| Tasting Notes | |
|---|---|
| color: | Pale Yellow |
| dryness: | Medium |
| nose: | Strawberry |
| mouth: | Effervescent |
| finish: | Grapefruit |
| alcohol: | 12.0 |
| rating: | 5 |
| Wine Information | |
|---|---|
| wine: | Monopole Blue Top Champagne |
| vintage: | |
| winery: | Heidsieck |
| country: | France |
| price: | $ 50 |
| certification: | Badatz Paris |
| passover: | Yes |
| mevushal: | No |
Heidsieck is one of the venerable champagnes -- established in 1785, the winery's Blue Top Champagne was the official champagne aboard the Titanic. Abarbanel imports a kosher, non-mevushal version. Like many champagnes, it is non-vintage.
Since champagnes are for celebrations, and both experts and novices alike will taste, I tested a bottle on some friends and family in addition to my usual experts. Everyone enjoyed the champagne. One of my colleagues particularly enjoyed the restrained, larger bubbles which didn't interfere with his enjoyment of the wine, a problem with some other sparkling wines. Everyone enjoyed the hints of strawberry.
We tasted this wine with some strongly-flavored meats as well as with some sugary dessert delicacies, and in both cases the wine stood up well to the challenge.
I noticed a pronounced grapefruit finish to the wine, including a lingering astringency. Unfortunately I don't enjoy grapefruit and this detracted from my own personal enjoyment -- but I also admit that I kept the bottle close by and made certain there wasn't a drop left by the end of the evening.