N.V. Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut Rosé [blend of 60 percent Pinot Noir and 40 percent Chardonnay] (Anderson Valley, North Coast, California, USA) 12% - appears pale salmon, beautiful color, lots of slowish medium bubbles moving through, smell interesting funk, peach nectar and pickles, crunchy, lots of fun on nose, mouthfeel heavy with good lifting and penetrating spritz, taste at first fleeting—some roses and peaches, skins begin to predominate and taste profile becomes heavier and more forward, crisp, savory, and interesting, full heavy flavors that I really like, tasty but strong profile, enjoyable stuff.
From producer: For color, the winemaker prepares a small portion of Pinot Noir with extended maceration and adds about five percent to the blend before secondary fermentation, imparting a subtle salmon hue. 100 percent estate grown grapes. Oak-aged wines from the Estate's reserve cellars are added to the blend, creating a multi-vintage cuvée in the traditional Roederer style. Only the cuvée (first pressing of 120 gallons/ton) is used; no premiere or deuxieme taille. The wine is then fermented at 65 degrees Fahrenheit in high-grade stainless steel tanks. Five percent Pinot Noir is added for color prior to secondary fermentation; no malolactic fermentation is used. Oak-aged reserve wines from the Estate's cellars make up 10 to 20 percent of the Rosé cuvée. 3000 cases produced
N.V. Scharffenberger Mendocino County Brut [65 percent Pinot Noir, 35 percent Chardonnay] (Mendocino County, North Coast, California, USA) 12% - appears medium gold, streams of very fast very tiny bubbles undulating rather like the streams coming from the proton-pack guns in Ghostbusters, smell simple apple and strawberries, mouthfeel scrubbing bubbles scraping the palate, taste basic fruit of apple heavily overcome by tart puckering lemon, finish of apple skins and grape skins which wasn’t exactly my thing, overall a simple wine, not objectionable, but nothing I would seek out, not the more pleasant, more rounded experience I remembered from a previous experience with this wine a few years ago. From producer: individually bottle-fermented, 100 percent malolactic fermentation, 2 years on the lees
2004 Domaine Rolet Crémant du Jura Coeur de Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs Brut (Crémant du Jura AOC, Jura, France) 12.5%, imported to USA by Simon “N” Cellars, Charlottesville, Virginia – appears pale gold, good stream of small bubbles, smell very full and very fragrant, quite interesting lime, super juicy, floral, faint pastry, very delicious on the nose alone, could easily just sniff it for awhile, mouthfeel full, quite filling and rounded, great presence and texture, taste bit yeasty upfront, then quickly very juicy, tart, some slight stones, bit tight, this stuff is refreshing and a wonderful wine to spend as much time as you can with, it paired well with some spicy Thai food including drunken noodle and crispy duck, but was absolutely divine with cheesecake—it exuded a wonderfully complex lemon component, I have never had sparkling wine from Jura before, but if this is a harbinger of the potential, I am hooked, for the $25 I paid, I’d gladly have this bottle again