I thought we were sticking to California vs Florida in honor of the occasion.
I had a splurge bottle of Billecart Salmon in the fridge to celebrate Hillary which I didn't even bother to open that night because it was too depressing.

If you asked for Riunite on ice...that wasn't nice :D

I went with the Pierre Paillard. It's a Bouzy Grand Cru, and I couldn't say no to boozy.

Let's hope we all find a reason to pop a cork before too long.

Well played! :D

:tu:

If we were home, it probably would have been Laurent-Perrier Rose.

Brotherhood Grand Monarque is a champenoise from the Hudson Valley in NY.

Well, the champagne was moved from the fridge to the wine storage late last night.

I'm saving it for November 30th...when the Buckeyes beat that team up north for the first time since 2019.

My bottle of Mumm’s Napa is still in the fridge. I’ll save it for some happy occasion. Like a certain person stubs his toe or something.

Ditto...my bubbles are still in the fridge. See? We're saving money already! :rolleyes:

Our’s went back to Costco.

Currently knocking back some Tatty in an airport lounge. Not bad, but I like something a bit more complex. Price was right tho.

Piper, again in a lounge. Compared to the Tatty last week, maybe more of the complexity that I like, but not as acidic and not as bubbly. I prefer the Tatty.

AA FL?

Just got my shipment of 2019 Sea Spray in. Heard it’s drinking nicely already, but haven’t tried.

Took a chance on 2020 Ultramarine rose which will arrive in a couple weeks. I think they had a hard time moving them for fear of smoke taint. I don’t think they would’ve released anything that could be compromised. Will find out shortly!

My wife and I each had a glass of Herve Rafflin at a restaurant for lunch today. I hadn’t heard of it but it was pretty good.

I'm not sure this has been discussed here, but does this belong in a Champagne thread? ;)

BTW, I'm not familiar with this. Can you explain why one might spend this kind of money on a California sparkling as opposed to the "real thing" at a similar price point?

well I’d argue that both are better than the majority of big box Champagne and on par or better than many grower ones as well. Prices from the mailing list end up around $110/bottle delivered, so pretty reasonable.

Sea Spray is consistently nicely done - typically expressing ripe fruit, brioche.

Ultramarine tends to be decidedly better but different than a typical champagne - very much exuding its California influence. Single vineyard as well, Heintz and Hirsch for the 2020. One of the best domestic producers IME.

We had planned to open some bubbly tonight and I didn’t adequately communicate with my wife what we have. She opened a 2020 Ultramarine Heinz Rose. She took it from the stock that just came in - it was only disgorged about a month ago. Undrinkable even after a couple hours, though 6 months in bottle would be fair to give them. I hope it comes around and from what we tasted it can’t be blamed on smoke.

Honest opinion on the variability of these, especially based on my last post here.