[Appearance] Differences in appearance are negligible -- pale, straw-yellow color. Very fine bubbles. Some professional tasters use the expression "bead" for bubbles, as "It has a very fine bead." That is because the fine bubbles ofter stream up from the bottom of the glass in a continuous line, like beads on a thread. Beautiful!
Pol Roger Brut NV
Andrea: [Aroma] Delicate scents of soft, golden apples and fresh cream are common. You may also notice a faint yeastiness -- a scent familiar to bread bakers, of the yeast softening in warm water.
[Taste] Crisp and refreshing, with soft bubbles of course, and a racy, lacy elegance. It is more about texture than flavor, which is ethereal. There is a lot here, but concentrate. It seduces you back to the glass so you must taste it again and again.
12.5% abv, $40
Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label Brut NV
Andrea: [Aroma] Here, the scent is similar, but it is as through the volume is turned up. The apple scent is richer, like a baked apple, and if you frequent a bakery, or have a bread machine, you will surely recognize the yeasty, toasty scent of baking bread.
[Taste] You sense the fuller body, the more powerful, richer flavor of baked apples, yeast, and perhaps toasted hazelnuts or almonds, but no heaviness. The length of flavor in the aftertaste is extraordinary.
12% abv, $46
Tasting 2: Moët & Chandon vs. Chandon (France vs. California, same house)
Andrea: The aroma is the telling part of the comparison. Notice the yeasty, creamy, nutty smell of this wine compared to its California cousin, whose scent is dominated more by vibrant fruit.
Taste. Certainly there is fruit, but the yeasty, nutty character is the most prominent style marker.
12% abv, $42
Chandon Brut Classic California
Andrea: Most tasters immediately notice a more vivid, ripe fruity scent -- of sweet applesauce, sweet oranges and marmalade.Why? The grapes get much riper in the California sun, and the flavors reflect this.
Taste. Again, ripe, vivid fruit character is the predominant feature, as it was in the scent.
12.5% abv, $17
Tasting 3: Lenz Cuvee
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