I am all for special occasion wine, but too many people fall into the trap of waiting for the "right" special occasion. Case in point is my wife's paternal grandmother who was recently cleaning out her kitchen cabinets and came across three bottles of "Champagne" that she was saving for a special occasion...she waited a tad too long.
Coming up with ideas for my blog post each week is sometimes quite hard. I think to myself, "What do people really want to know?" or "What have I done or seen this week that I think is really cool." I'm rambling, so what is my point? Well, this week I was thinking, I've had a birthday, ate a great meal at Quince (you should all go when you are in the Bay Area or if you live here), tried some really great wine, and had a workout this morning that almost blew my arms out. So what to tell y'all?
Thanksgiving can be a fun time to try a whole slew of new wines or it can be a day to keep to tradition, but whatever your fancy, it is a time for wine! The flavors of Thanksgiving are all across the board and since most people I know do not course out their meal you will have so many different flavors on your plate that picking that "perfect" wine is quite the challenge. As with all the dishes on the table I prefer to have a variety of wines to choose from, not only is it fun to taste a bunch of different wines but it can be a good discussion piece between friends and family.
Finally, it is here. I have told many of you that I would start putting up my ten favorite wines that I have tasted each month. The wines selected below were all tasted in the month of October and are listed in no particular order with an estimated retail price.
Before I start this post, a disclosure. I presently work for a company that distributes and represents Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte in California, whose wines I discuss in this post. I will always abstain from rating any wines I sell or which my company represents, to prevent any appearance of conflict. I will occasionally talk about such wines, but always with a disclosure of said representation, mainly if I encounter something totally cool or especially blog-worthy. I hope you agree this is the case here.
Yesterday, part of our staff assembled in the historic Spencer House on Haight Street for a very special tasting with Jean-Pierre Vincent, head winemaker for Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte. We tasted through several single vineyard Grand Cru champagnes - 2 Blancs des Blanc (Chardonnays) and 3 Blancs des Noir (Pinot Noirs) - which are some of the component of the Cuvee Palmes d'Or (PDO). He is touring around with three of each, but our bottle of Cramant Chardonnay was poured earlier in the day in place of a corked bottle. None of these bottlings are available in the US.
