- Basic info: Mellen-Meyer, Brute, Willamette Valley, Oregon, no vintage
- Type: Sparkling, white
- Price estimate:$35 (from winery)
- Look: pale yellow, light. Fine bubbles with low viscosity and few legs. Low to Medium alcohol.
- Smell: Vanilla and wine. Bob smelled grapefruit.
- Taste: Fine bubbles lead to great mouth feel. Dry, but not overly so. Tastes reminiscent of hard apple cider – fruit, and citrus, but can’t tell which fruit or citrus specifically. Clean and refreshing. Bob called apricot and grapefruit on the taste, but I didn’t get those.
- Conclusions: “Pitch perfect” was how Bob described this one. Probably one of the best sparkling wines we have ever had and that includes actual champagne. Not sweet, but not dry, it is refreshing and clean tasting. The bubbles are fun – fine, and not overpowering. If I had a party or occasion that called for sparkling wine, I’d try to get a case of this.
- Other notes: Bob got excited when he saw this in our wine club shipment from Oregon. We only get six bottles every six months, but we love the different varieties and producers that we would not normally try as we live about as far from Oregon as you can get while still being in the U.S. We thought about saving this one, but decided to just open it and have it with our cheese box this month (see next post for more on that) and we are so glad we did. It went perfect with the rich cheeses and we loved every taste of this.
- There are no tasting notes on the bottle but the wine club notes say, “it has a beautiful toasty biscotti nose with green apple and pear notes and a lively effervescence that creates a nice, fluffy mousse.”
- From the bottle: “Brute, Willamette Valley AVA 35% Chardonnay & 65% Pino Noir. Disgorged Aug. 2, 2016, 315 cases” 12.5% alcohol by volume.
Sixteen Paws 