Heads Up: Billecart-Salmon Tasting at The Urban Grape

The Urban Grape is having a free Billecart-Salmon tasting at their locations in the South End (Wednesday November 19th) and Chestnut Hill (Thursday November 20th).

I went to a tasting they offered in Chestnut Hill over the weekend and was reminded why they're one of my favorite retailers. I discovered some really delicious wines from Slovenia. We got to try Vallin wines for the first time.

Remember, in 2010 I said the 2005 Cigliuti Serraboella Barbaresco was my wine of the year? Well the 2010 is out now, and they had it at an amazingly good price. Seriously - I bought everything they had in Chestnut Hill. Definitely check on the shelves in the South End if they have it (and let me know if they do!).

As I was perusing the shelves I found tons of wines that are among my absolute favorites. Kosta Browne Chardonnay. El Nido. Radio-Coteau. Littorai. More than anything, since they opened their doors in 2010 (first look) I find I leave the store with a tremendous mixed case of wine that's both reliably delicious and interesting.

Anyway - Billecart-Salmon is seriously amazing stuff and this is a tremendous opportunity to taste it. I remember when I was interviewing local wine experts for this piece on Celebratory Holiday Wines - Billecart-Salmon (specifically the brut rosé) was a name that came up again and again.

I served Billecart-Salmon to guests as part of a blind tasting comparing it to a much more affordable domestic sparkling brut rosé. Guests with familiarity with sparkling wines could definitely tell which was the more expensive wine. Hint: Look for the fine bubbles, silky mouthfeel and overall elegance.

So head on over to The Urban Grape tonight or tomorrow if you're in the area. Keep tabs on their events page for upcoming tastings.

And follow @UrbanGrape on Twitter for more information.

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Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé $8 vs $80 Blind Tasting Showdown

The highly regarded Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé (left) retails for $85
Piper Sonoma is much more affordable sparkling wine from California

I'll be the first to tell you I'm inexperienced when it comes to sparkling wines. I've got very little in the way of reference points in this category and since mistakes can be especially costly with Champagne I've been hesitant to stretch my budget for more expensive bottlings.

When I first started exploring categories a few years ago I'd go about it differently than I do today. In the past I'd seek out 90+ rated wines costing as little as possible to gauge whether I liked a certain category. In hindsight that might not be the best way to go about categorical wine exploration.

For example, take 2005 Bordeaux. There are gads of wines rated 90+ points costing $30 or less - heck - even $20 or less. And they're fine, but they don't rise to anywhere near the levels of wines costing around $50-$100. The flavor profile might be similar but you really get a richer experienced with a nice, well aged Bordeaux than you do with most affordable entry level wines - even the ones which are rated well.

So rather than nibble at the bottom of the 90 point wines, I thought to instead go for the gusto and proceed immediately to one of the marquee wines in the category. After hearing so many independent glowing references for Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé the past few months I had to try it. But rather than taste it in isolation I thought it would be interesting to compare it side by side with an affordable domestic sparkling brut rosé. I went with Piper Sonoma Rosé since I had it as a Thanksgiving warm-up and thought it served its role nicely.

And to avoid pre-conceived notions from creeping in I served the two wines blind to our guests Christmas Eve. I told them we were tasting a (roughly) $80 Champagne and an $8 sparkler from California. Their challenge was to identify which wine they thought was more expensive and also which they preferred.

Since I was pouring the wines I knew which was which, so my opinions may have been clouded by the knowledge of which was which. But the preferences of our guests were clear: 3 out of 4 preferred the Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé and 3 out of 3 who were willing to wager a guess as to which was which correctly identified it as the one from Champagne.

We tasted the Piper Sonoma first. The color was more copper/orange than pink or salmon. The bubbles were larger and it was more bubbly in general than the Billecart-Salmon. The nose on the Piper Sonoma was fruity and the wine was more flavorful. But it was also rowdier and less refined than the Champagne.

The Billecart-Salmon was subtle, but very classy. It had an inviting nose and a gorgeous salmon color not too dissimilar from its attractive label. It had fine bubbles, a silky mouthfeel an overall elegance that made it stand out from the domestic wine it was being compared to. There was very little doubt in our guests' minds which wine was better and which was from Champagne. Some said you could "taste the forthcoming headache" in the Piper Sonoma.

The Billecart-Salmon costs almost 10x as much as the Piper Sonoma. Was it 10x better? Probably not. More like 2 or 3 times better. But isn't that the case with most wines?

I'll probably splurge for the Billecart-Salmon at some point again in the future. But more than anything tasting it gave me a feel for what you get when you spend a little more in this category. I like what I saw in the wine and I'll look forward to continuing to explore the category. I think it would make for a fine selection for New Year's Eve.

If you'd like to try these wines here's where I bought them:
Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé on Wine.com
Piper Sonoma Brut Rosé from the Wine Cellar of Stoneham

Question of the Day: Have you tried the Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé? If so, what did you think? What are some of your favorite sparkling wines?

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