Fizz for the New Year

Any excuse for a bottle of bubbles and New years is a very good excuse !!  This year we are supporting the British and have been looking for a bit of British Bling in our glass for a couple of years and now have found a couple of varieties to sip at the the ringing in of a New year.

However we do have a couple of Prosecco's we like to use for cocktails and warm ups to the real deals

Villa Sandi Prosecco Frizzante NV DOC RRP £8.99 Frizzante indicates that the wine is gently sparkling with small bubbles.  The taste is slightly dry but with lovely floral, honeydew melon and citrus fragrances, we really enjoyed this with a seafood platter.

The other Prosecco we got was Treviso Extra Dry NV, Pasqua RRP £13.49 this is given a special fermantation called Charmat which is fermentation in steel autoclaves which helps the wine gain spritz.  The nose has tropical fruit, peaches and pears and is very refreshing and a great drink to get people warmed up for a few drinks over an evening.

So now to our most welcome British invasion to our table.

Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2003 RRP £35.99 which is from England's largest vineyard and shares many of the same characteristic as the Champagne region chalky bases, shelter from bowl shaped fields and plenty of sun exposure that are characteristics of west Sussex all of this gives the perfect growing conditions for classic varieties and style in a glass.

The grape is chardonnay as denoted by the Blanc de Blancs,with golden colour perfect delicate bubbles and aromas of peach and lemon with fabulous floral notes, to taste is like a wonderful almond croissant with a twist fresh lemon.  This is our indulgent New years day celebration bottle to go with out wonderful dinner where we are starting the meal with a huge prawn platter, this wine will be perfect.

now the final 2 both from the same vineyard

Chapel Down Rose Brute NV RRP £25.00 again from the south east Kent sharing the same geological aspect as Champagne, This region being most sort after especially now as we are now experiencing a 1 degree temperature change that bring warmer weather that Champagne celebrated in their wine production 10 years ago.   With the south facing slopes capturing more of the sunshine helping to ripen the grapes given a perfect sparkle to the wine with flavours of ripe red berries of raspberries strawberries and rhubarb.  The grape is a classic Pinot Noir with a wonderful pink colour and beautiful bubbles dancing gently through the glass.

Finally the last bottle from Chapel Down and Pinot Reserve 2006 RRP £25.00 the grapes are Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay and Auxerrois a grape grown in Germany or Luxembourg and is a sibling grape to Chardonnay.  Although this wine has a green apple nose to it to taste has citrus lime flavours with the warmth of soft warm buttery brioche.