A Sparkling Anniversary Wine
My very first trip to wine country was an amazing experience for my wife and I. We visited numerous vineyards including Merryvale, Louis M. Martini, and rode the gondola up to Sterling to end one of the days. The atmosphere in wine country instantly relaxes you, encourages you to learn more about wine, and allows you to try new wines. We were so busy wine tasting on the first day that we forgot to make dinner reservations. Every place we stopped in at (with fingers crossed) was booked. Honestly, I thought we were going to pair wine with a bucket of chicken from KFC. Luckily we found a quaint restaurant off the beaten path and had dinner.
During this trip, there was one place in particular that became a great memory, and that was the main château and terrace at Domaine Carneros in the heart of Carneros.
I’m thinking about Domaine Carneros today because a certain bottle from our visit was shared with our wedding party three years ago today (and we still have the packaged bottle).
The Bottle: 1999 Domaine Carneros Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine
After tasting this sparkling wine on site, we instantly loved it. We then heard the story around Le Rêve and were sold. We got married in 2007, and time was good to this bottle. There was a clean, tasty finish, some floral notes, and no bitterness biting you.
From Domaine Carneros by Taittinger…
“Le Rêve, which translates to “the dream” in French, is a luxury Blanc de Blancs cuvee originally inspired by Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne. Blanc de Blancs means “white of whites” or white wine made from white grapes.
Eileen Crane and Claude Taittinger believe that the finest sparkling wine in the world is Blanc de Blancs made from Chardonnay grapes. These wines have greater finesse and ageability and Le Rêve is no exception. The Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs is generally 100% Chardonnay (with a small percent of Pinot Blanc in some years). Aged a full 6 years prior to release, Le Rêve drinks beautifully upon release and continues to develop for years in the cellar.
Our Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs has repeatedly been rated “The Best Sparkling Wine in America.”
1999 Domaine Carneros Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine
Score: Priceless
I normally have food pairings for wines we talk about in this blog, but today, I have my own reasons of why I’m fond of this sparkling wine.
Cheers!
Jim from Hello Vino
