Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

“Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!”
Dom Perignon during the moment he discovered champagne


What is a better drink than bubbly for this time of year?   Champagne, almost by definition, means celebration.  Given the events of 2010, who isn’t going to celebrate that this year is over on New Year’s Eve?  I know I am certainly going to raise a glass (or bottle) to toast to the demise of this past year.

So let’s talk turkey about champagne.  First of all, champagne is only produced in the Champagne region of France.  If bubbly is made anywhere else, it is generally referred to as sparkling wine.  The primary grapes used in making bubbly are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Neunier – prosecco is a bit different as the Italian grape of the same name is the key grape.  Champagne became famous in France out of necessity.  The Champagne region was too north for grapes to fully ripen for red wine – producing wine that was very low in sugar and high in acidity.  The wines were much lighter bodied and ‘thinner’ than those from their neighbors in Burgundy.  In other words, the grapes and the weather are perfect for making dry, crisp champagne.

It is a myth that Dom Perignon created champagne.  Say what you will about the Roman Catholics today, but Benedictine monks near Carassonne can take full credit for creating this delicious libation as far back as 1531.  Dom Perignon did make some significant improvement to the production of champagne – most notably the characteristic metal wire cage or collar which holds the cork in the bottle during the fermentation process.

There are several ways of producing champagne or sparkling wine.  I’m not going

Riddling Rack

to go into great detail here, but just to give you the basics.  Grapes are harvested and pressed just like any other wine. Bubbly is fermented twice.  The first fermentation produces a wine that is pretty acidic, so yeast and sugar are added for the second fermentation.  True champagne is fermented a second time in the bottle, historically cork-side down in a device called a riddling rack.  Prosecco and other sparklings often have their second fermentation in steel tanks which makes it far less expensive to produce.

Bubbly Terms 101:

Here are some terms to help decipher bubbly labels.

Prestige Cuvee:  Usually the producer’s top range and generally the most expensive of the offerings.

Blanc de Noirs:  A white wine that is produced from black grapes (grapes that make red wine).

Blanc de Blancs: Bubbly that is produced solely with Chardonnay grapes

Rose:  Bubbly made by allowing the skin of the black grapes to sit with the wine for a bit, giving it a pinkish hue.  Occasionally, it also refers to bubbly that has a small bit of red wine added.

NV:  Non vintage, which means that it is from a mix of grapes grown from different years.

Bubbly can have varying degrees of sweetness and here is the order from driest to sweetest:  Brute Natural, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Sec/Dry, Sec, Demi-sec, Doux.

I’m a big proponent of drinking wine in the proper glass.  I’m not so nuts that each

A proper vessel to drink Champagne

varietal needs to have its own custom glass, but champagne really should be put in a glass for champagne.  Use a white wine glass in a pinch, but I prefer champagne flutes.  The ideal flutes are tall, narrow and taper at the top to concentrate the bubbles. The champagne glass, falsely attributed to the shape of Marie Antoinette’s breasts, isn’t ideal because the bubbly gets warm and flat too quickly.  Same goes with flutes that do not taper in at the top.

Before I give you my recommendations, I have to let you know what my preferences are when it comes to sparkling, just to be up front.  I don’t like Demi-sec and abhor Doux.  Momof3 will never, ever, pop for a bubbly like Cristal – it is just too damn expensive.  So with that in mind, here goes.

Retail price: $17 Tribaut Brut

Rated 90 by Wine Spectator, this is a fine champagne and a good bang for the buck.  Lots of citrus, apple with a bit of a yeasty flavor (that is good, btw).  Nice and dry, the way I like it.  Nice, long finish.  Good with food.

Retail: $25.  Piper-Heidsieck.

I love this wine! The bubbles are very refined and creamy.  It is dry without being too crisp.  Notes of apple and bit of berry.  Medium body with a nice length finish.  Rated 89 by Wine Spectator and in my humble opinion, this is under rated.

Retail $10.  Gran Sarao Brut Cava Penedes

Ok, I didn’t talk about Cavas, but this is a damn good sparkler at this price point.  Notes of apricot, tart granny smith apples, bread dough (the yeast flavor) and tiny, tiny bubbles make this a standout.  Nice floral note and a long finish.


