RAISE A GLASS
I KNOW I’m not fashionable. I only have to look in my wardrobe to know that. I don’t listen to the latest tunes and I prefer to watch a Doris Day film rather than a superhero leaping from a building dressed as a spider.
The other week I was invited to a special tasting with winemaker Marie-Christine Osselin from Moët & Chandon. I love meeting people who are at the heart of wine making, its a great chance to pick their brains.
But back to my fashion sense, or should I say awareness. We went through Moët’s range of champagnes and then… what’s this? A champagne to drink over ice? Sacre bleu!!
Yes indeedy, Moët has created Moët Ice Impérial which is designed to drink over ice (£45 Clos19.com and Selfridges, 12% abv). Some folks at the tasting said, oh yes, this is great, and a workpal tells me she’s seen the champers while on holiday. I’d never heard of the champagne on ice idea before and part of me was kind of, well, why would you spoil a champagne with ice? But it’s fashion apparently. There you have it, I’m not fashionable.
Marie told our little gathering that the ice is even used as part of the blending process – this is when the winemaking team decides what proportions of each of the core champagne wines – pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay – they will use to create the flavours and style of wine they want.
I tried the champers both on its own (no ice) and with ice, together with a slice of pink grapefruit. I wasn’t a huge fan of the champagne “neat” but yes, with the grapefruit and ice it went up another level and was fruity and refreshing, but a tad sherberty. It is sweet, that’s for sure. I can imagine it being a wow under the Mediterranean sun.
Then, just days after my Moët experience, along came another wine in a similar vein. Freixenet ICE White (RRP £12.99, Tesco, Morrisons and Ocado, 11.5% abv) is also designed to be tasted with ice.
This blend of the traditional cava grapes macabeo, xarel-lo and parellada, together with chardonnay, has been aged in Freixenet’s cellars for up to 14 months. I chunked some ice into a bowl of a glass and glugged in the cava.
Again, sweetness is king here and the fizz had aromas of honeysuckle, sweet peas and tropical fruit, with an underlying lift of vanilla and biscuit. Great for summer afternoons. ALSO in my glass... This week I’ve moved from one chapter of my life to another. To mark it, I had a sip of more fizz.
Gremillet Rose d’Assemblage Brut, (£24.99, WineTrust100, 12% abv) is a champagne made from pinot noir (70%) and chardonnay (30%) and is a lush salmon pink colour with bubbles that are happy to greet you. It has aromas of ripe strawberries and red berries and that oh-I-so-love aroma of vanilla and freshly-baked biscuits. To taste, it’s a fizz whizz of red fruits and citrus with a good acidity.