February 14, 2024 - Clean crisp sparkling wine with lots of tart apple and Meyer lemon notes.
January 3, 2024 - A clean, dry, light sparkler loaded with iron edged bubbles. Nicely balanced with yeast notes and a dry lemony tinge. Sleeker more brisk character than the common Cali Sparklers with their sugar fruit.
November 21, 2022 - P/P chilled. Clear, bright almost clear color. This is great stuff for the money. Clean, refreshing, very bubbly, delightful. $23
February 17, 2022 - Medium gold color, with an energetic, copious bead. On the nose, it is surprisingly perfumed, with the first impression being that of spring flowers in bloom. Beneath that, the autolytic notes of puff pastry and yeast are nicely set off by a flintsmoke mineral aspect. Not much in the way of fruit aromas except perhaps a bit of lemon peel. On the palate, it has a very racy, lean style: high acid, restrained dosage, citrus fruit, flinty mineral backbone. To be honest, I think this compares pretty well to the standard NV cuvée of its parent Champagne house, which is certainly not something you can say for every house's California outpost. I would find it difficult to justify paying more than double for the "real thing" in this case. Which ultimately makes this an impressive effort and a good value.
November 24, 2020 - Green tinted gold color, tingle the nose bubbles with iron. This is a clean sparkler, brisk but well balanced acid level, predominantly yeasty in a festive mood. This CA Pommery ought not to offend anyone at a party. Do party guests seek out fruit in their bubbly? The metallic edge will match seafood, cheese, spicy nibblers, even sausage or nachos.
It would be interesting to taste this with some age.
October 7, 2020 - your typical champagne. A little bit sour for my taste
April 23, 2020 - good complexity on the nose, plenty acid to support the classic profile, but kept doubting if the grapes were unripe, leaving the job outside the vineyard much harder
April 20, 2019 - Yeasty and firm, with tangy apple and also some mild toasty notes. Solid buy.
January 1, 2019 - Star bright straw gold with fine bubbles and persistent white mousse. Green apple tart on the nose. Echoed on the bright palate which adds a slight citrusy note. Finish is long and toasty. A wonderful and well-priced offering from the American arm of Pommery house. Enjoy with everyday fare and save the god stuff for “special” times.
October 18, 2018 - House US sparkler at Benoit. Very impressive and broad mid palate. Doesn’t throw a punch of citrus at you like most US arm French sparklers. Overall darker and more complex. New go-to value sparkler.