Retail: $11 Clara C Prosecco.

I’m generally not a huge fan of prosecco because it has a bit of an aftertaste I don’t care for, but this is a gem.  Big floral nose, mostly rose and wildflowers.  The body is round and full with notes of apple and peach.  The finish is crisp without being too dry.  This is good as an aperitif or with a meal.  YUM.  Clara C’s Rosato is also very fine rose prosecco.

Retail $10-12.  Cupcake Prosecco

If you are looking for something to toast with but aren’t looking to drink a lot of, then this is your bottle. The bubbles are very fine with notes of lemons and a lot of grapefruit (a little too much grapefruit for my taste).  A bit of toastiness in the finish.  It isn’t my favorite, but it is readily available in most markets and it will do a fine job if all you want is something to pop at midnight.

Retail: $20 Chandon Sparkling Wine Etoile Brut.

90 points by the Wine Enthusiast.  Very dry but a silky drinking wine.  Subtle notes of cherries and other red berries, peach and touch of vanilla.  No apple here!

Retail is north of $100.  Perrier Jouet Flowers

Yes, I know I said I’m not into expensive bubbly.  This is truly an exception to that rule if it is a special occasion or an expense account situation.  Rated consistently north of 90 points, this wine is such a treat.  Known for a very rose-based nose (thus the flowers), this wine is creamy with vanilla and a little apple comes through in the finish.  A delight to drink.  I was proposed to while sipping on this wine at the Hotel Chevre-D’or in Eze France overlooking the Mediterranean.  It was perfect for the moment and probably colors my appreciation for this wine.

Retail $10.  Freixenet Brut de Noirs.

I wanted to end on an inexpensive note.  This is the only Freixenet you should by, IMHO.  Very light Cava wine and the salmon color is gorgeous.  Spicy with notes of flowers and sour cherries.  The finish is a bit creamy with a touch of vanilla.  Again, this is a festive wine for toasting, but not for a lot of drinking.

Let’s talk about the ones you want to avoid now.  Unless you are a high school kid, please avoid any sparkling with the following words:  Andre, Duck, and Boone’s Farm.

Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it.
–  Madame De Pompadour

Stay beautiful this New Year’s Eve!  Salut!

Auld Lang Syne

Rompies with Ruby

Hi haters!!  Well, it seems that Codename:Stabby got some hate mail because I called you Crasstalkers “dicks”. You Crasstalkers have some thin skin for such a tough name and that’s all I have to say on that issue.

Anyway, we didn’t go rompies today because it is raining. AGAIN.  But, we did go rompies yesterday and it was AWESOME!!  We went to our regular place but we took a different trail before the one that goes up the mountain, which is the one we usually take.  So this new trail is flat and goes along the river.  It.  Was.  Great!   I got off the leash for four miles!  Codename:Stabby did her intervals and we had a great time.  Also, it was sunny and warm.  No pics though because we left the phone at home.  Then we got groceries and went to the post office and went home.  I had tuna juice on my food for dinner and then I slept.  It was a great day.

It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow, which I am not at all happy about.  I think I’ll probably get a rompie on the upper football field at the high school again.  That seems to be our rainy day routine.

Review: Music Hall USB-1 Turntable

When my wife told me she wanted a turntable for Christmas I knew this was going to be one of those gifts that I would enjoy just as much as she does.  When it came time to pick a turntable though I was confronted with a broad range of prices and products for what is a metal platter that spins a piece vinyl around in a circle. I immediately decided that  I had no use for a $2000 turntable.  Fortunately there were many in the $80 to $300 range from reputable companies that have made turntables for decades.

Another feature that  I didn’t need was the built in ability to transfer to a computer, though an astute reader will notice by the name of the review I ended up with that anyway.  I did want a built in phono pre-amp though since my receiver does not have a pre-amp and I didn’t want yet another component in the entertainment center.

It was Chris who suggested that I look at the Music Hall USB-1. The price was in the range I was looking at, it had a nice look to it and it included all of the features I wanted.  It also had positive reviews online so I decided to go for it.

