11/24/2020 - scyrene Likes this wine:

It's back on offer, so I'm trying it again. Pale. Gorgeous aroma, rich and quite complex, with peach, apple, and a bready-pastry character. Great intensity on the palate, but it's tightly controlled. Layers of orchard fruit, clean acidity, and a lightness on the finish that keeps things elegant. One of the better young vintage champagnes I've had in a while, especially given the price. Well worth trying. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Sainsbury's, on offer at £40].

8/16/2020 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Seen this a couple of times but considered it overpriced, finally caught it on offer. Thick foil, unusual faceted bottle. Pale ivory. Pleasantly broad, peachy nose with a savoury note. Particularly expansive mousse. Good richness on the palate, quite sweet, plentiful acidity, very concentrated fruit, dried apricot, apple, and peach. This is bright, vibrant, balanced, and very tasty. After a while, fairly biscuity. Good at this price, perhaps lacking a little elegance and character. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Asda, -£10 @ £30].

4/30/2020 - scyrene wrote:

Ever so slightly shrunken cork, slightly darker gold suggesting possibly a bit of bottle age. Rather high-toned nose, saline, lactic, toasty. Softer taste, not so acidic as I remember. Creamy-chalky with gentle lime acidity. Quite linear, tastes young. Okay, but I'm only drinking it because better options are limited at the moment. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Scotmid/Co-op, -£6 @ £25].

9/7/2019 - scyrene wrote:

Unexpectedly dark - deepest gold, verging on orange. Sweet, creamy, but quite light nose, with caramel, orange peel, milk chocolate, and a fiery, spiritous burn. Rather fresher on the palate, good fruit up front, adequate acidity for the sweetness, but it rather falls apart after a moment; a bit dilute and bitter on the finish*. This is still very good value - at this price there are very few sweet wines, and if you compare it to, say, basic moscatel de Valencia it stands up okay. Perhaps it's been hanging around too long, stored improperly. It's not dead, but not everything it might have been. *Notably the wine improves with a bit of air, so I've bumped the score accordingly. [Natural cork; 12% abv; Marks & Spencer, £5/50cl].

5/2/2019 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Computer crash caused me to lose my tasting note before publishing, so from memory: a bit greener than normal, but still pretty good, especially on the palate. A touch of unwelcome bitterness but it gets better with time, so probably best cellared for a couple of years if you can. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Sainsbury's, on offer at £32].

10/10/2018 - scyrene Likes this wine:

One lonely bottle on a supermarket shelf. No box, label a bit scuffed, but below the market value for this vintage so worth rescuing! Mid gold. Powerful aroma of spiced cooked apple. The taste is similar, crisp and rich, very Bollinger. Not too complex at this point but there's nothing to complain about either. Delicious. Disgorged November 2013. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Tesco, £70].

1/30/2019 - Stevelayden Likes this wine:

I’m sure I’ll get dismissive comments over this post, but as the saying goes - beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Truth be told, I have never been a fan of champagne. Even better bottling such as Krug tend to leave me appreciative, but indifferent. My palate tends to be fairly sensitive to unbalanced acidity, so I confess to not being a fan of most dry white wines (although oddly enough, quite dry red wines are quite satisfying). Something about a bracing acidity makes wine unpleasant to me. So if I go white, I adore the German Pradikat spectrum of wines.

With that background out of the way, I found the VC demi-sec to be quite charming. I can see where this may not have the personality of a single-vineyard grower Champaign, but that’s not what this is pretending to be. It’s simply a bright, balanced, and “joyful” wine. Worked well with food and on its own. I would love to track down more demi-sec bottlings to see if this style can be applied to more of the complexity I enjoy.

A really enjoyable wine and worth a try, especially if you aren’t a fan of the bone-dry Champaign that dominates the market.

12/24/2018 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Not sure what the "#3" in the name as entered in the database is, but this seems to be the right one. Almost colourless, spritz in the glass. Unexpectedly savoury, toasty, saline nose - just a bit of fruit and zing lurking behind. Thankfully the taste is excellent, with that pure juice flavour that is so bright and uplifting. Almost unbearably vibrant, with high acidity but enough sweetness to keep it balanced. Superb; originally marked down a point for the aroma, but the next day it smelled delightful, light and pure with pear, peach, and rose; the taste is even better. Keep it a few years. [Cork; 7.5% abv; Woodwinters, ~£23].

11/18/2017 - scyrene wrote:

Fizz Feast Edinburgh 2017 (Edinburgh Academy): Again, "City Lights" according to tasting booklet, though whether this is a different wine to the normal sec I don't know. Pale lemon colour. Slightly musty nose, a touch unclean. Broad and round taste, but again a little unpleasant. [Retails for around £35].

