But especially for dessert…
This was the lesson from dinner the other night when we made swift use of some new kitchen toys (birthday presents: all the tools necessary to make western and central European style dumplings, be they ravioli, gnocchi, maultaschen or spätzle). After a hefty stick-to-your-gut feast of potato gnocchi with a wild mushroom ragù, washed down with plenty of Barolo, I grabbed a bottle of Champagne from the fridge (a rare thing; champers doesn’t last long in this house). Anyway, another birthday present: the Zéro Dosage from Ayala.
Lean and refreshing, with lasting flavors of pear, this was yummy stuff. I’d write a longer tasting note, but by the time we got to this wine, well, let’s just say the ol’ cognitive powers of recall were slightly blurred.
Zéro Dosage is one of the terms used in the bubblesphere to denote a sparkling wine made without the addition of a sweetner (whether sugar or grape must) following disgorgement. It can yield some incredibly interesting wines, more of which seem to be appearing in the American market. The practice isn’t just limited to Champagne of course, and can be found in Spanish Cava as well as sparkling wines from places like Slovenia (Movia’s beguiling PURO isn’t even disgorged, so there’s no need for dosage). Anyway, you can read more about no-dosage Champage here and here.
*In other news, I’ve picked up a new and dangerous habit: vinyl records! Got a cool little turntable for Christmas and I’ve been playing with it nonstop. One of the coolest things about it (aside from the Kraftwerk record spinning at the moment) is that it has a USB hookup that I can run straight into my computer to record uncompressed digital audio files. Score!
And with that, the compact disc, at least in this household, finally ceases to have any relevance…
Here’s the video for Blonde Redhead’s 23, taken from the LP of the same name. It sounds mighty fine on vinyl.
spume 