Jadot Moulin-à-Vent Château des Jacques 2002
Quite a perfect Beaujolais. If anyone needs to be convinced that Bojo can be a truly great wine, I'll treat them to this property. A slightly vegetal nose of minerals, sweet yet savoury fruit, raspberry and earth - complex and deep and satisfying. The palate is too young, rather tannic, with the loveliest acidity, very savoury yet sweetly fruity, mineral and immensely long yet so true to Gamay. Lovely, utterly lovely. And best of all, Suvi loved it also!
The sommelier at Carelia, Tuomo Laitinen, is a very nice chap. I hadn't noticed him in the restaurant at all, but after we had finished our meal, he came out (not dressed to serve) and gave us two blind wines:
Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs
A light, slightly vanillary nose, rather Champagne like, but from a warm year. Fine mousse: intense but small. Nutty, broadly fruity, expressive and elegant despite its size. Very nice stuff. Impressive. I suppose the huge fruit should have warned me away from Champ, but no. This is superb stuff.
Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs
I wasn't quite so impressed with this. The nose was more open and expressive, with BdN aromas of figs and flowers, but the mousse wasn't so elegant as with the BdB and the palate, though not clunky, just wasn't as elegant as with the BdB.
Both the BdB and the BdN had a surprsingly Champ-like aura to them - I think both were superb sparklers.
-Otto-