Mark
Kernaghan's

Sparkling
Wine
Review

 

 

Off the Beaten Track – A Travel Tale

 

I was thinking of that great 18 th century Englishwoman, Lady Mary Wortley Montague who traveled alone across Turkey on a camel, as I recently strolled to my favorite wine store. Travel to places “off the beaten track” and searching for sparkling wines from non-traditional places share many things in common. The rewards can be great or, we can be found in perilous situations. After selecting three sparkling wines, I called on a couple of my favorite traveling companions – we once shared a legendary bottle of cabernet on a trail on the back side of Mount Rainier – and asked them to join me in an for a sampling adventure.

            We started the evening with a wine from a most unlikely region – New Mexico.   I admit that I had once sampled a bottle from the Greut winery but not the NV Brut Blanc de Noirs (about $15.00). This wine had fast regular very tiny bubbles.   One of my companions judged it “…as harsh as the New Mexico sun!”   I might be a little gentler.   Think of it as bold as a Georgia O'Keefe without her glowing colors. The winery describes it as having the flavor of raspberries, however we found it to be rather herbal with hints of grapefruit. It eventually grew on us as it got creamier while we munched on bread and a very oily artichoke dip.   We all agreed that it would need rather bold food with some oil to stand up to it.   Like so many things in New Mexico its austerity was perhaps its most predominant feature.

            Having slurped our way through the fruits of Epernay both here and in France on countless occasions, we looked forward to sampling a non-traditional French sparkling wine. We sampled a 1999 Berlène Blanquette de Limoux (about $20.00).   Now for you seasoned travelers, Limoux is in the south of France between Spain and Mountpellier, it boasts the oldest white wine in the world. All seasoned travelers should be careful to believe local boasting.   But, this town was the birthplace of Dom Perignon, and has a history that goes back to the Romans. The Blanquette is composed of Mauzac, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc grapes. The color can only be described as Nancy Lancaster yellow.   For those of you who have made a pilgrimage to her legendary London salon, you know exactly what I mean, for those of you who haven't, you must go to experience this vibrant yellow. The bubbles were a little lazy and moderately sized.   We had high hopes.   Classically very dry, this wine lived up to reputation. For a brief moment I thought I was on a camel in the middle of the Anatolian plain myself!   Advertised as having the flavor of hawthorn flowers   (I thought they were poisonous!) we found this wine to be vegetal, with one of my companions insisting that she could taste asparagus.   I certainly would serve this wine with asparagus, eggs or any other lunch item you can think of.   The town fathers recommend it with appetizers or simple fare and we all, with the exception of fish, concurred. Under no circumstances should it be confused with – or substituted for - its northern cousins but it did meet with our approval after we got over the idea that it should have an identity all of its own.   And isn't that the joy of all exotic places?

            We ended the evening south of the equator with a sparkling wine from Australia.   Now I don't know about where you live, but a number of very drinkable wines have been arriving at my wine store from Australia.   I once even went to Melbourne with the intention of not drinking the water. It was on that trip that I first drank Jacob's Creek reds – a Shiraz, I think.   They are a huge producer in Australia.    With that trip in mind – and the word that the Jacobs Creek Chardonnay Pinot Noir NV Brut Cuvée (about$12.00) had won a double Gold medal recently at the San Francisco International Wine Competition - we had high hopes. Our concerns were first raised when we poured the first glass the way they are when you notice a shabby hotel lobby at check-in. The color was quite pale and there was very little fizz.   We had hoped that it would be a nice accompaniment to poached pears and gorgonzola.   Well, it had a slightly sweet first impression and literally nothing after that.   The taste evaporated as quickly as the bubbles and never moved to the back of the palette.   None of us could fathom how this could be a prize winning wine!   I opined that at least it could be described as “inoffensive” when one of my table mates came up with the perfect serving suggestion, ”It is not,” he said, “for your best friends but it would be fun to take to a party for people in your office.”   As ALL sparkling wines, and fun adventures, have the effect of inducing agreement among friends, we all heartily concurred.   We decided that the judges had a downsized Silicon Valley party in mind when they handed out awards.   Sometimes an exotic locale just does not live up to its reputation.

            Now all tales have a moral – especially travel tales. Sometimes they are about the joys of discovery, sometimes about resourcefulness. They are about reaching beyond and embracing the unfamiliar, and sometimes they are about finding a positive -even in disappointment.   I would say a trip off the beaten path is always worthwhile but sometimes a trip to the familiar, like Epernay for example, is a gold standard for a reason.   

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About the author:   A Seattle native, Mark Kernaghan has been a life long traveler.   He delights in pursuing culinary adventure. He is a fan of the performing arts, especially opera, and loves a good Sunday afternoon at the museum.   On a good evening he is found at home either entertaining friends to supper or lost in a good novel.