Saturday Night – Bubble Wars – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

 

The other contestant for the night was the non-vintage José Dhondt Champagne.

 

The nose on this wine was powerful but not very appetizing as it was very yeasty but more a baker’s yeast than a wine yeast, seawater, loam and even a bit of barnyard in it.  Tasting the wine, things get much better as you are hit with a green apple/dry apple cider flavour.  The balance on this wine was better than the Pierre Paillard as the acid wasn’t as razor sharp and the finish lingered around nicely.  It worked a good pairing with the Sushi as well but Pierre Paillard was a better one.  It did however work nicely on its own and without food I much preferred it over the Pierre Paillard. 

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 88, Mark – 85, Kathy – 82, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

JOSÉ DHONDT BLANC DE BLANCS BRUT CHAMPAGNE
VINTAGES 358408
750 mL bottle
Price $ 53.95
Made in: Champagne, France
By: José Dhondt, Récoltant-Manipulant
Release Date: Dec 7, 2013
Wine, Champagne
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Style: Rich & Complex
Varietal: Champagne
Sugar Content: 11 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note  -  Bright and creamy, this well-balanced Champagne offers flavors of white peach, pear, candied grapefruit zest and pastry, joined by a briny hint of oyster shell. The firm acidity presents itself as a lively zestiness that is very appealing. Drink now through 2020. Score - 92. (Alison Napjus, winespectator.com, Nov. 30, 2011)

The José Dhondt Champagne was better on its own and was a decent pairing but the two issues that were hard to overcome were the nose and the apple cider flavour.  The apple cider flavour was probably the bigger of the two issues as I really like alcohol based cider but at $54 a bottle I want something more than apple cider as I can buy that at $3 buck for a 500mL can. 

The one thing I did enjoy however was how distinctly different these two similarly priced Champagnes were.

For dessert I picked up a new La Rocca dessert – peanut butter cheesecake.  My hope was that the cheesecake would be more savory than sweet so we could keep drinking the Champagne with it but while it wasn’t super sweet it was sweet enough that it threw both Champagnes a loop and neither was a good pairing.  I liked the cheesecake but felt it was missing something; a touch of chocolate might have been nice to break up the peanut butter flavour a bit.

As always it was a fun night with good friends, some new wines to try and some great food as the Sushi was really good and I’m glad my lovely wife Kathy suggested it.

Cheers!

Mark