdon? Don’t worry, hardly anyone has. It is probably one of the least known wine regions in all of France, let alone the rest of the world. The grapes in this producer’s wine are Gamay and Poulsard (woo hoo…another notch closer to the Wine Century Club mark…now where is that spreadsheet…), using a technique referred to as methode ancestral. I’m not sure why they don’t call it methode traditional, but hey, they are French after all. God bless ‘em.

This wine was paired with the Popeye’s spicy fried chicken. The nose and palate are interchangeable, with an overwhelming explosion of strawberry and watermelon concentrate. Chiming in at a very low 7.5% alcohol, the wine isn’t flabby or perceived as sweet as one might expect, but then again, we were having it with the zesty zing of Popeye’s. This wine was very easy to drink and for me, quite enjoyable. I liked the lower alcohol and can see this being consumed on many a Southern porch during the warmer times of year. I definitely prefer it with spicy food to cut the sweetness and think pad thai would be another awesome pairing. Above average.

2003 Kreglinger

Hailing from Tasmania, this 100% Pinot noir sparkler is one to throw into a blind Champagne tasting and see who separates it from the crowd. Most compelling, and I seemed to be the only one who got this, was this very green note that reminded me of a semi-sweet spearmint. I know, crazy huh? I read on their website that they described it as having whispers of nori seaweed and sea side aromas. Perhaps that was what I was smelling, though I will say I only got this in the first half of drinking the wine. On the palate, it was driven by lemons, apples and that smell of the ocean spray. A wonderful and compelling wine that will be hard to find, since I’m not even sure if they are distributed here in the US yet or not. Not my first dance with Tasmanian sparklers, this is a serious effort that James Halliday (the leading wine critic of Australian wine) scored 95 points. Outstanding.

Well, that concludes the evening. Once again, many, many thanks to Ed and his wife for hosting and to Alva for bringing the bubbly, both in the bottle and in her personality. I’m glad to have made a new friend who loves the bubbles as much, if not more, than myself.

If you want to check out the two Champagnes, they should be available at Tower or your local shop should be able to order them. The last two wines are NOT available for retail here, so you’ll have to look online.

Haiku
Champagne plus two more
Evening of bubbly fun
Wine really connects

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Cheers,
Kevin