WTN: Sparkler, Bordeaux & Spanish white

Tried all of these over the weekend

<b>'96 DVX by Mumm, Cuvee Napa</b>: Not a major fan of west coast sparklers but this may change my mind. Loads of small bubbles, light bodied with excellent acidity and overal complex palate. The wine was very much in balance with good acidity, nice fruit, some yeastiness, a pleasant finish and this light bodied sparkler was going to age gracefully for a few more years. Served with Chinese takeout from our favorite oriental restaurant. Case price for this wine was under $20 as a distributor was dumping it because noone would pay the $40 retail for vintage west coast sparklers. Went back and got a case of 6 bottles.

<b>'95 YASA old vine Macabeo</b>: Bought this on the recs of my wine shop and after chilling for about 2 hours opened it and immediately had a glass, forming a less than average opinion. Several mistakes, first tasted it too cold and second the wine is so young that if ever there was a white in need of splash decanting this is one. Put the wine back in the refrigerator and the next day set it out for about 30 minutes and poured a second glass. The wine was now showing earthy flavors with nice minerality, something like a southern Rhone white. The longer it set in the glass the more weight the wine put on and ended up as a very interesting and pleasant drink. It is not fruit driven, very complex, saw no oak but reminds you of soil and rocks. Fun to try different European grapes and this one is supposed to grow more like a bush than a typical grape vine. I like this wine and will go back for $8 per bottle but this time know how to serve it. The wine was a Kysella import. YASA also makes a red, think it is predominately grenache, but much too goopy for my palate.

<b>'90 Simard</b>: After an evening where some very pleasant hosts tried to ruin our taste buds with bad food my wife and I decided we needed a nice wine and a simple meal outside next to the fire pit. Fresh figs and a ripe Brie started the evening and herb crusted lamb chops, salad with the last local tomatoes with my first bread of the winter season finished the dinner. The descriptor that jumps out on the '90 Simard was rustic. I kept going back to "rustic" and it reminded me of an '83 Graves, not a fruit forward '90 St. Emilion. Very dark fruit, loads of chocolate and a medium finish. We both enjoyed the wine and had no trouble finishing the bottle, just not what was expected.

Walt

Nice notes Walt. I am intrigued with the note on the YASA. We get quite a few of the Kysela imports locally, but I have not seen this one. Can you tell me where the wine is from. A cursory look at the Kysela web page under France did not disclose this wine. Thanks for any info.

Disregard my previous Walt. I have googled and found YASA to be a spanish wine.

Bob,
Sorry should have been more specific and comparing it to a So Rhone white did not help. As a final point, on day three I had the last glass in the bottle and it was the best. For $8 this is not a "wine of the century" but an interesting drink and far more than you would expect, just may want to decantg or open in about 6 months.
Walt

Thanks Walt, I will look for it locally. I know that my local BAWS does a lot of business with Kysela.