Last night my roommate and I popped open my bottle of NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose and I thought it was fine but it didn't knock my socks off. Which I would have liked it to because it was a $60 bottle -- not completely outrageous by champagne standards, but a lot of money for me. It did have a nice berry finish and looked gorgeous in the Cartier flutes, but it had a lemony, mineral quality that I wasn't crazy about.
Grade: B
Price: $60
Will I buy it again? I don't think so. I haven't found my dream champagne yet. The Krug was lovely but a little too smoky for me. I have to say, I loved those first few sips of Cristal -- I know it's supposed to be overpriced and overhyped, but I still think I liked it best.
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Doug and I also went and had dinner at Applewood last night and shared a quite nice bottle of rose wine, Chateau Pourcieux 2003 from Cotes de Provence. Applewood had it on sale for $19.55 for the Dine In Brooklyn special (only twice the price of retail). I don't know jack about wine, and I don't pretend to, but I liked it -- it was placid, not sweet but not cottonmouth dry with a nice glycerin-y mouthfeel. And it comes in a very pretty bottle, making it an excellent gift choice.
Grade: B+
Price: $9.99 at Columbus Circle Wines
Will I buy it again? Sure. I think this will make a lovely "looks-like-I-spent-more-on-you-than-I-did" gift for dinner parties or Christmas. But if you get one, forget you ever read this.
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