It’s available on Amazon Prime (free 2 day shipping for Prime members) for $249.

We unboxed it immediately on Christmas day since I wasn’t about to have that thing sit unopened. Unfortunately we were at the mother-in-law’s so I had to improvise a hookup to her Sony soundbar setup. The turntable comes in a couple easy to assemble pieces and includes an Audio Technica AT3600L moving-magnet cartridge which locks easily into the tone arm.

The box includes a short RCA style stereo cable pair, USB cable and software for transferring music to a computer (which I haven’t used). The power cord is a standard 110V, two prong, polarized cord which is permanently affixed to the unit.

When we were able to get the unit home and I had time to hook it up I replaced the included RCA cables with longer gold tipped ones since I needed more reach and had an extra set in a drawer. The turntable is hooked up to a Pioneer VSX-9040THX receiver. The back of the turntable has a selector switch for sending the signal without modification or sending the signal through the built in pre-amp.

Aside from the receiver not having a pre-amp another bit of the past that is gone from the home entertainment center is the clearance necessary in a cabinet to lift the dust cover.  For this reason I had to install the turntable on a stand next to the main entertainment center. Fortunately the table was already there and being used for a phone and photo albums.  The photographs were replaced with the phonograph.

The first test album was Pet Sounds in mono.  My brain uses Sloop John B as a reference song for everything so this was handy.

The album is mono and goes to a stereo input so it plays only through the two main front speakers.  Setting a playback mode on the receiver will force it through the center channel as well, though this should be done with caution since it can add sound effects that are undesirable.  The turntable spins up quickly after the power switch is set to on and the start/stop button is pressed.

The sound quality is was great and the unit has a nice fluid operation to all of the functions. The second test album was Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast. This album was used but in nice condition.  Additionally it was recorded in stereo and has a nice range. You really can’t go wrong with Bruce Dickinson either. The sound reproduction was outstanding. The output level is a little lower than some of my other components so the listening level is a bit higher than for the TiVo.  The other thing that becomes immediately apparent is that these albums were released before the Loudness War.

The third test album was Abbey Road which sounded the best of all three. The sound was quit rich and carried nicely throughout the house.

We have purchased a few more modern albums since and await their arrival.

Rompies with Ruby

Hi cats and kitties!!  Here I am on our Christmas Eve rompies.  We escaped the family hahaha.   Anyway, it was really hot, but that’s cool.  It’s better than the rain we had for the last week.  My rompies were not at all excellent last week.  But!  Like I said, today was hot and sunny, and we rompied for three miles, which was not really enough but Codename:Stabby got lazy last week and it’s all she could manage.  Whatever.

Anyway, we met a nice man in a Jeep coming down the mountain when we we’re going up and he said I was “nice” which was nice of him.  Then I sat in the river which was really cold, which surprised me.  But I got a good drink, and then we left and came home and I took a little nap then we went to Burger King for dinner, which I love.  I had a Whopper Jr., which I love.

Ok, so have a great Christmas my fellow doggies!!  I hope you get chewies and tennis balls!  I’ll check in later.

Daily free music from Minnesota Public Radio

Inspired by the other NPR post, my local and hearted public conglomerate has a music station that has a free song every day, downloadable in podcast form on the iTunes store.

It’s wonderful.

Song of the day

And you’re welcome to freely utilize our public radio awesomeness unless you say mean things about Minnesotans being snobby about our awesomeness. You can still utilize it, but you have to debase yourselves by saying we’re at least a little bit awesome.

Mental Weather Report

Completely fogged in. Visibility: Zero.
Chance of skull-pounding headache: 100%. Persistent dry-heaves thoughout the morning commute. Possibility of sunshine: .08%.

Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin is the photographer that all modern fashion photographers should be judged off of.  A protégé and close friend of Man Ray his work is part surrealism, part pin-up, part fashion.  His eye for color, framing, and negative space makes his photography absolutely extraordinary.

Somewhat NSFW images below the cut. Continue reading

Want Free Music from iTunes and NPR?

NPR has compiled its annual list of the year’s best new music. Some may be to your taste, some may not, but you can’t knock free. Download 12 tracks from iTunes with a free redemption code on NPR’s site here.