Tag Archives: france

A Wine A Day – Chartogne Taillet Champagne Brut Cuvee Ste. Anne

Chartogne Taillet Champagne.

Because it’s Champagne, you know…

Champagne, or as I like to call it:

“The reason why even Italian started to like the french!”

Let’s face it, we all love Champagne. With a crisp, bright feeling and the flavors of a bakery in the morning.

For those who don’t know where this unique wine is made; well, it’s made in Champagne ( duh!) , a French region north-east of Paris. Very close to Belgium, this region is the northernmost limit of French viticulture.

Usually, a so-called assemblage (literally: assembling, but mix seems more appropriate to me) of different vintages and varieties ( Pinot Noir, Meunieur and Chardonnay) are blended to reach the consistent flavor the wine maker aims to achieve.

Enough with the teaching, let’s get to the reason why you are here, this wine!

This 40% Pinot Noir, 60% Chardonnay is an assemblage of a 2014 base, with reserve from 2013 and 2012. The vines are 32 years old on average, giving a vigorous juice.

A great introductory Champagne, it is chalky and has DRINK ME WITH OYSTERS written all over. The hints of ginger, red apple, cherry blossom, almond, and lemon make it bright and elegant.

The mousse (the ‘foam’ for those of you who don’t speak French) is pretty aggressive but not unpleasant at all; it’s just a wine with some character, and I loved it!  All in all a great wine and for less than $50, just perfect.

Drink it now or age it, but for sure have one of these bottles handy at all times, you never know when you might need some bubbles in your life!

A Wine a Day – Château de Chambert: Cahors Malbec 2009

What is better than enjoying the right wine with some friends, our family, the person we love or just by ourselves?

There are wines that just seem to get straight to our soul and I really have been wanting to start reviewing some for a long time.

This series of posts is not meant to be a deep and critical analysis about expensive wine. I am not paid to review any of the wines (but if you want to pay me it’s not a problem…duh!) but more of a user-friendly and quick tool to enjoy some easily affordable wines (again, pay me so I can afford more expensive wines to enjoy by myself…duh…again!)

Long story shorts, here is the first one:

Château de Chambert: Cahors Malbec 2009

As a Southern Italian, I cannot help myself, I like wines that have character and that are not afraid of showing it, therefore Cahors and the “black wines” from this region are a love at first sight (or should I say sip?)

Good tannin (that feeling of dry, silky mouth) and lovely fruit as black currant and red berries and earthy. It is great by itself but the fat of a nice steak really makes this wine go a step further!  This wine definitely wants some beef or pork to be fully appreciated and it is really a great example of a relatively approachable wine from this French region. There are some great spices in this wine, black and white pepper are just about right. The more the bottle is open, the more spices and dry fruit notes come out without ever being boring or excessive.

The Malbec (the grape variety prevalent in this wine) in this wine, keep remind us how a grape that was obscure until a few decades ago, can be the main protagonist of great wines at a very reasonable price.

The average price for this wine is 20$ and it is definitely worth it. Bring a bottle of this at any dinner in which meat is a protagonist and you cannot go wrong!

For those of you who are interested in aging wines, although this wine is ready to be drunk right now, it definitely has potential for a short aging until 2022 or so.