Waitrose Cava Brut Castillo Peralda NV

From - Spaib
Grape - Perellada
Alcohol - 11.5%
Available from - Waitrose
Price - £9.39

Appearance - Clear, lemon, medium intensity, petillant

Nose - Clean, medium intensity, Citrus (lemon), stone fruit (peach), autolytic (lees).

Palate - Dry, high acid, medium alcohol, medium body, medium- intensity, medium+ length, creamy mousse.  Citrus (lemon), kernel (hazelnut).

Good quality, drink now, not suitable for further ageing.

Oz Clarke says that often wines produced in partnership with retailers can be the best value, and I would say this wine is good evidence of that.  Although Prosecco is all the rage, the time a Cava spends in contact with the lees gives it a bit of complexity and makes it an interesting alternative.  This has a good bit of citrus and acidity that makes it refreshing, but although the concentration of the fruit flavours is not particularly strong on the palate, the length is good and the complexity comes through on the finish.

Graham Beck Chardonnay & Pinot Noir Brut NV

From - Western Cape, South Africa
Grape - Chardonnay; Pinot Noir
Alcohol - 12% abv
Available from - Waitrose; Majestic
Price - £13.99

Appearance - Clear; golden; medium intensity

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; apples, lemon, autolysis

Palate - Dry; medium+ acid; medium+ mousse; medium intensity;  medium body; medium alcohol; medium to medium+ length; apples, pears, lemon, bread, stone fruit developing as the temperature raises.

Balance - 8  Length - 7 Intensity - 6.5  Complexity - 7

A gorgeous wine that is superb value for money.  When first pouring it I was met with that familiar traditional method aroma of bread, with citrus and green fruit.  The palate was also thrilling, with more zing and acid than I anticipated, and made it even more reminiscent of Champagne, but at a much lower price.  Creamy, and very delicious,  this is excellent. If you like your bubbly then do not hesitate to try it.  Happy New Year to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to visit my blog or share my blog posts. I hope your 2015 is balanced, long, intense (in a good way) and complex (also in a good way)!

Waitrose Bright & Fruity Italian Sparkling White

From - Veneto, Italy
Grape - Glera
Alcohol - 11.5%
From - Waitrose
Price - £6.49

Appearance - Clear, pale to water-white; almost colourless

Nose - Clean; medium- intensity; developing; apple

Palate - Dry; medium acid; medium- body; creamy mousse; medium- intensity; medium- length; apple, lemon

Balance - 8  Length - 4  Intensity - 3  Complexity - 3

This is a light and refreshing fizzy white, and is a bargain.  I used it for a tasting and it went down a storm.  It uses the Glera grape, which is the same as is used for Prosecco.  However, this wine is produced just outside the proscribed geographical area for it to carry the Prosecco name.  This, together with it being shop's own brand, means that it is much lower price than it would otherwise be.

Waitrose Brut Special Reserve Vintage 2004

From - Champagne, France
Grape - Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay
Alcohol - 12.5%
Available from - Waitrose
Price - £30.99

Appearance - Clear; lemon-green; medium intensity.  Significant viscosity shown when swirling.

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; developing; autolytic aromas (yeasty), apples, limes.

Palate - medium+ acid, medium intensity, medium+ length, medium body; medium alcohol medium mousse.

Balance - 7  Length - 9  Intensity - 6  Complexity - 7

Decanter.com (wine enthusiast's magazine) gives 2004 Champagne 4 out of 5, and describes wines from that year as of 'outstanding quality with excellent balance and fruity acidity'.

It was exciting to have the opportunity (albeit at my own expense!) to taste and analyse a 2004 Champagne.  Although typically for Champagne this is rather dry and acidic, so would not be to everyone's taste, but I am enamoured by the lovely, warm, autolytic flavours and excellent length.  This is a high quality wine at a good price.

Piper-Heidsieck NV Brut

From - Champagne, France
Grape - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Alcohol - 12%
Available from - Majestic
Price - £30

Appearance - clear; medium intensity; golden

Nose - Clean; medium intensity (maybe even a touch more); apple, lemon

Palate - Medium acid, medium alcohol, medium body, medium length; medium mousse; medium body. Lots of lemon, green fruit (apple), toasty-bready flavours from autolysis.

Quality - Good.  Drink now.

Balance - 9 Length - 7 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 6

This is a really nice wine.  I picked it up cheap (cheaper than shown above) as a bin-end but it is superior to some other NV Champagne that I have tried before.  It is very citrus and appley as one might expect, with the flavours expected from bottle fermentation making it very tasty.  I will post about autolysis separately.

Jojo said it made her think 'apple pie' - which is from the appley quality of the cooler climate Chardonnay, and the bready quality from the yeast.

It did not seem as acidic on the palate as I expected.

The 'balance' score, I assure you, was not contrived.  I contemplated scoring it 'medium+' for length, but I am confident that 'medium' is right.  Medium across the board on the palate makes it pretty balanced, but referring back to one of my early posts, balance isn't everything.

This is probably quite expensive at the full price for one bottle shown on Majestic's website, but I understand it is on fairly regular promotion.  A pleasant and very drinkable bottle of wine.