Tag Archives: Sparkling wine

Vancouver Visit Leaves for Backyard Vineyards in Fraser Valley

Posted on January 27, 2015 by waywardwine

With one “dry” weather day left in Vancouver, we hike the interior of Stanley Park. We feel like lost hobbits in this endless glade.

Dog walkers disappear as we delve deeper. Misty and free of the city’s steel, we find something odd. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged backyard vineyards, bc, british columbia, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canada, pinot noir, Sparkling wine, Stanley Park, Vancouver, wine | 4 Comments

Strasbourg Part 2: Historic Wine Cave beneath a Hospice: Cremant and Pinot Gris Grand Cru

Posted on November 17, 2014 by waywardwine

Last Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour landed us in Strasbourg’s Christmas markets, on top of its Cathedral, and enjoying its wine. Today, we descend into the caves of the Hospice de Strasbourg.

As with our visit, not ten days prior, to Burgundy’s Hospice de Beaune, we find Strasbourg had its own, even older medical, religious, wine cellar. Since 1395, cellars beneath the city’s hospital provided wine as medicine and sacrament. Like Beaune, this hospice gained vine-land from guilty proprietors bent on heaven. Although wine-making stalled during the last century, it reformed as a cooperative in 1995. Let’s see what survived the centuries. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alsace, Cave Historique Hospices de Strasbourg, Cremant, France, French wine, Gisselbrecht, Grand cru, hospice de Strasbourg, Kirchberg de Barr, Pinot Gris, Sparkling wine, Strasbourg, travel, Wine Cellar | 1 Comment

Counting Down: How to Crack Champagne for New Year’s Eve

Posted on December 26, 2013 by waywardwine

The countdown begins. Eyes watch the ball drop. 3. 2. 1.

Corks crack open, impale an uncle, and flutes fill with Champagne. It disappears just as quickly. But between the hugs, huzzahs, resolutions, and regrets, you wonder: was that $40 plus bottle of Frenchness worth it?

It tasted fine. Maybe a bit tart, or a bit fruity, or a bit toasty. But memorable? Maybe it was too cold. Maybe the excitement distracted you. But we here at Wayward Wine blame New Year’s Eve. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2014, Blue Top, Bordeaux, Brut, Champagne, France, Heidsieck & Co Monopole, New year, Non Vintage, Paris, Prosecco, Sparkling wine | 4 Comments

Festive Fizz: Skip Champagne for Sparkling Wine from Limoux, France for New Year’s

Posted on December 19, 2013 by waywardwine

Holiday parties, like the blob, suck all your time. New Year’s Day, like Dick Clark’s ghost, looms. Appetizers stare at us, like piranha on small plates. We need bubbly.

But we tire of bargain Prosecco. Champagne cost too much to share. American bubbly is either too cheap, or too expensive. Cava works, but seems too familiar.

Enter Limoux:

The Pyrenees Mountains cut France and Spain apart. Their foothills form Limoux: a region just south of the medieval fortress town of Caracassonne. Inland and high up, both Mediterranean warmth and Atlantic cold make Limoux the coolest region this far south in France. Its soil is equally rough: full of rocky, sandstone, limestone, and clay.

Cold temperatures, challenging soil, high elevations: the perfect recipe for quality bubbly. Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Limoux, Sparkling | Tagged Alfons Mucha, Blanquette de Limoux, Boucheron, Caracassonne, Champagne, chenin blanc, Dick Clark, France, French New Wave, Languedoc, languedoc-roussillon, Limoux, Limoux wine, mauzac, Mauzac grape, Mucha, Pyrenees, Sparkling wine, St-Hilaire | 4 Comments

VELO VOUVRAY: CYCLING THE LOIRE VALLEY TO MARC BREDIF WINERY: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #46

Posted on October 28, 2013 by waywardwine

We rent bikes in Tours and head up the Loire River, thirsty for wine.

The Loire river runs like a wrinkly tie below Paris to the Atlantic. The Vouvray AOC is a mere, million case pin-prick of 5,000 vinous acres. It sits next door to Tours.

The chenin blanc grape covers nearly all of Vouvray. But before trying wine, we head to the source: Continue reading →