So a while back I had done a post about some wines from Le Grand Courtage – a Blanc de Blanc Brut made with Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Colombard, and a Rose’ Brut made with Chardonnay, Ugni Blanc, and Gamay. It was done way back in 2012 so you can follow the links to check out those reviews.
Recently, however, a new round of the wines showed up at my door with a new addition from last time – a 187ml bottle of the Brut Rose’
So, instead of focusing on the wines for this post since I’ve already written about them (they were good but not great, easy to sip, and versatile enough for a variety of occassions – particularly the Rose’), I thought I would take a look at the idea of the small bottle of sparkling wine, and when such a wine is appropriate.
So if you visit the Le Grand Courtage website you’ll see plenty of suggestions for how how to consume, and gift, their wines. I should mention that I actually like that – I think far too many websites forget that wine, for all of our love and adoration of it, is still a commodity, and giving suggestions on how to enjoy it, be it food pairings or gift giving ideas, is appreciated.
To the point of the smaller bottles – I’m a fan of splits. Sometimes a whole bottle of sparkling wine is too much, or the situation just doesn’t call for it. The split is perfect to give you one large glass/two reasonable sized glasses, without having to worry about leaving a bottle open and losing the carbonation.
The size of the split also makes them enviable for travel. Sparkling wine bottles tend to be more oddly shaped than their still bretheren, and packing them for both short and long journeys can be troublesome at best. However, a few splits are much easier to transport, and require less planning for storage both while transporting or when you’ve arrived – I mean have you tried getting a full sized bottle in a hotel mini-fridge lately?
So when is a split appropriate? The true answer is always, or at least any time you want just that glass of sparkling. In reality, they’re best when a full sized bottle just isn’t feasible, for whatever the reasons. Keep them in mind whether it’s for yourself or somebody else when you’re just not sure a whole bottle is really what’s called for (like that ever happens).
