Tag Archives: Cremant de Bourgogne

The Hits, Misses and Mehs of Wine Reviews

Amber LeBeau in Champagne, Shopping for Wine, Wine critics, Wine reviews

Published on December 10, 2018

Earlier this week The Seattle Times published an article about the top Costco Kirkland wines as selected by a local wine blogger.

Kirkland brand Champagne

One of the wines featured was the Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne that I picked up for $19.99. Throughout the month of December, my wife and I like to open up a bottle of sparkling wine each night. That can get expensive with Champagne so we make sure to stock up on plenty of Proseccos, Cavas and Cremants.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited at the idea of trying a true Champagne for the price of a Crémant de Bourgogne.

Reading Owen Bargreen’s review of the wine intrigued me. The Champagne certainly had pedigree with fruit from the Grand Cru village of Verzenay. Also, unusual for Kirkland branded wines, the back label listed who actually made it as Manuel Janisson of the négociant firm Champagne Janisson.

“The Brut Champagne by Kirkland Signature is a blend of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier sourced from vineyards located in Verzenay. The wine starts off with lovely diatomaceous earth followed by lemon curd and brioche on the nose. The palate shows really nice citrus fruit with kumquat, lemon oil, sourdough bread and a light musty earth flavor. Dense and layered, this is a simply outstanding effort that is a one-of-a-kind value. Drink 2018-2024.” — Owen Bargreen as quoted by Tan Vinh for The Seattle Times 12/7/2018

Unfortunately my experience didn’t quite live up to that glowing review.

The back label of the Kirkland Brut Champagne.

I was originally planning to share my thoughts about the Kirkland Champagne as a 60 Second Review. But instead I think I need to talk about the risks of buying blindly on the recommendations of critics and wine writers.

At the end of this post I’ll give my take on the Kirkland Champagne. But I’ll blanket it with the same caveats that I’m going to discuss below.

First, let me say that this is not about bashing another blogger.

While I’m going to be disagreeing with a bit of Bargreen’s assessment of the Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne, I’ve been a big fan of his work on the Washington Wine Blog.

Among some of my favorite posts have been his interviews with wine industry insiders like:

Kit Singh of Lauren Ashton
Benjamin Smith of Cadence
Jason Fox of Lagana Cellars
Master of Wine Billo Naravane of Rasa Vineyards
Brooke Robertson of Delmas
Nina Buty of Buty Winery

And many more.

Bargreen has a terrific sense of what’s happening in the world of wine–particularly in Washington. He seeks out the people who are shaping the scene and produces content that is well worth following.

My intent is not to quibble about differences in tasting notes. Taste is highly subjective and personal. From one taster to the next, you are just as likely to agree with someone as you are to disagree.

And that’s precisely the point.

Photo by James Suckling. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-2.0

This is especially true with professional critics. It doesn’t matter how esteemed their careers or opinions are. The tastes of critics like James Suckling (pictured) may be quite different than yours.

When you buy a wine based on a newspaper, magazine or blog review, you’re essentially gambling on how likely your tastes will align with the reviewers. And I’m not talking Somm Game gambling here. Because with written reviews (as opposed to personal recommendations from a sommelier or wine steward), you really are going out on a ledge.

The author of a wine review is writing solely from the perspective of their tastes and their opinions. They’re not standing in front of you, listening to you describe the kind of wines that you like or don’t like. They’re not acting like a sommelier or wine steward, piecing together clues to recommend something that they feel confident that you’re going to enjoy.

The reviewer may have a tremendous palate with lots of experience tasting a vast array of wines. But when it comes to recommendations published in articles, blogs, “Best of…” and “Top Whatever” lists, your tastes and your opinions do not enter the reviewer’s equation whatsoever.

Yet it is your wallet that is buying the wine. Plus, either your mouth or your kitchen drain is going to end up with the contents of that bottle.

When you buy off of reviews, what are the odds that you’re going to absolutely love the wine?

I would say about 25% or a quarter of the time. For another quarter, it’s likely to be a complete whiff.

But for the majority of the recommendations you buy, the results will be in the middle of don’t love, but don’t hate or what I call “Meh wines”.

And then you got to figure out if it’s worth eating at McDonald’s again to redeem your small fry.

Getting a “Meh wine” is certainly not the end of the world.

