WTN: All that glitters is not champagne

[Jenise]

Fun tasting for sparkling wines that aren't champagne. If a champagne showed up, it would be a ringer. All wines were served blind.

2009 Marques de la Concordia Cava, Reserva
Very dry, lemon and spice, without that bitter RS finish so many Spanish sparklers have. Very good at around $15 retail.

NV La Davina, Loire Valley (30% Folle Blanc, 30% chardonnay, 20% melon, 25% cab franc, 5% pinot noir)
Very dry, nicely balanced. None of us could figure out what it was, but all agreed that the wine in the bottle tasted a lot more serious than the goofy label suggested it would be. Retails around $20.

NV Jansz,(blanc de noir) Tasmania
Very dry, fruit shows apple and ranier cherry. Creamy, elegant in the mouth, with classic brioche toastiness. Very French, though not the Frenchiest of the night.

Brun FRV 100
This gamay based wine was a pretty bluish pink. Sweetish with strawberry Jolly Rancher soda-pop flavors. I'm not a fan, but it was killer with Mark's bacon-wrapped date appetizer.

2012 Luigi Giordano Brut (Nebbiolo), Piedmont
Super pale pink. Tinny at first, yeasty, classy, wonderful.

NV Dr. Deinhard Extra Brut (Reisling), Germany
White grapefruit and RS finish. Gabe described 'Extra Brut' as meaning dryer-than-Brut, but based on the finish, one wonders if that's right.

NV Analemma (Blanc de Noir), Columbia Gorge, Washington
Very nice. Not a ringer for French, but it's certainly the most impressive Washington sparkler I've had. And I've had two.

NV Roederer Anderson Valley
Simple, cremant-like with a lot of RS on the finish. Not at all typical of what any of us expect of the brand.

NV Broglia La Meirana, Gavi, (Cortese)
This one had us running in circles. Honeydew melon, lemon lime palate, earthy dirt finish, fresh, chamomile, Pledge. Odd overall, but we liked it.

NV Kiralyudvar, Hungary, (Tokaji)
Wine of the night on a lot of levels. 1) It was OUTSTANDING. 2) The entire planet was exhausted before the group figured out to much shock and surprise what it was and where it came from, so as high as it gets on the fun-o-meter. (It was my wine, so I had the fun of saying "no" a bazillion times.) Dry but rich, full bodied with apple, quince, ripe yellow pear, candle wax, and lemon curd/puff pastry turnover. First bottle drained. MUST. FIND. MORE.

NV La Cueille Bugey-Cerdon
Deep light red in color, if that's not contradictory. Funky nose with rich strawberries, like the macerated ones you scoop over shortcake, and some spice. Terrific; one of the best Bugeys I've ever had.

NV Knot 'Halyard', (blanc de noir), Napa
Rich gold color. Grand cru level concentration with good minerality and persistent fine bubble. "If one wine tonight's a ringer, this is it", announced one taster to unanimous agreement. My wine, great fun to show the ITB guys an outstanding California sparkler they didn't even know existed.

NV Montagnieu Brut, (chardonnay and altesse), Jura (Bugey)
Crushed oyster shells and fresh green grass, briney and clean. First guess was Muscadet, not that any of us knew a sparkling Muscadet exists, we didn't, but the flavors were right up that alley.

Great, really varied list of non-champagne sparklers. Sounds like a fun night! A Hungarian sparkler would definitely be a real challenge to guess! Good luck finding more...

[Jenise]

John, you're so right. I was really impressed with the degree of variation people came up with.

My wines were the Tasmanian, the Hungarian and the Halyard from California, so all mine showed well. Bought the Hungarian wine in Beverly Hills last week so I actually do have a possible opportunity to get more and am going to pursue that. The Tasmanian only cost around $25 at Everything Wine not far from you in Morgan's Crossing, so definitely procurable again. I'd bought that previously in the States and been similarly impressed, so can vouch that the Canadian price is very fair and, in fact, a bargain.

Are you in town?

Nice notes, thanks
I've generally liked the Roederer a bit more than you did.
I like the FRV100 (you have to pronounce letters/# in French) but agree it's not very attractive on its own, but very good with certain foods. A picnic standard here.

[David M. Bueker]

Very surprised by the Roederer showing. I do agree it's a bit sweeter than I might prefer, but it's pretty much the class of CA IMO, especially at the price point.

[Jenise]

Very surprised by the Roederer showing. I do agree it's a bit sweeter than I might prefer, but it's pretty much the class of CA IMO, especially at the price point.

This bottle sure didn't show well. We were all pretty surprised.

[David M. Bueker]

I wonder if it was heat damaged.

[Jenise]

We wondered about that too. Didn't taste cooked, per se, just on the flabby side. Perhaps the best word to sum it up would be 'spineless'.

[David M. Bueker]

I have seen that from mild or recent cooking.