The weather was so hot last weekend that we decided to eat outside. We had some friends coming round and one of likes sparkling wine. My wife suggested buck's fizz so I looked for a bottle of cheap wine to contaminate with orange juice. The best I could come up with was Wolf Blass Yellow Label 2009 white sparkling wine made for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
I thought for a moment and asked myself - "why should I ruin a perfectly good bottle of fizz as I would not do this with Champagne?".
The Wolf Blass was chilled and we all drank it and I was quite impressed. It was not as good as Champagne as it did not have the savoury taste and the complexity of flavours. It was full of fruit however and ready for drinking. Unlike most Champagne, the Blass was not blended from different years and was a real vintage wine.
The Wolf Blass, however, was blended from vines from different vineyards and I suspect that it has been produced in bulk. Unlike Champagne, this wine was probably produced by the transfer method whereby the wine is disgorged into a pressurised tank after secondary fermentation in the bottle. The sparkling wine is then filtered and has a "dosage" added to balance the acidity; it is then re-bottled. This method of sparkling wine production is sometimes termed "bottle fermented".
http://www.wolfblasswines.com/en/Our-Wines/Yellow-Label/Sparkling-Brut-Pinot-Noir-Chardonnay.aspx
Champagne and Cava are made from the traditional method so they are not disgorged into a tank after secondary fermentation. The "dosage " is added to the original bottle. The same bottle is used for the process of sparkling wine production and retained throughout. This traditional method is more expensive and is used for better quality wine.
The Wolf Blass Yellow Label does not in any way taste inferior and it is of good everyday drinking quality. As my Australian friends would say. "It is not a bad drop of grog". At around £8 pounds for a bottle it represents very good value for money and is an excellent wine to drink as an aperitif - but not mixed with orange juice please.
I always have cheap bottles of cognac and whisky available for when people ask for mixers. My wife has been known to use my Camus XO or Glenmorangie. As far as I am concerned it is complete sacrilege to drink mixers with the best spirits. It is also sacrilege to mix orange juice or kir with Champagne.
Some people have a different opinion and they deserve what they get.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/saveur-100-cognac-cocktails
The same goes for beer; Shepherd Neame Master Brew cask conditioned ale does not improve the taste of lemonade if you order a shandy. It is better to stick to the cheapest beer the pub can offer or have a glass of water to quench your thirst.
So, lets keep our good sparkling wines unadulterated and reserve the real plonk for mixing.
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