Egly-Ouriet Les Vignes De Vrigny 1er Cru, Ambonnay

Its Spring. The suns out. Lawnmowers are churning away around the neighbourhood and I feel pretty good after a 15 hour day at Albert Street yesterday. Champagne anyone? The Egly-Ouriet Les Vines de Vrigny 1^er  from Ambonnay is 100% Pinot Meunier and is everything today is in downtown Brunswick; bright, crisp and singing - no lawnmowers though.

 

Drink with Pambula rock oysters

Drink now

95

Quality cork 12.5%v/v

Best's Great Western Young Vines Pinot Meunier 2010

This was a real head turner! The Best's Great Western Young Vines Pinot Meunier 2010 is one of the best wines tasted this week and a no-brainer for the new winelist at Albert Street Food & Wine. Gorgeous tart red fruit on the nose and also in the palate, with biting acidity and tame and polite tannins makes this wine a wonderful summer red as well as sticking away for a couple of years I reckon.

Drink with slow cooked kaiserfleisch
Drink till 2015
94
Screwcap 12%v/v about $25

Mothers Day 2011

Mothers Day 2011. The pancakes have been eaten, the tea has been drunk and the hand-made Mothers Day cards have been read – quite impressive I must say from child #1. So with some semblance being restored in down-town Brunswick we come to the important question that has yet to be answered; what champagne/sparkling to open today.

Now I am going to be controversial here and generalise sparkling wine as the drink du jour for Mothers Day. Generally speaking I would suggest that Shiraz, or Crown Lager – depends I guess, as the chosen tipple for Father’s Day, so sparkling to me is a no-brainer for today (you can drink Marlborough Savvy B any day of the week so let’s just not go there today OK!).

In being diplomatic and all, I have chosen one champagne and one Australian sparkling wine. Firstly champagne: the Heidsieck & Co Monopole NV Blue Top. Hailing from Eperenay, this wine is an assemblage of 70% pinot noir, 20% chardonnay and 20% pinot meunier, this champagne takes a different path than the clean and linear chardonnay dominant wines. Sitting in the glass, the colour is ever so slightly soft salmon pink. The aroma strays between subtle pink grapefruit with the slightest hint of cranberry – I reckon anyway. In the palate this wine becomes a bit larger or heavier in the mouth, but not sweeter; 9g/L residual sugar still puts it in the Brut category by some margin. The fullness or richness for me stems from the abundance of red fruit which impasses a greater impression of red fruit, but subtle all the same.

The second wine is the Bindi Macedon Ranges Chardonnay Pinot Noir Extended Lees Aged 2003 sparkling wine. Yes I can almost hear the exasperated sighs, ‘of you are such a Bindi slut Tim’. Well yes, I am, we know this so get over it ok! This wine is quite simply one of the best Australian sparkling wines you will see. Big call I know, and possibly slightly impartial, but by golly this wine is fantastic. A wonderful mix of brioche, preserved lemon and cashews with pitch-perfect acid, this wine is great now but definitely worth a look at over the next 10 years I’d say.

There you have it. Two wines worthy of any Mothers Day breakfast or lunch. Happy Mother’s Day ladies.

Heidsieck & Co Monopole NV
Drink with blueberry pancakes
Drink now
92
Cork 12%v/v $54 Vintage Cellars Richmond

Bindi Macedon Ranges Chardonnay Pinot Noir Extended Lees Aged 2003
Drink with seared scallops and marron
Drink till 2013
95
Diam cork 12%v/v $46 Rathdowne Cellars in Carlton and Steve’s Fine Wine and Foods in Nedlands

Pommery Brut Apanage NV, Reims Champagne

Well now, seems I have been away from this blog for ages! Just so happens that we are gearing up for the first Australian release of Pommery Brut Apanage NV - Hooray!!

Since Pommery started up shop in Australia late last year, there have been a few people out there in restaurant land snubbing their noses at the Brut Royal simply because of its association with Fosters. You see Pommery had been wasting away in the depths of the Fosters portfolio for about 4 years, and in this time champagnes such as Jacquersson and Lamandier have really rocked the landscape for champagne not only in Melbourne but the rest of the champagne drinking cities in Australia. But things are about to change.

Enter stage right Brut Apanage. Now the Brut Apanage has the same assemblage as the Brut Royal - a third each of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, but the fruit for the Apanage comes from Pommery's best 20 cru's whereas the Brut Royals fruit comes from 40 cru's. The Brut Apanage also differs from the Brut Royal where it has 6 grams/litre of residual sugar where the Brut Royal has about 10. And all the fruit is from vineyards owned by Pommery (Pommery is the second largest holder of vines in Champagne with over 200 hectares under vine).

The main selling point though is that it tastes mucho fantastico! This champagne is a classic aperitif wine, its just that simple! Clean, linear, and just ripper; thats all I got, its that good.

So, if you are in Melbourne next week, you can start by heading to Grossi Florentino's Cellar Bar where they will be pouring the wine, or if you are lucky enough to have a booking at Ezard you can order a bottle there too. And another thing, you won't be able to buy this in retail - sorry!

Demoiselle Tete de Cuvée NV Champagne

A champagne that will be making its debut in Australia probably at the start of Spring Carnival, the Demoiselle Tete de Cuvée NV is really a smart little wine.

Chardonnay dominant, though even assemblage with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, with achingly upright grapefruit and lemon citrus on the nose with some stonefruit also thrown in. The palate follows the nose with a super fine bead that remains all the way through the glass. A lovely wine that should do very nicely in a competitive market.

Drink as aperitif
Drink now
Quality cork 12.5%v/v

Brown Brothers Victorian Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV

Quite simply the best domestic sparkling going around under $30 – and there are plenty let me just say. Displaying everything a great aperitif should, the Brown Brothers Victorian Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV has plenty of soft, subtle citrus and green apples to think you were drinking something from the Macedon Ranges or Tasmania. An absolute delight and definitely worth grabbing next time you are out getting supplies.

Drink with anything early
Drink now
93
Cork 12.5%v/v $13.99-$18.99 from all good bottlo’s

Pommery Reims Brut Royal NV Champagne

Today I re-entered the workplace, leaving behind my poor gazumped son Henry in the care of his mother and taking on the role as Brand Development Manager for Vranken-Pommery Australia – that’s Champagne, people. Yes, it is my task to show-case Vranken-Pommery’s Champagne portfolio to all of the sommeliers out there in restaurant land with such Champagne as Pommery Brut Royal, Cuvee Louise 1998 – super drop that, and Heidsieck & Co. Monopole which has had zero presence in Australia for quite some time.

So it is with great pleasure that I give you the Pommery Reims Brut Royal NV. Now I am not going to tell you it is the greatest Champagne ever made and that you would be a dead-set nimrod if you don’t buy one now, tomorrow will be fine. The Pommery Brut Royal has a presence in over 85% of Michelin Star restaurants in France right now, so you don’t need me telling you how good it is.

A traditional aperitif style Champagne with a third each of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir, this wine presents a very lean and crisp palate with a very tight bead. Green apples and slight lead pencil aromas are evident with seamless acid holding everything in place.

So next time you head out to a restaurant, ask for Pommery, and if they don’t have it on the list tell them to get in contact with me at tcohen@vrankenpommery.com.au


Drink with freshly shucked Tassie oysters - a fair dinkum Susan these two!
Drink till 2011
No rating
Quality cork 12.5%v/v from Vintage Cellar stores nationwide.