It’s kind of like playing McDonald’s Monopoly where you pull off a tab and win a small fry. You didn’t lose per se, but you really didn’t win either. You essentially got a token of a prize and with a “Meh wine” you end up with a token of an experience–something drinkable but not much more.

Now ask yourself. How much money and time do you want to spend on “Meh wines”?

Can You Hedge Your Bets?

You most definitely can. But to do that, you need to think more like a bettor at the horse races.

1.) Do Your Homework. Admittedly, a good chunk of this is trial and error. The only way to increase your odds for successful drinking is to learn how your palate aligns with the reviewers. Paying attention to how many Hits/Misses/Mehs you get with a certain reviewer will key you in on if it’s worth the gamble. Even this is not absolute. There still may be wines that you don’t completely jive with. But, at the very least, you’ll be able to weed out more of the misses and the mehs.

Though there is some truth to the old Will Rogers’ quote: “You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people.”

2.) Pay Attention To The Jockeys–i.e. the wineries who made the wine. Often this is even better than betting on the horse. If you’ve had past experiences enjoying a winery’s wines, your bet just got a whole lot better. Because now you’re not really taking a blind recommendation from a reviewer but rather letting your own palate and experience have a say.

3.) Don’t Bet Big On An Unknown. Buying blindly on a review is never an occasion to buy a case. It doesn’t matter what high score or glowing review it got or how killer of a deal it looks like. It could still wind up being a colossal dud. You’re far better off taking a flyer on a single bottle to try first. Even though I really loved the idea of a $20 Champagne to drink all month, I am so grateful that I only spent $20 on the Kirkland Brut instead of a couple hundred.

4.) Spread Out Your Risk. Don’t bet it all on one wine. While I’m a huge supporter of trying new things, it’s always a good strategy to spread your bets out between long-shots mixed with a few favorites. Go ahead and take a chance on that new bottle, but also pick up something that is more of a sure bet just in case.

A Personal Note

Since I do reviews here on the blog, I hope all my readers take the above to heart and apply these strategies to my recommendations as well.

My favorite wines might only hit a 25% jackpot with you–or even less. Our tastes could be polar opposites and that is perfectly fine. My hope is that with the Geekery tidbits and other posts, you’re still finding resources that’ll help you find bottles you enjoy.

In the end, finding great wines that give you pleasure is the only thing that matters. Life is too short to drink “Meh wines”.

Now About That Kirkland Champagne

Lots of citrus notes in this Champagne but they’re more on the bitter green side like unripe pomelos.

Medium intensity nose. Definitely citrus driven but more bitter green citrus notes like unripe pomelo and Bergamot orange. Noticeable yeasty notes reminds me of raw Pillsbury buttermilk biscuit dough.

On the palate, those green citrus notes carry through but they fade pretty quickly. It’s definitely the dough notes that dominate but they taste much sweeter than the nose would have suggested. I couldn’t find the exact dosage but it’s certainly on the sweeter side of brut–likely 10-12 g/l.

The sweet dough with citrus flavors makes me think they were trying to go for the Veuve Clicquot style. However, the medium-plus acidity and moderate mousse has a tangy edge (like Bargreen’s sourdough) that doesn’t quite match the creamy mouthfeel that trademarks Veuve. The finish does have a hint of dustiness but is very short.

The Verdict

At $20, this isn’t a horrible wine. It’s definitely drinkable. If it’s aiming to be a budget Veuve Yellow Label for half the price then it’s not that far off. But it certainly tastes like a half-price “Meh” version of Veuve.

While I might slightly give the nod to the regular Brut, the rose Cremant de Bourgogne from Levert Freres is also quite delicious for less than $20.

However, this is not “a one-of-a-kind value” by any stretch of the imagination.

There are so many stronger bottles of sparkling wines under $20–most notably the many available Cremants from Burgundy, Alsace and the Loire. These include wines like Levert Freres, Louis Bouillot, Albrecht, Gratien & Meyer and Champalou. Often these wines are aged as long as nonvintage Champagne (15 months) and many times much longer.

These Cremants may not have the magical “C-word” on the label like the Kirkland Brut but they are far more Champagne-like.

Then in the US, we have producers like Gruet, Jacqueline Leonne, Trevari and Roederer Estate who make very solid bottles in the $15-20 range. And, of course, Cava has some tremendous bangs for the buck with the Insito, Juve & Camps and Anna de Codorniu being highly reliable sparklers.

