Farewell to 2011

You knew it would be coming, a New Year’s Eve champagne review! Probably the only time of the year, besides the occasional wedding, where all Americans feel comfortable with (or obliged to) drinking something bubbly. While we think this is ludicrous-sparkling wine if for every day- we’re happy to know that many of our friends out there will be sharing in something that brings us so much joy.

2011 was a pretty good year for us. I mean, we did get married, so we can’t say it was all bad. Between the two of us we also gained a niece, got a promotion, wrote a feature-length screenplay, and turned 30. And most of all, we’re still alive! Go team! Josh would also like to point out that Skyrim is the best video-game ever created. I don’t know what that has to do with the New Year, but that’s ok.

You might not feel like you have much to celebrate. Or you might feel like 2011 left you strapped for cash and not in the mood to splurge on fancypants wines. We hear you. But you should still drink, trust us. We might recommend you try the Piper Sonoma Brut Cuvee ($15). We drank this on our one week anniversary (awwww, ok, we’ll stop making you gag). It’s pleasantly carbonated, with enough kick to make you forget the tanking stock market and tar sands pipeline. It is smooth and playful, with hints of lemon and grass, or maybe even lemongrass. This one was easy to drink, but had no aftertaste or undertones. After a while, the lack of real flavor left a papery taste on our tongues. But this could be a good choice if you or your friends don’t really like sparkling wine and aren’t willing to go out on a limb with something that will knock you in the face with musky flavors.

If you are looking for some musky musk (we recently watched the Wizard of Oz), and you’re feeling like New Year’s Eve is a great time to spend a little more than your average reveler, we may have something right for you. Try the Veuve Clicquot Vintage Brut 2002 ($78). This is one of the champagnes we tried on our honeymoon, at a lovely little Italian restaurant in Carmel, out on their adorable covered courtyard (ok, now you can vomit). While we were still decompressing from the stress that surrounds a wedding, we were able to enjoy this refreshingly smooth champagne. It paired perfectly with our dinner, was tart but not sweet, and probably tasted even better because it was served to us out of a bucket of ice next to our table. We’re pretty sure everyone else in the restaurant was staring at us in awe. That’s how we do it!

But no matter what you do, make sure you’re drinking something that makes you smile. As long as it’s champagne. Or sparkling wine. Just do it right, ok guys? See you in the new year!

Keeping It Classy in Hollywood

So, one of us in this relationship (Josh) has stated that he would rather move back in with his parents than move to L.A. Unless we are rich enough to own a house in the hills and have a chauffeur who drives us around everywhere we go. I added that we'd also have to have a pack of little dogs and big purses to carry them in, but that didn't seem to help. To be honest, neither of us are excited about the miles of freeway down there and the vague sense that you could always stand to lose ten pounds.

But good things still happen! Like drinking champagne! We recently made the trip down to visit some good friends and eat a lot of good food, and also drink a variety of alcholic beverages (hey, it was too cold to lounge by the pool, we had to do something). And because it was Hollywood, and we are just about the classiest people in the world, we had to go big.

Enter: the 2002 Dom Perignon ($180). Doesn't it just look sophisticated? Like we should be 80s film stars driving around in our stretch limos on our way to a benefit for the symphony. We love music! And we love this champagne. Really love it. Might spend an entire afternoon writing odes to its perfection. It actually wasn't as deeply flavorful and "chewy" (that's what we call it) as some of the other older vintages we've had, but it had a subtlty that totally hit the mark. Small bubbles teased their up through the glass as we poured, and hints of cinnamon and peach greated our lips as we drank, and smiled, and drank some more. The champagne was good enough to make this girl forget how to spell. That takes a lot! I even have spell check. We left pretty sure our lovely hosts had enjoyed their first Dom experience, sure to not be the last.

Whenever you feel like classing it up a bit, this is the way to go.

Score: Everyone gave it a high 5!

Recommended: Once we get our big movie deal, this will be our Saturday wine.

Scaring Up Some Sparkling Wine

Well, we might not have awesome homemade costumes this year for Halloween, but we do have a robot pumpkin named Oscar. That’s about all we had time, energy, and creativity for. Josh thinks he smells funny, but really he’s just jealous Oscar has such good looks.

If you really want something frightening, try going the whole weekend without any sparkling wine. Shocking! Cruel! Too gruesome for words. Even our favorite pug Mr. Jiffers knows you can’t have a celebration without something bubbly. Look into his eyes…you can’t tell him no!

