Lombard & Cie Brut Rose'

The Saturday cooking marathon started with some bubbly, in this case a non vintage Lombard & Cie Brut Rose'.  Beautiful, pale salmon color in the glass and lots of small bubbles.  The nose was very dry strawberries,  a little yeast and bread dough and just a hint of apple.  Very dry wine on the taste with great acid and those dried strawberries predominating.  The finish was bone dry sand refreshing.

Nice wine that went with assorted olives, cheeses, toasted almonds and some bread and olive oil. Good stuff and the last bottle from my cellar.

From there we moved on to skillet seared garlic shrimp with a pinch of red pepper flakes.  The wine was a 2008 Domaine Berthet-Rayne Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc.  The mix was 35% Clairette, 35% Bourbulenc, 20% white Grenache and 10% Roussanne.  Very closed nose at the start and perhaps a little too chilled.  Very viscous wine in the glass.  As the wine warmed up there was peaches and melons and a little mango coming out of the glass.  The peaches and melons were there in the taste but I would have loved just a little more acidity.  Nice long, finish that matched well with the shrimp.  There was just a tiny hint of honey at the very end.  Would love to try this one again in a couple of years.