Champagne Dreams With a Budget-Friendly Reality

If you want to go Champagne, paying just a little bit more will give you huge quality dividends above the Kirkland Brut.

Bargreen’s article mentions the Feuillatte Blue Label that is often around $27-29 during holidays. Then there is the Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial ($33-36), Petrois Moriset Cuvee ($30-33), Moutard Grand Cuvee ($30-33) Chanoine Frères Grande Reserve ($33-35), Montaudon Brut ($32-35), Pommery Brut Royal ($33-36) and Laurent Perrier La Cuvee ($33-36).

And if you really want a slightly cheaper Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label, the Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top hits those notes better than the Kirkland Brut does in the $33-36 range.

I’m sure you can find even more under $40 Champagne or under $20 sparkling wine options checking out your local wine shop. Plus, you can talk with a wine steward and let them know what you like or don’t like.

That way you’re more likely to go home with a Secretariat, Justify or American Pharoah than you would betting on “Meh”.

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Pink Washing in the Booze Industry for Pride Month

Amber LeBeau in Beer, Wine marketing, Wine reviews

Published on June 24, 2018

“You know you matter as soon as you are marketable.”

I found that quote scribbled in the margins of a used copy of Wine Marketing & Sales I purchased from Amazon. I have no clue about the original author. However, a cynical corollary to that proverb often gets bantered about during Pride Month.

“Businesses start paying attention when they realize you can be marketed to.”

The origins of Pride is about the LGBT community overcoming obstacles and affirming our right to live openly and without fear. It’s something that is still needed even today. Yet every year there are concerns that the significance of Pride is lost in lieu of having a big ole party.

But this conflict isn’t unique to Pride. Many religious and secular holidays such as Christmas and Memorial Day have drifted far from their original meaning.

Far from sitting on the sidelines, the alcohol industry is often at the forefront in this crass commercialization of holidays with producers and retailers banking on the uptick of sales during the winter holidays to make their financial year–which is why things like “reindeer wine,” boozy ornaments and whiskey advent calendars exist.

Likewise, every Memorial Day will prominently feature large liquor displays at stores–not necessarily to help people remember the sacrifice of service members but rather to “toast the beginning of summer” with a packed cooler and a 3-day weekend.

Eat, Drink and Be Gay

Even with the many challenges we still face (especially globally), the LGBT community has indeed moved beyond being universally shunned and shuttered into the closest. We’re now a very marketable demographic that businesses eagerly seek. With an estimated purchasing power of nearly $1 trillon in the US, on a global scale, the LGBT community would have the 4th largest GDP of any country at $4.6 trillion.

A pride float in Chicago featuring Absolut Vodka

Is it any wonder why businesses see Pride Month as “Gay Christmas”?

Again, you can look and find examples of the alcohol industry leading the way with vodka brands like Absolut and Smirnoff developing ad campaigns for the LGBT community since the 1980s and Anheuser-Busch being a fixture at Pride events since the 1990s.

In the wine industry, Clos du Bois (now part of Constellation Brands) began donating in the mid 1990s to LGBT causes like the AIDS Memorial Quilt project and highlighting their involvement in print ads. Over the next decade, more wine brands would regularly sponsor Pride events and advertise in LGBT publications. These included Beaulieu Vineyard (Treasury Estates), Domaine Chandon (LVMH), Rosemount Estate (Treasury Estate) and Merryvale Vineyards.

Travel and wine events catering to the LGBT community emerge such as Out in the Vineyard that started in Sonoma in 2011 with sponsorship from Boisett Family Estates, DeLoach, Gary Farrell, Iron Horse, J Vineyards, Jackson Family Estates, Lasseter Family Winery, Muscardini, Ravenswood, Sebastiani and Windsor Oaks among others.

It’s not just wine, it’s GAY WINE!

Most of these early marketing campaigns were based on promoting existing products. However, soon producers began developing exclusive products targeting LGBT consumers. Kim Crawford (Constellation) takes credit for creating the world’s first “gay wine” with its 2004 launch of a rosé named Pansy. Though not necessarily claiming to be a “gay wine”, Rainbow Ridge Winery in Palm Spring, owned by LGBT owners, may have beat them to the punch with their 2001 Alicante Boushet. They certainly win on the merit of having a far less offensive name.

