Wine Review: Schramsberg 2008 Blanc de Blancs

This wine is a light straw color. I love the small, tight ongoing bubbles. The nose has aromas of lemon zest and tart apples with a hint of breadiness or brioche. The palate mirrored the nose with those same tart apple and lemon flavors. The wine is light, crisp and a delight on the palate. the finish is crisp with nice acidity with lingering notes of lemon. This wine is great to sip alone, but it would be a perfect match for fresh goat cheese, and fresh goat cheese lightly coated in minced dill spread on a baguette slice or a cracker. I would also pair this wine with Humboldt Fog cheese and with Trois Petits Cochon's Pate` with Mushrooms and their Truffle Mousee Pate` spread on crackers. http://www.3pigs.com.

I would also pair this wine with a roast chicken, that has it's cavity seasoned well with sea salt and pepper or my favorite Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, then filled with a lemon wedge or two (if it will fit!), fresh thyme, a sweet onion quarter, a bay leaf, then rubbed down with extra virgin olive oil (I like Ecco Extra Virgin Olive Oil http://www.rutherfordranch.com/products/product.php? productid=16154&cat=258&page=1 ) and sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper or creole seasoning. I like to rest my chicken on a rack made of celrey stalks with a bay leaf and a little white wine or water to maintain some moisture during the cooking process. A side of wild rice and a nice salad would complete this great pairing.

I like appetizers that contain spinach and artichokes with Parmesan cheese in puff pastry with Blanc de Blanc sparkling wines. Also, light cheeses, oysters and oyster based appetizers, fish and crab and crab based appetizers would pair nicely with this sparkling wine.

I am on a mission to get people to realize that sparkling wine is to be enjoyed "all the time." Sparkling wine is not just to be reserved for special occasions; a Friday that you get a paycheck in this economy, is a special occasion. As a lady once told me in New Orleans when I lived there before Hurricane Katrina, "Treat yourself, don't cheat yourself." I often think about that statement when I sip on a flute of sparkling wine! Note: This wine was a sample provided by Wilson Daniels LTD. http://www.wilsondaniels.com SRP $36.00