Mother's Day & Sparklers

Can you think of a better way to spend mother's day than with a bunch of sparkling wine (and yes some mothers)? I took a ton of pictures (of chicken lovers and thankfully no chicken livers) some of which are on:


http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2687813015/a=3549108_3549108/


But for the blog the pictures of the food and wine are key - certainly can't releate them to a secondary site.

Wine details with my tasting notes can be found here:

http://www.cellartracker.com//event.asp?iEvent=10832

Marc started us off with a salad

Next i grilled up some lime-ginger prawns



served on a bed of cucumber and lettuce



Next Marc served up home grown poached eggs with asparagus and topped with fried prosciutto.

Gotta love those domestic chickens. Or as Arman said, 'daddy these chickens are wuvwee'.



And an heirloom tomatoe slice to boot. Whoa mother!


Chased by some fine Belgian chocolates.


I am taking pictures of food in the same way that my dad used to. Back then I'd roll my eyes.

The Gosset 1998 comes with a small booklet on a string. Who do they think they are they fooling?

And collecting the refuse to reuse for when we bottle our sparkling mead. If all goes well that is. It has been 12 hours since we pitched the yeast into the must, and there is absolutely no sign of action.

Patience is a virtue. For now at least.

Salon

So I had my first taste of Salon the other night. Salon 1997. No idea what I'm talking about? It's supposedly a super high-end premium champagne. Check out the link if you care.



http://www.decanter.com/archive/58186.html



We'll anyway, I care about champagne, like it a lot. The famous economist John Meynard Keynes supposedly said, 'My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne'. I suppose that makes me Keynesian? But in actuality it's most telling that I will remember him for that more than anything to do with that dismal science. Perhaps that gives you some insight into me as well. Yet I digress...



Back to Salon 1997. It was, shall we say OK. Just fine. But nothing really special. I suppose its not fair to judge a house based on a single bottle or a single vintage. So I wont. But I'm not really sure if anything will get me to ante up to play that game again.



According to my cellartracker notes, my favorites to date have been:



N.V. Domaine Pernet-Lebrun Champagne

N.V. Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Brut 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs

1998 Gosset Champagne Celebris Brut

1998 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Cuvée Fleur de Champagne

1996 Fleury Champagne Brut

1997 Laurent-Perrier Champagne Brut Millésimé

1993 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru

1998 Gaston Chiquet Champagne Brut

N.V. Tarlant Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Prestige



I was looking for where to get one of these, and damnit these wines are hard to find. K&L wines may or maynot have the last one, the Tarlant Cuvee Louis. Currently they have Tarlant Brut Zero in magnum, which I would be interested in trying myself. http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1046887