In Argentina, the Buenos Aires Gay Wine Store partnered with a local Argentine winery to produce Pilot Gay Wine in 2006. While debates about gay marriage was carrying on globally, Biagio Cru & Estate Wines created a sparkling Cremant de Bourgogne named Égalité (meaning “equality”) in 2013 to celebrate the crusade for marriage equality.

Lest other segments of the industry get left behind, in 2011 Minerva Brewery in Mexico released what they called the “World’s First Gay Beers” with two honey ales–Purple Hand Beer and Salamandra.

Be cynical or celebrate?

I understand the instinct to chafe at the “Curse of Pink Washing” and the sense of being pandered to by corporate interests. That is my initial response to a lot of gay marketing. But I can still celebrate the meaning of Christmas while putting up snowmen and Santa decorations. Likewise, the solemnity of Memorial Day can still be observed while BBQing burgers and brats.

For me, I won’t begrudge any business for creating special “Pride packaging” or products. However, I won’t give them a free pass either. The quality still needs to be inside the colorful wrapping to merit a positive review or a second purchase.

In that vein, I decided to try Fremont Brewing Pride Seattle Kolsch and House Wine’s Limited Edition Rosé Bubbles Can and review them below.

The Beer

I’d definitely buy this even outside of Pride month.

Medium intensity nose with fresh wheat grain and some subtle lemon pastry notes.

The mouthfeel is refreshing. Very well balanced with the citrus notes more pronounced. Extremely session-able with low hops and plenty of malted grain flavor.

The Wine

Sourced from “American Grapes” of unknown variety or origins.

Medium-minus nose with faint and not very defined red fruit. There is also a tropical rind note that vaguely reminds me of cantaloupe rinds.

While certainly not “bottle fermented”, it’s very likely that this wasn’t made via the Charmat method or tank fermentation either.
Most likely Precept made this with straight carbonation like soda.

On the palate, the bubbles are very coarse and almost gritty. Slightly bitter phenolics brings up more of the rind note from the nose. It segues into apple peel with just a little bit of unripe strawberry representing the faint red fruit.

The Verdict

The Fremont Pride Kolsch was a very enjoyable beer in its own right. Even beyond Pride, it’s worth $8-10 for a four pack of 16 oz cans.

The House Wine “Rainbow Bubbles”, however, was very reminiscent of Cook’s or Andre’s. It honestly seemed like someone took a light rosé and put it through a Soda Stream. At $4-5 for a 375ml can, I’d much rather spend $3-4 more to get a bottle of Spanish Cava.

That would be something worth toasting Pride with.

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60 Second Wine Review — Louis Bouillot Extra Brut

Amber LeBeau in 60 Second Reviews, Burgundy, Wine reviews

Published on April 18, 2018

A few quick thoughts on the Louis Bouillot Extra Brut Cremant de Bourgogne.

The Geekery

The sparkling wine house of Louis Bouillot was founded in 1877 in the Burgundy wine village of Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Tom Stevenson and Essi Avellan note in the Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine that the house owns around 50 acres of vineyards but works with over 70 growers throughout the Côte d’Or as well as in the Côte Chalonnaise, the Mâconnais and Chablis.

Since 1997, the house has been a part of the Boisset Collection along with other notable Burgundian houses like Bouchard Aîné & Fils, Domaine de la Vougeraie, Ropiteau Frères and the California estates of Raymond Vineyards, Buena Vista Winery, DeLoach Vineyards and Lyeth Estate.

The Limited Edition Extra Brut is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Gamay and Aligoté. The wine spent 30 months aging on its lees (well above the 9 months minimum required for regular non-vintage Cremant de Bourgogne and 12 months required for NV Champagnes) before being bottled with a dosage of 6 g/l.

The Wine

High intensity nose. A mix of ripe apples and lemons with toasty pastry. There is also a white floral note that adds a sweet smelling element–honeysuckle?

Perfect balance of apple fruit and toastiness in this dry sparkler.

On the palate, the apple notes come through the most and with the toastiness reminds me of a freshly baked apple turnover with some cinnamon spice. Noticeably dry I would have pegged the dosage more in the 3 g/l range. Impeccably well balanced with fresh lively acidity and silky smooth mousse. Long finish brings the lemon notes back with them being more zesty than fruity.

