After what amounted to effectively two days of children's birthdays-including an evening marked by petrol fumes among other things-I guess that's a weekend visiting the family... My wife and I finally "escape"back home. We decide to open up a bottle of Spanish Cava a good friend gave us for as a wedding present. he got it for us during the holiday season when he traveled to his home in Barcelona.
I decided to open the 2002 Recaredo Brut de Brut Gran Reserva since I had meant to do this about a month earlier, but things just didn't "line up". I had a sip right after opening at cellar temperature, and I noticed a familiar characteristic of just about every Cava I taste: crisp with a "certain" taste that I don't necessarily like. It's a sharp acid with a grassy note that I can only describe as sharp asparagus. The first thing that came up as a correlation was Freixenet. Although I have not had one in many years, it reminded me of the taste that kind of drove me away from Cava for many years. My wife decided to open a triple cream French cheese (Fromage d' Avingnon), and the wine had a most interesting effect on it: it altered the cheese's flavor to match the basic flavor profile of an Eppoises, but more subdued.
If you ever had an Eppoises cheese, you know what I speak of. I simply could not believe the change in the taste profile. I tried the cheese by itself, and the profile was gone! Immediately after I took another sip of the Cava, the same profile returned. It was a pleasant surprise, especially since I am not particularly fond of that typical Cava flavor. I like Eppoises, but I don't like that Cava profile. I'm just used to finding that flavor only on that cheese, and amenable only to burgundy wine. It definitely caught me off-guard.
I'm a little disappointed that I didn't like the wine. The reason is that My friend and I both love sparkling wines, and we have very similar tastes (judging from comments we shared in a Champagne tasting party I hosted). I promised him I'd give him my opinion, and unfortunately, I don't think he's going to like it. :(
Ah, yes... I was watching the Melbourne Gran Prix. It started pretty wet and crazy, but it ended quite well. Jason Button came away with the win. I was not thrilled with Hamilton's attitude toward his team on the radio Must have been his frustration, I suppose. Kobiyashi's wing failure produced a bad crash, and poor Vettel simply cannot complete a race so far this season. I am confident he'll finish well this season, and will soon become a champion. He reminds me of a young Schumacher back in the Benetton days... I wish him the very best.
