WTN: Red wine with bubbles

[David M. Bueker]

Soutiran Brut Rosé Grand Cru
This was consumed over 2 nights, as on the first night it clashed quite badly with the food. Luckily it held up well in a stoppered bottle overnight. I don't think I had ever had as dark a rosé Champagnes as this. It was more of a red cherry color than anything in the say salmon pink range. It was also more than al ittle tannic, with that roughness being one of the main things that clashed with the food on the first evening. Sipped mostly on its own on night two the roughness had softened a bit, and the wine's red fruit tones blossomed though it was still chalky and tannic. It was much better cold versus cool. Overall kind of an odd showing.

Hi David -

Thank you for the interesting note. Don't know if I would like this Champagne, though, after reading how roughly it showed.

David: you owe it to yourself to find a good red sparkling Baga from Bairrada in Portugal. The current release of Sao Domingos is available here (NJ) for around $12 and is a pretty interesting wine - Baga, unlike Pinot Noir, is a fiecely tannic grape. You need a roast suckling pig to eat when drinking this.