The Verdict

At around $20-25, this is a fantastic sparkling wine that would put many of the grocery store level NV Champagne brands in the $35-45 range to shame. I’ve long been a fan of Cremant de Bourgogne (and Louis Bouillot in particular–especially their rose sparkler) but this Extra Brut takes it to another level.

Being a limited edition, it will be hard to find but well worth the hunt.

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Getting Geeky with Cave de Genouilly Aligote

Amber LeBeau in Burgundy, Wine grapes, Wine Knowledge

Published on January 20, 2018

Going to need more than 60 seconds to geek out about the 2015 Cave de Genouilly Bourgogne Aligoté.

The Background

Cave de Genouilly was founded in 1932 as a co-operative of family growers in the Côte Chalonnaise region of southern Burgundy. Today, the co-op includes 90 growers with 180 acres based around the communes of Genouilly, Fley, Bissy-sur-Fley, Saint-Martin-du-Tartre and Saint-Clément-sur-Guye. Many of the growers are second and third generation members of the co-op.

In addition to Bourgogne Aligoté, the co-op also produces Crémant de Bourgogne as well as still wines from the AOCs of Rully, Givry and Montagny–including some premier cru.

The Grape

According to Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes, Aligoté is an offspring of Pinot and Gouais blanc, making it a full sibling of Chardonnay, Melon de Bourgogne, Gamay and Auxerrois.

Robinson speculates that the name Aligoté is derived from the old synonym for Gouais blanc, Gôt. The grape first appeared in written records in 1780 under the synonym ‘Plant de Trois’ which refers to the tendency of Aligoté to produce three clusters per branch. The name Aligoté, itself, appears in the Côte d’Or for the first time in 1807.

The grape earned some notoriety after World War II when the mayor of Dijon, Félix Kir, created a cocktail that blended Aligoté with Crème de Cassis. Today that cocktail is known as the Kir and, while it has many derivatives, the classic incarnation still features Aligoté.

The classic Kir cocktail of Aligoté with Crème de Cassis paired with gougères, a savory puff pastry made with cheese.

Today there is around 4800 acres of the variety planted in France–virtually all in Burgundy. Producers tend to plant Aligoté either at the very bottom or very top of the slope, leaving the prime mid-slope section for the more profitable Chardonnay and Pinot noir.

While most plantings are found in the Côte Chalonnaise, particularly in the Bouzeron AOC, the grape was permitted in Meursault throughout the 19th century and is technically still authorized for use in the Grand Cru of Corton-Charlemagne thanks to a 1930s legal judgement. Bonneau du Matray maintained 1 ha of Aligoté in the Grand Cru until the mid-1970s.

In my post Brave New Burgs, I noted that the list of Burgundian producers who seem to have a soft spot for this obscure variety is impressive. Aubert de Villaine (of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti fame), Lalou Bize-Leroy, Marquis d’Angerville and Michel Lafarge, to name a few. Aligoté is even planted in the prime real estate of the Morey-St-Denis Premier Cru Clos des Monts Luisants owned by Domaine Ponsot.

Outside of France, Aligoté can be found in Switzerland (≈ 50 acres) and several eastern European countries such as Bulgaria (≈ 2700 acres), Moldova (≈ 39,000 acres), Romania (≈ 18,000 acres), Russia (≈ 1,000 acres) and Ukarine where the grape accounts for 11% of total vineyard area with ≈ 24,000 acres.

By Ensenator - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, released on Wikimedia commons

Aligoté grapes growing in Romania.

In the US, California winemaker Jed Steele makes an example in Washington State called Shooting Star sourced from 2 acres of Aligoté planted in the Yakima Valley by the Newhouse family in the 1970s. Josh Jensen of Calera has also experimented with the variety in the high-altitude Mt. Harlan AVA in the Gabilan Mountains of San Benito County, California.

The Wine

Medium plus intensity nose with citrus and fresh cut white flowers. A little grassy. Makes me think of a Sauvignon blanc.

The mouthfeel has surprising weight with a medium plus body that helps balance the medium plus acidity. It rounds it out and keeps the wine mouthwatering rather than bitey. Apple flavors appear alongside the citrus (lemon) and fresh floral notes carrying through from the bouquet. The grassiness doesn’t, though, which has my thoughts shifting from comparing it to a Sauvignon blanc to something closer to an unoaked Chardonnay from the Macon-Village.

