Champagne Tasting
The more I learn about wine, the more I like K & L Wines. They have a great selection, good prices, and a very knowledgeable wine staff. Okay, sometimes the staff borders on insufferable, the wine store equivalents of the music-store workers in High Fidelity, but for the most part they know their stuff and communicate it well.
One of the best aspects of K & L, however, is their Saturday tastings. Virtually any Saturday you show up at either their San Francisco (12-3 pm) or Redwood City (1-4 pm) store, you're able to go to a tasting of at least 7 wines, usually focused on a particular region, for somewhere around $20.
Today's tasting was Champagne, in preparation for Valentine's Day. But Melissa and I are evaluating Champagnes for our wedding, so we got an extra benefit from the tasting.
Seven Champagnes later (not to mention the ones we had at the Terry Theise tasting a while back), I'm beginning to think that all Champagnes taste like bread, or dough, or yeast-ridden batters. This sort of makes sense, as the wine sits on the lees for a long period of time, but it's tough for me to get any other flavors out of a Champagne. Even the chalk soil that Champagne has in abundance doesn't come through in the wine. My tasting notes for the 1996 Ruelle-Pertois Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, the favorite among the people doing the tasting? Sourdough.
But with so many next to each other, I do end up noticing differences. The Veuve Cliquot Brut Champagne (non-vintage) and DeMeric Grande Reserve Sous Bois Brut Champagne (non-vintage) had a distinct oakiness. But the one we walked away with was the Nicholas Feuillate Brut Champagne (non-vintage). My tasting notes include pear and cinnamon, and also say "very clean." And at only $22/bottle, it was a good price. We also liked the NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne, but at $42, it was a bit harder to justify.
In a couple weeks, we're organizing our own Champagne tasting, so it will be interesting to see how that turns out.
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