Friday Night – Yet another Champagne

Mick and Amy weren’t available for our usual Saturday night dinner this week so Kathy and Amy suggested that we get together for a Friday night dinner instead. 

Bollinger Champagne was mention a number of times in the book Fifty Shades of Gray which Amy and Kathy have recently finished, so Amy made it her mission to track down a bottle or two or of it.  Amy found a Bollinger NV Rose Brut Champagne this week and bought two as Kathy wanted one too. 

As it was a Friday, we decided to make things simple and Kathy wanted to try the Bollinger so we decided to order in Sushi to pair with it.

I over-ordered and we had a ton of Sushi to get through so I didn’t think one bottle of Champagne would be enough to see us through and added a bottle of Roederer Champagne as well.  We have reviewed the Roederer before so I will just focus on the Bollinger in this review.

The nose on the Bollinger was an interesting mix of orange zest, yeast, cranberry and blue cheese/iron aromas.  Tasting the wine, it was a combination of sour strawberry and lime.  The Bollinger also had fine bubbles, lively acidity and unfortunately, a short finish.  It paired very well with any of the salmon based sushi but was not that nice with the tempura as it developed a sharpness in the mid-palate with it. 

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –87, Mark - 86, Kathy – 86, Amy – 87, Overall – 86.5.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

BOLLINGER BRUT ROSÉ CHAMPAGNE

VINTAGES 100503
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 91.95
Made in: Champagne, France
By: Champagne J. Bollinger
Release Date: Jul 7, 2012
Wine, Champagne
12.4% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Blend - Other
Sugar Content: 11 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

TASTING NOTE: This floral Champagne offers hints of malt and whole-grain toast, along with flavors of date, spiced plum and dried cherry. This shows fine balance and texture, and a mouthwatering finish of freshly ground spices. Drink now through 2016. Score: 92 (Alison Napjus, winespectator.com, Nov. 30, 2011)

I liked the Bollinger but the Roederer was $25 cheaper and is a more approachable champagne and paired better with the Sushi.  Amy commented that if this was $45-50 a bottle it would be great deal and I agree with that.  It was fun to try a new Champagne, but I’m starting to get worried that we have tried most of the Champagnes that the LCBO carries so it may be a bit before we try something new again.

We finished the night with an orange cream cake and an up-side-down chocolate cake which sounds fancy but in reality means Amy dropped the chocolate cake on her way home.  They were both very good so no harm done.

Cheers!

Mark