Family penance, Formula one, and Spanish Cava

A typical Sunday, I suppose :)

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.

Craigie Street Bistrot

I'm venturing over to the place tonight with mixed feelings. Mainly because of the online reviews I have seen. They seem to be a little "bipolar" (I loved the place..., ...the place was horrible!), so that spooks me a little. I tend to be the "devil's advocate" so when I see a bad review, I always think that there's some level of truth to what I read. We have a late (9:30) reservation with some friends from Europe, so at least I know they're used to late dinners :)

The restaurant a few blocks away from Harvard Square in what is basically a neighborhood section in the basement of an apartment building. Think "Laundry room at a large college dorm" size. There is no room for a bar or anything else except less than 15 tables. There is also no parking. They have 3 spots allocated from the building parking lot (which is not much). Most of the street parking is permit only, but you can find some spots about a block away.

When we arrived, the maitre 'd was MIA for a little bit, but once he arrived, we were seated promptly. Our waitress was very pleasant, but she had a bit of habit of interrupting our conversation. I would not characterize her as rude, more like "on auto pilot" :)

We started with a bottle of Gosset Brut and two starters: Foie gras terrine and marinated Octopus. The champagne held its own against the octopus marinade. The Foie gras was not an issue since it goes very well with bubbly. It was my first time trying the Gosset, and I was very impressed with the balance of acidity and taste. The nose had just enough amount of yeast to be noticed, but not overpowering.

For the meals, all of us at the table picked one of:

• Pork three ways
• Hanger steak
• Seared scallops

I had the steak with a little bone marrow, foie gras onions and a parsnip puree. The meat was done medium rare (as it should be), and the flavor was fantastic. The onions had just enough richness, and the parsnip was very well balanced. The pork looked beautiful (I almost got it), and everyone thought it was great. The scallops were huge, but tender and sweet. We washed the whole thing down with a 2003 St Emillion that complemented everything very well (even the scallops) with a very nice blackberry and light caramel nose, balanced tannins and good amounts of fruit.

For dessert, we had a mango and rhubarb dessert with a ginger ice cream that was lovely. The other guys has the chocolate profiteroles that I did not try, but looked very nice. We were having such a good time that we noticed that we were hanging out with the crew! We basically closed the place down, and they didn't throw us out.

I am somewhat relieved that I did not live one of the negative experiences I've read about online. I would characterize it as what I remember Hamersley's bistro in the early days, but in a smaller setting with slightly less trained staff. While the prices are typical French restaurant, they're not as evil as I had originally envisioned (cheaper than Hamersley's IMO). I would certainly go back.

Later,

Champagne Tasting Party

We had the champagne tasting party at last! Everyone enjoyed themselves quite a bit.

I kind of overdid the buying of champagnes for the party. In the end, we drank less than 12 bottles from a total of above 20. The food was also a big hit. I cooked up a storm over the 3 days before the party. I wanted to make sure everyone had enough to go with all the champagne I was planning to serve!

The wines we sampled were:

• Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut
  
• Gloria Ferrer Blanc de noirs
• Duval-Leroy NV Brut
• Pierre Peters Gran Cru NV Blanc de blancs
• Nicolas Feuillatte NV Rose
  
• Ruinart NV Rose
• Egly-Ouiret Vignes de Vigny
• Rosa Regale Brachetto (for desserts)

The vast majority of people liked the first one (much to my surprise). The reviews painted this one as a "not for everyone" type of champagne. I picked it up to make things interesting. It is very dry, since it has no dossage. It goes very well with some of food items I didn't think it would work with. I paired with popcorn, which is a very easy food to pair with sparkling wine. The choice went quite well.

The G-F is a very easy to drink choice. Good amounts of acidity, a very nice berries nose and a very smooth finish. I heard nothing bad about it. It was my second time tasting this wine, and I think that it is a very good value for the dollar($19).

Duval-Leroy is an old favorite of mine. I've mentioned it before. For some guests, it was the first time they've tried it, and they loved it also. It was a good pairing with the truffle oil risotto.

Pierre Peters is a new discovery for me. It is a very good example of a blanc de blancs from a "grower" house. Citrus and pineapple nose with a pleasant notes of bread and light lemon. Beautiful finish. Great for an appetizer or sushi. It's a little pricey these days ($55), but still well worth it.

