Todd's
Tasted Wednesday, September 28, 2016 by Loren Sonkin with 421 views
Last night my tasting group me to taste thru some Champagne. The goal was to find Champagnes that offer some value in the world of Champagne. While there is a lot of value in Cava or Prosecco, there is less in these wines. Even though we all had a different order, for the most part, everyone had the wines at 89-91 points. The Ohio prices seems to require spending $45 for a good bottle and a lot more than that for a great bottle. I remember a time, about ten years ago, when Farmer Fizz was offering a better value. That doesn't seem quite as true anymore, at least locally. While 89-91 is a very good wine, for $50, I expect that.
The wines were served with a variety of cheeses, breads and nuts. We consumed the wines over 2.5 hours. First blind, and then revisiting.
For anyone not getting e-mails from Lyle Fass Selections, I strongly encourage it (no affiliation, yada, yada). He is finding some great values in the wine world including the Marie Demets line in Champagne. Send him an e-mail at lyle@fassselections.com to ghet on the list.
NV Gonzalez-Byass Palomino Fino Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Tío Pepe (Muy Seco-Extra Dry) 87 Points
Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry
I think I liked this more than the group. What to serve for an opener to a Champagne tasting? This worked. Fino sherries are often a bit difficult at first. Light gold/bronze in color. The nose is oxidized with almonds and dried flowers. On the palate, this is a bit smokey. Bone dry. Slightly medicinal. It begs for food and really improved with some assorted salted nuts. Some blue cheese actually would have been even better. I like this. It is interesting, deep and something to slip at the beginning of the night. More research is required.
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