From the Cellar
Different Kinds of Bubbles (Ontario)
02 Feb 2015- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(December 3, 2014) ... Both of these wines are a recent vintage so it would seem silly to saddle them with a Taste it Again review, so best tell you what is going on in the bottle, starting with the Hinterland 2011 Blanc de Blanc: nose is vanilla with biscuits and green apple, a true sniffing pleasure when it comes to bubbles. Palate doles out buttered toast notes along with lemon zest and pith, which helps to combine the dry, bitter and sweet elements within the wine ... And we call that balanced.
My other form of bubbles tonight, was not a wine at all, but is from one of the fastest growing beverage sectors in North American: Cider. Here's a bottle of Old Third 2013 Cider from a winery in Prince Edward County, who decided to make this bubbly apple beverage the old fashioned way (if you were making Champagne). This vintage dated cider has a very citrusy nose especially the pith. Over some time in bottle it has developed a kind of Sauvignon Blanc character - grapefruit zest, vanilla, pineapple. Interesting how it has lost some, if not all, of its apple character and is starting to become something radically different ... Interesting to see where this will go.
