Saturday Night – An Easy Night – Part 1

This past Saturday night we got together with Mick and Amy for dinner.  This dinner sort of came together at the last minute as Mick and Amy were going to be away this weekend but due to weather and a few other issues, they decided to stay home instead.  Since everything was short notice, we decided to make things easy and just order in Sushi.  I did go out before dinner and pickup dessert but that was the extent of my “hard work” on this dinner.

 

The upside to this Sushi plan was I had a couple of new Champagnes I wanted to try and Sushi and Champagne is a great match.  The two Champagnes were a 2004 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne and a non-vintage Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve.

We had both of these with the Sushi in a little heads up competition, but I will review the 2004 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne first and then cover the other one in part 2.

 

The nose was very powerful for a Champagne with aromas of yeast, apple, peach and strangely enough a Philly Cream Cheese aroma.  Tasting the champagne, apples and hops were the dominate flavours with some walnut in the background.  The structure on the wine was very good as the racy acidity made the flavours of the wine jump out at you and gave this wine a very full mouth-feel.  I liked this Champagne quite a bit by its self but it really shined with the Sushi. 

 

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –89, Mark - 90, Kathy – 86, Amy – 88, Overall – 88.25.

 

Here is the LCBO Information on the wine –

 

PIPER HEIDSIECK BRUT CHAMPAGNE 2004

 

VINTAGES 281337
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 75.95
Made in: Champagne, France
By: Cls Remy Cointreau
Release Date: Sep 1, 2012
Wine, Champagne
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content: 13 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

 

Tasting Note  - Rich and toasty, with hints of graphite and vanilla accenting brioche, poached apple and pear, almond cream and verbena. Vibrant and harmonious, with finely detailed texture and a long finish. Drink now through 2024. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. Score - 94. (Alison Napjus, winespectator.com, Dec. 31, 2011)

 

I like the Non-vintage Roederer a touch more than this wine and it is about $10-12 cheaper.  I joked with Mick that I would be happy with the Roederer as a steady girlfriend but if the Roederer went out of town for a weekend, I would be very happy to have the Piper on the side for a weekend. 

 

Click here for Part 2