The N-F Rose is a good rose for the money, and it pairs good with food. People liked it, but didn't love it. I have to admit: I felt the same way. This might offend some pundits, but I find Rose wines to be uninteresting. Sparling rose are all the rage now, and I think they're overrated. I still enjoy traditionally blended sparklers more.

Most of the guests didn't get to taste the Ruinart. They were starting to leave by the time I opened it. I had such high hopes for this bottle (since I almost visited the house on my trip to France), but I was disappointed. The bottle wasn't bad, but it had no great characteristic. It was average at best, compared to the other wines we had. The few guests that had it pretty much agreed. When you pay about $70 for a bottle of bubbly, "uninteresting" is not the quality you want to get out of it!

Lastly, the Egly was a nice surprise. One of the guests told me they were going to bring it. I researched it, and found it to be intriguing. It's 100% Pinot Munier, which is a "balance" grape with a grassy taste (as normally used for blending). This grower over-ripens the grape, which eliminates most of the grassy flavor. The wine had a subtle floral nose that was very unique. Nothing over-powering, but nonetheless present. The taste was more on the lines of light pears and mild biscuit. It was noticeably sweet compared to the other wines we had, but still delicate. The finish was a little short, but I didn't mind. I do not know the cost, but I think it is around $50. Not an everyday item, but very interesting indeed.

The day after the party, I opened one of the wines we never got to serve. It was a Pierre Gimonnet 1er Cru Blanc de blancs. I was a recommendation from a vendor I visited while seeking Pierre peters. It is a decent example of a blanc de blancs, but nothing exciting. I would rather have the Pierre Peters any day. This is also a pricey bottle at $55, so I would not go out of my way to have this again.

The labels for most of them are here. Some of them don't like the harvesting process, so they might look a little faded.

Champagne

A little before the holidays, I started to pay more attention to champagne.

Like most people, I paid attention to the usual suspects. My favorite used to be Veuve Clicquot NV yellow label, which is what most people know from the maker. About 2 years ago, I discovered a (then) mostly unknown maker called Duval-LeRoy, which immediately became my favorite. Today, they're getting very good publicity and fantastic reviews, so I don't think they will stay under the radar too long.

I started reading and learning about "Grower Champagne", and I was intrigued. I heard about three that were very well regarded. All of them Blanc de Blancs:

Gaston Chiquet
Pierre Peters
Jean Milan


I haven't been able to find the Gaston Chiquet. The grower has a very small operation, so the amount of bottles that come in as very small. I managed to find the standard (blended) type, but it is nearly as good as the Blanc de Blancs. I had the Pierre Peters, and it was as good as the reviews implied. It has a light citrus smell with a little hint of yeast. The taste is one of mild pineapple and citrus, and the acidity is perfect. The only bad thing is that the prices are set to jump about 30% this year due to all the "usual suspects" like a weak dollar and high fuel prices.

I have found a few other grower Champagne makers, but I haven't tried them yet. The plan is to have a tasting party and break them there. I hope they're as interesting as the ones I've had to this point.

One thing that became very obvious to me is that Champagne is a much more versatile drink than I thought. Blanc De Blancs pair very well with dishes that go with high acidity wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. After all, Blanc de Blancs are pure Chardonnay. Rose and Blanc de Noirs are great for a mid-weight meal like grilled chicken with a mild sauce as well. Based on a recommendation, I tried the California Gloria Ferrer NV Blanc de Noirs, and it was much better than expected. I found later that it has been getting great reviews. For about 20 dollars, it's a great deal.

My last bit is about dossage. For those that do not know, most sparkling wine making that follows the Methode Champenoise do a sediment purge after the first fermentation, and they usually have to add a small amount of wine to compensate for the lost volume. Most makers add a bit of sugar with the wine to trigger a second fermentation. The amount of sugar added is what is called the dossage, and it is a volumetric measure. Each class (Brut, Demi-sec, Dux) has a range, and most makers use different amount within the range. I have found that for most people, the amount of sugar almost dictates how much they like the wine when they do not know the brand they're drinking. I would think that makers would publish this information on the bottle, and in the end it would help sales. That's just my 2 cents :)