Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY! How about some Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava for a toast? On the nose it's got a pleasant yeasty breadiness with green apples, lemon, vanilla and flowers. It's zippy on the palate with a sharp acidity and flavors of apples, lemon, and yellow pears. It finishes with an increase in floralness and a slight touch of sugar. This isn't a bubbly to sit there and analyze to death. It's fun and delicious, and its affordability makes it perfect for any kind of celebration.

Listen to both Joey and Mike talk about this wine on episode 10 of Grapes & Capes: Cava Countdown

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Vilarnau Rosé Reserva Cava

This rosé Cava from Barcelona, Spain is 85% Garnacha and 15% Pinot Noir. It's salmon in color and on the nose there's aromas of strawberries, lemon, whipped cream, and little bit of peach and toast. It's light and foamy on the palate with a bright acidity and soft tannin. All of the aromas on the nose return on the palate to create quite a delicious sparkling rosé for the price.

Listen to both Joey and Mike recommend this wine on episode 10 of Grapes & Capes: Cava Countdown

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Grapes & Capes Episode #10: Cava Countdown

Mike and Joey drink Spanish Cava for the Holidays while counting down their top 5 favorite comic book heroes and villains.  BUT THERE'S A CATCH!!! Mike can't pick anything Marvel, and Joey can't pick anything DC!

Vilarnau Brut and Rosé Cava provided by Donna White Communications.

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*** Help Support the Podcast ***

Prologue: Podcasting during the first winter storm of the season, what do we listen to while we're reading?

Wine #1: Vilarnau Brut Cava, what is Cava?, what is Champagne?, how they make traditional method sparkling wine, glasswear, the dryness scale, the kickass history of Korbel

Comics #1: Top 5 Favorite Heroes, the Titans TV show, WB movies on HBO Max, DC Universe turning into comics service only, the Defender shows on Netflix,  Sinestro Corp Wars is a must read, Doomsday Clock is too, annoying thought bubbles

Wine #2: Vilarnau Rosé Cava, "Merry Christmas and wear a #$%^ing mask!", THANK YOU DONNA!

Comics #2: Top 5 Favorite Villains, cross country 1990, the Birds of Prey movie, Batman Forever, the new Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, John Leguizamo, The Happening, the "menacing" factor for villains, the New Gods movie, life lessons from EC Comics

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Rosé All Day Spritz Rosé + Grapefruit with Bubbles

Okay, I'm going to be blunt: Rosé All Day are not kidding when they say "+ grapefruit" because there's A LOT of grapefruit here. And that wouldn't be a big deal in the middle of July or August when it's hot as hell and if this thing was chilled ice cold, because it would be completely crushable and I would just abuse that 4 pack of cans so easily it's ridiculous. But it's September and starting to get chilly here so you know what I did? I took an inexpensive Cava, that I knew I could trust to provide some wonderful bready yeastiness, and mixed them together. It was pretty damn enjoyable. I'm not even joking. Improvisation!

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Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava

Vilarnau is located near the city of Barcelona. They've been making Cava since 1982 but their current vineyards were acquired in 1990. On the nose their Brut Reserva Cava has a pleasant yeasty breadiness with green apples, lemon, vanilla and flowers. It's zippy on the palate with a sharp acidity and flavors of apples, lemon, and yellow pears. Then it finishes with an increase in floralness and a slight touch of sugar. It's very refreshing and lip smackingly yummy, but you're not going to sit and savor it with every sip. This was made for some fun downing of thirst quenching and affordable bubbly.

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $15

Rating: 3/5 = Satisfying (what does that mean?)

The bottle used was provided free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.

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Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava

Vilarnau is near the city of Barcelona. They've been making Cava since 1982 but their current vineyards were acquired in 1990 when they moved locations. This is the second of two wines by Vilarnau that I'm reviewing this week: First was their Brut Rosé and now it's their Brut Reserva!

On the nose it's got a pleasant yeasty breadiness with green apples, lemon, vanilla and flowers. It's zippy on the palate with a sharp acidity and flavors of apples, lemon, and yellow pears. It finishes with an increase in floralness and a slight touch of sugar. This isn't a bubbly to sit there and analyze to death. It's fun and delicious, and its affordability makes it perfect for any kind of celebration. New Year's Eve, maybe? HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $14

Rating: 3/5 = Satisfying (what does that mean?)

The bottle used was provided free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.