9/18/2018 - scyrene wrote:

Exceptionally pale, rather coarse bubbles in the glass. A singular aroma that puts me in mind of almond essence or possibly hay. Perhaps a hint of baking bread, too. Quite a soft taste, pleasant enough but a touch dilute. More of that hard-to-place element, touching on savoury pastry. A succulent lime jelly core. Pretty well balanced and unusual, but not lovable, for me at least. Great value, though. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; £20.99].

7/22/2017 - scyrene Likes this wine:

A particularly good bottle, and the best price I've got this for so far. A deep red fruit core, really delicious. [Cork + cage; 12.5% abv; Scotmid (Co-op), on offer plus special discount, £22.39 (usually £37.99)].

5/13/2017 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Pale straw colour. Powerful nose: creamy, fruity, toasty, then very nutty. Orange, plum, spice, even a touch of brandy - this is a bruiser. The taste is similarly robust, very vinous. Greengage, guava, a little chalky on the back end. One of those 'chardonnay first, champagne second' wines, and a food wine wine with some ageing potential. Seriously good value. [Cork + cage; 12.5% abv; Marks & Spencer, £35].

12/1/2017 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Very pale lemon colour. A very full and broad aroma for young bdb, with orchard fruits including medlar, a touch of vanilla and musk. With more air, a high-toned note of pear drops and a little cheese. It's a vibrant wine, clearly young, with lots of primary apple and lemon fruit, but a touch less intensity than I was expecting; hardly any bitterness on the finish.

My first Pol Roger blanc de blancs, and I'm glad I got this at the lower end of its price bracket, as it's generally a bit more expensive than the standard vintage cuvée, and I'm not sure it's any more interesting. That said, this is still very good - I've never had a bad bottle from this house, which for me stands halfway between the dark richness of Bollinger and lighter styles of many others. [Cork + cage; 12.5% abv; thedrinkshop, on offer at £70.82, RRP £70-85].

2/1/2018 - scyrene wrote:

Mid yellow-orange colour. Quite toasty, lactic, saline nose, not really my thing. But the taste isn't bad, it's quite balanced and on the sweeter end of brut (that may be due to softening acidity with bottle age). Not as compelling as the blanc de blancs, nor in this example even the straight Cuvée des Moines. But it's not bad, and all three are creditable, well presented, and at least as good as most big house NVs. Disgorged March 2012. [Composite cork + cage; 12.5% abv; Oddbins, -25% @£30.75].

11/15/2017 - scyrene wrote:

Pure ruby red. Mild but correct nose: somewhat meaty, quite spicy, then cherry and violets. Quite sweet and simple-tasting. Savoury edge. Nothing wrong with this - a straightforward food wine. Not particularly varietal, and for the price I'd hope for a bit more.

12/12/2017 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Creamy nose, slightly toasty, with broad citrus fruit. Quite delicious; none of the green apple notes I used to get from this, but rather a crisp, tangy, biscuity flavour. This hasn't rocketed in price quite as much as other widely-available NV cuvées in the last ten years, but I'd still only buy it when heavily discounted; at this price, it's fine. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Scotmid (Co-op), on offer at £24.99].

9/27/2017 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Once again an older bottle lurked amongst the latest vintage (2008), but the supermarket seems either not to know or not to care that older vintages of fine wines increase in value over time. Sure enough, this is the same price - and therefore much better value.

Very pale, but the nose is generous and very toasty - maybe even a touch smokey. With air, rather more open and peachy. Excellent flavour, good concentration, lots of honeycomb and cooked apple fruit. Just what I look for in vintage champagne, a step up from NV, and at this price hardly any more expensive. Generous and delicious.

Disgorged 07/2013. [Cork + cage; 12.5% abv; Sainsbury's, on offer at £35].

12/25/2016 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Mid yellow gold, quite deep for such a relatively young wine. Buttered toast on the nose at first - real toast, not the saline-tuna "toast" note I get in a lot of champagnes. Apple and caramel lurking in the background. The taste is quite unexpected. Everything on the nose is there, it promises to build into something big - but then slips away. Almost a hole on the midpalate. It's not bad at all, just a lot softer than I'd expect from vintage Bollinger. Maybe it's in an awkward phase. The presentation with very heavy card box and booklet is excellent, as usual. 70% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay; 95% grand cru, 5% premier cru; vinified in oak barrels. Disgorged October 2014. [Cork + cage; 12% abv; Oddbins, on offer at £75].

10/10/2015 - scyrene wrote:

Lemon colour. Muted nose. Intense acidity, good solid fruit core but little in the way of secondary characteristics. This could be a good wine, but is underwhelming at present. I expect more of vintage champagne. [Cork + cage; 12.5% abv; Sainsbury's on offer at £33]

2/7/2013 - scyrene Likes this wine:

Lemon colour, plentiful bead. Very fresh apple-nectarine aroma. Big mouthfilling mousse. Creamy, a hint of coconut. Nice classic taste otherwise, no signs of age. Vigorous; probably has many years' life ahead. [Cork + cage; 12.5% abv; Nickolls and Perks, -10% @ £30]