The Verdict

In Brave New Burgs, I summed up my tasting note on the 2015 Cave de Genouilly Bourgogne Aligoté “As if a Sauvignon blanc and an unoaked Chardonnay had a baby. Great mouthfeel with weight. Smooth but fresh.”

The wine has a lot of character that makes it enjoyable on its own but with its mouthwatering acidity, I thinks it place to shine is with food. At around $15-18, its combination of fruit, acidity and structure gives great flexibility on the table letting it pair with anything from white and shellfish to fatty tuna and salmon as well as vegetarian fare, poultry and pork.

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Product Review – Perfect Pop

Amber LeBeau in Champagne, Product Reviews

Published on December 10, 2017

One of my favorite (and clearly apocryphal) quotes about Champagne is attributed to Oscar Wilde.

“The sound of Champagne opening is like a content woman’s sigh.”

While I’m skeptical as to the breadth of Wilde’s experience with content women sighing, I nonetheless love the sentiment behind the quote that the art in opening up Champagne and other sparkling wine is not in the POP but, rather, in keeping it to just a gentle hiss so as not to lose the beautiful aromas and bubbles.

As the holidays approach, more and more folks are reaching for a bottle of bubbles to spread some holiday cheer. While there are many tutorials online about how to open a bottle of sparkling wine, there will always come a time when the pesky cork just doesn’t want to come out. Outside of reaching for a sabre, what do you do?

I put one tool that is out on the market to the test – the Perfect Pop Champagne Opener– available from Amazon right now for $5.99 and eligible for Prime shipping.

I tested it out on the 2013 Levert Frères Crémant de Bourgogne Brut that I recently reviewed.

I had difficulties at first in putting the tool over the cork with the cage attached and getting it to line up straight. It wasn’t until I removed the cage that I could get the device to feel securely fit.

Instructions for the Perfect Pop

Once I got it on, it took awhile for me to feel comfortable getting a grip on it to turn with the bottle tilted at a 45° degree angle. This is because while usually you wrap your hand around the side of the cork like you are holding the ends of a jump rope, and twist the bottle not the cork, this device requires you to get your palm more over the top with your fingers in the groves to twist the cork itself.

So it is a bit awkward to get the hang of at first.

But it works.

The “pop” is a bit louder than the ideal open. It’s sounds more like a busy mother’s “Oops!” when the baby food on the spoon misses it target. Still, very little aromatics and bubbles get lost. Despite the awkwardness at the beginning, by the second usage I was able to get the device on, twist and have the bottle open in less than 7 seconds. Most importantly, I could do this without the soreness and redness on my hands from struggling with the cork.

That’s a winner in my book and well worth the $6.

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60 Second Wine Reviews – Levert Freres Cremant Bourgogne

Amber LeBeau in 60 Second Reviews, Wine reviews

Published on December 9, 2017

A few quick thoughts on the sparkling 2013 Levert Freres Cremant de Bourgogne Brut.

The Geekery

An old estate dating back to 1595 in the commune of Mercurey in the Côte Chalonnaise region of Burgundy. Today it is part of the Compagnie Vinicole de Bourgogne based in Chagny with Gabriel Picard managing and David Fernez making the wine.

Sourced from around 22 acres (9 ha) of vineyards in Mercurey, the 2013 vintage is a blend of 42% Chardonnay, 38% Pinot noir and 20% Gamay. The wine spent 24 months on the lees. This is far beyond the minimum 9 months currently required for Cremant de Bourgogne and is inline with the aging required for the upcoming prestige Cremant ranking of Crémant de Bourgogne Eminent that was announced in 2016.

The Wine

Medium plus intensity aromatics. Lots of fresh citrus with some subtle toastiness underneath. It smells like a freshly baked lemon roll with a glazed puff pastry. Underneath there is a white floral component that adds complexity.

The back label of the Levert Freres

The palate features a smooth mousse but it is quite dry. I couldn’t find the exact dosage but I would estimate it in the 7-8 g/l range, making it a legit Brut and a very well balanced one at that. The freshness from the nose carries over and it is quite lively and immensely charming. The floral notes are more pronounce and strike me more as daisy petals versus lillies.

The Verdict

Charming is the reoccurring theme. It’s certainly simple but it has enough character to engage the senses and is a bottle that can be happily shared (and emptied!) at any setting. At around $15 dollars, it is an excellent buy but this bottle could easily hold its own against other wines up to the $20 range.