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Vilarnau Rosé Reserva Cava

Vilarnau is near the city of Barcelona. They've been making Cava since 1982 but their current vineyards were acquired in 1990 when they moved locations. This is the second of two wines by Vilarnau that I'm reviewing this week: First I'm reviewing their Brut Rosé and on Sunday it's their Brut Reserva!

This rosé is 90% Trepat and 10% Pinot Noir. It's salmon in color and on the nose there's aromas of strawberries, lemon, whipped cream, and little bit of peach and toast. It's light and foamy on the palate with a bright acidity and soft tannin. All of the aromas on the nose return on the palate to create quite a delicious sparkling rosé for the price.

I absolutely recommend this to anybody looking to drop $14 on a pink bubbly!

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $14

Rating: 4/5 = Recommended (what does that mean?)

The bottle used was supplied free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.

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Wine Quickie: Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé Cava

Just like the Brut Reserva Cava, this will run you $14 and the bottle is wrapped with the work of Antoni Gaudí, who was a Spanish architect in the late 1800's into the early 1900's. The Brut Reserva Rosé is strawberry candy in color. There's aromas and flavors of strawberries, peaches, and cream soda, with a creamy mouthfeel and a lively personality. And just like the Brut again, it's not for sipping and savoring but it's perfect for some fun downing of refreshing and affordable bubbly.

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Wine Quickie: Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava

This Spanish Cava from Barcelona will run you $14. The bottle is wrapped with the work of Antoni Gaudí, who was a Spanish architect in the late 1800's into the early 1900's. It's got a nice toastiness to it, something that I demand from Cava, with green apples, lemon, and flowers. It's zippy on the palate and finishes kinda soapy (which I guess would be floral). You're not going to sit and savor this, but it's perfect for some fun downing of refreshing and affordable bubbly.

I've also got a bottle of the Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé, which I'll probably pop open sometime in the next week, if not next Friday.

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August Wine Pick: Gran Sarao Cava Brut

This WINE PICK of the month was written for the Luke's of Cape Cod website.

I've got this thing for sparkling wine. Trying a new one makes me incredibly happy. Of course, the result isn't always good but just the prospect of popping a new one brightens me right up. My wine pick for this month didn't disappoint.

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Wine Review: Segura Viudas Brut Rosé with Sushi

January is Sparkling Wine Month on TheWineStalker.net!

I love rosé. It's a weakness of mine. I also love inexpensive Spanish Cava. My favorite food on the planet may be sushi, possibly only trumped by hardshell beef tacos. Wasabi is an old pal of mine, especially when sinuses need to be cleared.

Then there's soy sauce. Oh my God, soy sauce. Sometimes I'll take the bottle out of the fridge and take a swig just because I'm an adult and you're not the boss of me.

Now, how can you go wrong with all those things put together? You fucking can't, that's how.

This review is gonna be quick because I want to enjoy this massive plate of sushi without writing the whole time. Contrary to popular belief, I am a person and not an artificially intelligent word processor gone rogue. Also, I'm not that intelligent.

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A Bubbly Biography - The Story of Sparkling Wine - Part 1: France and Spain

Gather around, kiddies, for I have a story to tell. 'Tis a twisted tale of lies and deceit and betrayal! And by that I mean bubbles. Just bubbles. This is the history of sparkling wine. Part One: France and Spain is about the emergence of intentional carbonation, the creation of methode champenoise, and the people who made it happen. Part Two: Italy and The New World is about the charmat method, partial fermentation, and the people who spread sparkling wine to new places. Part Three: Sekt and the Future is about what lies ahead.

In the beginning some light bubbles just popped up, pun intended, here and there. It wasn't meant to occur and the winemakers of the ancient world didn't know why it happened. The Greeks and Romans just blamed it on the gods or spirits or the phases of the moon.

MAUZAC GRAPES

But the real journey begins in the cellars of a little commune called Limoux in the southwest of France. This place is further west, further inland and at a higher altitude than the rest of its Languedoc peers, giving it less of a Mediterranean influence and more of a Continental one. Cooler nights and colder winters would be very important to the direction their wine would go, and it would continue to as sparkling wine spread all over the globe.

The Roman historian Titus Livius Patavinus recorded that Limoux was trading wine even way back when the Romans occupied the region. And why not? They had the perfect means of receiving and transferring goods in the ancient world: The River Aude runs right through the center of town.

Limoux was big on white wine, their grape of choice being the Mauzac varietal. As demand increased for their wine it was time to up their game. And they did.

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