Oh to be back on holiday in the Anderson Valley. How I miss it so. With good friends over tonight it was a reasonable enough excuse to pull out my special bottle of L’Ermitage, Roederer Brut 2003 from said valley to enjoy and reminisce about holidays past – and plan the next one.

Clear and bright, pale gold and the tiniest hint of copper, medium and delicate bubbles noted.
On the nose, clean with medium minus intensity aromas of citrus and stone fruit including light Asian pear and minerality. This is a youthful wine.
The palate is dry with high acidity and medium minus alcohol and body. The flavour aromas are surprisingly medium and include citrus, lemon, lime and yellow grapefruit along with light stone fruits including the aforementioned Asian pear and also some Anjou. There are autolytic flavours of toasty bread and brioche along with some yoghurt. A medium plus finish completes this beautiful wine.

‘Very good’ quality traditional method sparkling wine from the Anderson Valley – a blend of 52% Chardonnay and 48% Pinot Noir grapes along with 4% reserve wines in assemblage.

Extremely enjoyable and perfect for our evening of appetizers pre dinner out. We paired this with light cheeses from Agassiz (Fermiere and the Heidi) along with fresh guacamole with cilantro and salty tortilla chips.