sparkling

Mountadam High Eden NV Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay

/ Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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Quite often Andy is dispatched on a wine buying mission for me. I don’t think he enjoys this experience so I always try to pick out at least one thing for him to buy (more than one just in case option 1 is not in stock). Wine stores – this is why you need to have an up to date and comprehensive list on your website.

One Friday he was dispatched on such a mission and I randomly picked the Mountadam High Eden NV Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay. I’d love to provide you with a link to the actual wine but either the Mountadam website is really out of date or the horrible Flash monstrosity that appears to be the “Wines” page doesn’t render correctly in my browser of choice. I’ve actually really struggled to find you any other information about this wine on the internet although if you have a subscription you may care to check out The Wine Front, which at least is relatively recent and not trying to sell you the wine.

So now you’re just going to have to trust me.

In the glass the wine is quite gold in colour, with lots of bubbles*. The nose is not particularly pronounced but there’s Granny Smith, rose and strawberry. The palate has plenty of crisp acidity but I did feel there was perhaps just a touch too much tart/bitter lemon action. All these tart flavours dominate: Granny Smith and citrus but not enough sweetness (as in flavour sweetness, not actual sugar in the wine) for me. I’d like some of that strawberry that was on the nose to come through on the palate. The wine does have good length but it’s clean and simple, rather than offering complex and developing flavours. I also didn’t get any of the bready, yeasty notes that I like to find in bubbles, but more I was disappointed by the lack of fruit sweetness on the palate.

I paid (well, Andy, as my proxy) paid $24 for this wine. At this price point, I think there are better and/or more interesting wines you can buy. However, if you could pick this wine up sub $20 I’d definitely give it a go.

Given its flavour profile, I’d recommend drinking this as an apéritif wine, rather than trying to pair it. Maybe it’d work with oysters though.

This wine was purchased from East End Cellars for $24.
Closure: cork.

* Yes, I’m aware this is more to do with the glass and how clean it is and less to do with the wine. If this type of wine geekery interests you, check out this piece from The Guardian’s Word of Mouth blog.

Blue Pyrenees NV Luna

/ Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Quite a while ago I was trawling the sparkling aisles of Dan Murphy’s (something I usually find pretty depressing as it’s a very predictable and both limiting and limited selection) when I saw the Blue Pyrenees Luna. This is a non vintage offering, but is still produced in a “méthode traditionelle” manner. Technically, this means that the secondary fermentation process takes place in the bottle, and is generally something to look out for when seeking out a potentially better than average sparkling.

The Luna retails around $16 and last time my family got together there was some vigorous debate about whether or not the extra $10 represents money well spent. As Andy pointed out the Midnight Cuvée (a popular go to wine in our family) is ⅔ more expensive but is it that much better than the Luna? Some of us were firmly in the camp that we liked the Midnight Cuvée more and, without analytically measuring the degree to which we liked it more, we were happy to spend the extra money.

Family debate aside, the wine is medium gold in colour and the nose is moderately pronounced: buttered toast, citrus with a hint of toasted pandoro too. On the palate, there is less of those yeasty, bready notes (these are all thanks to the méthode traditionelle production) and more straightforward citrus. There’s a touch of berry fruitiness too, which closes out the wine. This is a really nicely balanced wine, particularly in terms of flavour. It’s lacking in complexity and doesn’t have the acidity and length to get too excited about. But wait – we’re talking about a sparkling wine which sits well under $20 so we shouldn’t be too demanding, either.

I wouldn’t put this as my favourite sparkling at this price point (at the moment, that gong goes to the Deutz from Marlborough, which pains me as I’d rather buy Australian) but this wine definitely represents good value for money.

As to whether it’s dollar for dollar better value than the Midnight Cuvée, I suggest you buy a bottle of each and make your own mind up!

Brown Brothers Patricia Pinot Noir Chardonnay Brut 2006

/ Alex Prichard Leave a comment

As it’s getting close to the weekend it’s time to think about celebratory, weekend wine and for me that means bubbles! I’ve had my tasting note for the Brown Bros Patricia hanging around for a while so I figured it was time to commit it to the internet.

Patricia Brown was the matriarch of the Brown family and the wines that bear her name are the winery’s flagship wines. The sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay comes from the winery’s Whitlands vineyard in Victoria’s King Valley. The 2006 is 79% Pinot and 21% Chardonnay and was made the same way that Champagne is made (you’ll see this on bottles as méthode traditionelle or méthode champenoise). Amongst other things, this means that the wine has spent its entire life in the bottle you pick off the shelf – including the five years it has spent on lees.

This time on lees, where the sparkling wine lies in the bottle with the dead and dying yeast (oh, right – that sounds so attractive) is what gives good sparkling wines from around the world their complexity. As the yeast runs out of sugar in the wine it starts to eat itself and this process, known as autolysis, gives vintage sparkling wines their characteristic yeasty, bready notes.

With vintage sparkling wine it’s important to remember a few things. Firstly, it will usually cost more than a non vintage because it’s taken more time to put together, and often uses better fruit and production techniques. The wine is much more likely to be savoury than its non vintage counterpart. If you’re not a fan of yeasty, bready, nutty and perhaps even Vegemite like characters in your sparkling wine then proceed with caution. But because of this savouriness, vintage bubbles often work brilliantly with food.

In the glass, this wine is pale gold in colour and I note comparatively few bubbles (although this depends so much on the glass that I’m almost reluctant to write that down!). The nose is all about toasted brioche and bread and butter pudding with a touch of vanilla.

On the palate, the Patricia is very savoury. There’s very good acidity which is softly persistent. There’s a little bit of lemon that comes through, and a slight nuttiness, but this wine is really all about those savoury characters – it’s yeasty, brioche like and has a slightly meaty flavour which is perhaps best described as umami or Vegemite (think just a hint of Vegemite smeared on buttered white toast, rather than slathered on!).

I enjoyed this wine – this style of bubbles is definitely my thing. If you’re interested in exploring vintage sparkling wine this also represents a reasonable, and reasonably priced, introduction before you start delving into the considerably more expensive Champagne.

Jeremy, over at Wine Will Eat Itself, also enjoyed this wine, back in May.

This wine was purchased from Dan Murphy’s (Marion), $40.
Closure: cork.