Gloria Ferrer Brut Royal Cuvee 2006
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Blend: 66% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay.
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The Ferrer family created Royal Cuvée to serve King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain when they visited California in 1987. Blended from many of the best lots at the family’s Carneros estate, it’s quite impressive thanks, in part, to a long season that delivered ideal ripeness. Two-thirds pinot noir and one-third chardonnay, it feels ripe in the best sense, bold in its fruit, with an impression of a juicy Bartlett pear, its fragrant nectar dripping down your chin. Yet it’s fully dry and completely harmonious, the mousse fine, the delicate acidity giving it a bright, weightless length. It’s not trying to emulate Champagne; rather, it’s compelling in another way: delicious and true to place, it captures Californian sunshine in a bottle.
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Yeasty and woody after lengthy time in the bottle, this is a complex cuvée that’s dry and savory more than sweet. Secondary flavors of apple and pear are crisp and developed.
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Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.