BLUE FOR YOU

So, it’s that time of week again. Friday Night Bubbles!

My wife and I have been enjoying a bottle of bubbly nearly every Friday for the past 20 or so years.

It became a thing when I would get home after work on Friday night, my wife having finished work a little earlier, I had a bite to eat, the kids were settled in for the evening and we had some time to ourselves.

It has become one of those little rituals that couples make their own. Although our kids are long past the getting-them-off-to-bed stage, the Friday Night Bubbles ritual has survived, and is, for us, our traditional way of welcoming the weekend. I hope - and expect - we will still be doing this into our dotage.

In all the years since we started Friday Night Bubbles I have never tried to document the wine we have consumed. Dare I say, there have been quite a few. But, we have our favourites that we keep coming back to. And there have been a few that we won’t be getting again. They have been priced anywhere from $10 to $150. Anyway, I have decided to try and mark each Friday Night Bubbles with a brief post? Short and sweet? Nah, hopefully more crisp and dry. Here goes ...

Friday June 4, 2021

Well, the week was reasonable. On the positive side, the Rabbitohs won, the Scottish football team (yes I was born in Scotland, though my accent is pure Oz) drew with Holland, the Socceroos smashed their opposition in Kuwait and my golf wasn’t completely appalling. On the negative side: Covid is still dominating everything, the debate over vaccine safety continues, politicians are behaving like children, my golf isn’t great and we didn’t win Lotto ( a ticket would give us a chance I guess).

So, let’s get to the important business ... the wine. This week’s bubbly is a little drop from Victoria's Pyreness wine district north-west of Melbourne - Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvée.

This is how the producers describe it: “Colour: Brilliant pale straw green with a very fine bead of persistent gentle bubbles. Nose: The aroma is delicate & complex with characteristics of fresh lemon curd. Mouth: Fresh lemon sherbet notes prevail on the front palate, followed by a soft dry creamy mid palate, then the fine minerally acid backbone creates the granny smith apple finish.”

I don’t like to disagree with experts, but I’m not colour blind and this wine does not look green. In fact, if it was green, I would probably only drink it on St Paddy's day. However there was certainly and abundance of bubbles.

As far as the "nose" is concerned I forgot to have a good sniff before our ritual cheers and starting to drink the stuff, but we might do that with next week's bubbles. But, from a memory, I thought, it smelt OK and the bubbles tickled the nose (a technical phrase). This is caused by the abundance of bubbles which my wife insists is critical to good bubbly (go figure).

Now, where the producers talk about lemon curd, I would just say it has a light but complex citrus fruit tang. I don’t reckon it tasted anything like Granny Smith apples. But, on a good note, I didn’t want it to. There’s something called apple cider for that.

The most important part of the equation is that it tasted pretty bloody good, had plenty of bounce, wasn’t too sweet and was enjoyed by both of us. My wife wasn’t overly impressed with the first taste, but grew into the game as they say.

I'm pretty sure, as far as my wife's assessment of Australian bubbly is concerned, Tasmanian reigns over Victorian, but that might be a discussion for another day.

REPORT CARD: A well-behaved student that doesn't talk too loudly in class. Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvee 2016 gets a 7 out of 10.