While you’re out being ghastly (or flashing a ridiculous amount of skin, if you’re a college-aged female), we suggest grabbing a glass, or bottle, of something sparkly. Recently we tried the Scharffenberger Brut ($19). Made in the traditional champagne style, this wine had a very light, citrusy aroma, with a lovely golden color. It was smooth and spicy, and while we like our bruts to be a little drier, this still went down smooth and easy. The flavors started sharp with grass and lemon, and ended sweeter and spicier. Still, we were left wanting a little more complexity and a deeper flavor. Of course we finished the bottle, avoiding certain destruction from Mr. Jiffers (he doesn’t let anything go to waste!)

Score: She gives it a 3, he gives it a 2.5

Recommended: It didn’t scare our shirts off, good or bad. You should probably stick with witches’ brew this time around.

We Got Hitched!

For those of you wondering what we were doing all of September, it had a lot to do with a priest, a white dress, and a few toasts. We finally got married! It’s amazing to think we started this blog shortly before our engagement, and now here we are. Growing up, it's a crazy thing!

We’re happy to say the wedding went fine, no one lost the rings, and only a few people cried. Josh may have noted that the best part of being married is having homemade burritos upon request, but that’s ok. Burritos are pretty good. Oh, and there was plenty to drink! Of course!

So what did we choose for our reception sparkling wine? None other than our old favorite, Francis Ford Coppola’s Sofia Blanc de Blancs ($16). Besides the fact that Francis and I share a birthday (we can celebrate together next year!), this is the sparkling wine that we discovered early on, and it’s never let us down since. It has a lovely fruity aroma with hints of peach. The taste is sweet and grapey, dry but not actually dry, with just the right amount of carbonation. The aftertaste brings a sharpness with it that perfectly balances the sweetness of the grapes. The finish is smooth and leaves you wanting more.

It’s the perfect after dinner sparkling wine, and went fabulously with toasts! We think everyone should serve this at their wedding, but we could be biased. Nah, our wedding rocked, everyone should want to emulate it.

Score: A solid 3.5, bordering on a 4.

Recommended: Yes! It’s great for wine snobs and people who don’t think they like wine alike.

It’s Almost Summer!

We know that all of you people in cities that are not on peninsulas covered in fog think that summer has already been visiting for the past three months, and has left some nasty heat and humidity in its wake. But hah, what do you know? Because if you live in San Francisco, summer doesn’t really start until September. A little after Labor Day, the fog finally clears away for some days of full sunshine and heat – if 80 degrees is considered hot. And yes, if you’re wondering, it is. Break out the shorts and flip flops!

It’s pretty overcast as we type, so we better not jinx it, but it does feel like warmer weather is just around the corner. *knocking on wooden desk* And you know what goes wonderfully with warm weather? Nice, cool, bubbly champagne, of course!

And ice cream. We don’t have a picture of today’s selection (yeah yeah, we need to take new photos, we know, we’re BUSY). But here’s a picture of a Google branded It’s-It. If you aren’t familiar with this particular ice cream sandwich, we both pity you and encourage you to hop in your car and go find one right now. They’re worth it. And if you didn’t know that Google can get anything in their cafeteria and slap their own label on it, well then, you might just live under a rock.

Besides commenting on delicious ice cream snacks, we’re also reviewing the Charles Ellner Brut Reserve ($40). This champagne had an insane amount of white bubbles that rushed forth once the wine hit the glass, like it just couldn’t wait to get the party started. The smell was sweet and alluring, almost like a perfume, but a little too sticky to put on your wrists. The taste was pungent with definite notes of butterscotch that became sweet and cloying. The aftertaste was a bit like an overripe apple, and lingered in sour territory. This was a very moist wine for a brut, but was a bit more refreshing that way.

Score: She was put off by the bittersweet notes and gave it a 1.5, he was a little more fond of the taste and gave it a 3.5.

Recommended: With such a split vote, we’d have to say no, especially given the slightly above average price.

26 Miles Is 25 Miles Too Far

The 2011 San Francisco Marathon kicked off this morning. Part of the course leads the runners right underneath one side of our building along Haight Street. While it was mildly tempting to wake up a little early and go downstairs to cheer the athletes, we quickly realized it’s a Sunday morning, it’s 60 degrees outside, and running is crazy. We could hear the clapping and cheers from our apartment, so we were there in spirit, of course.

And who on earth would run 26 miles? After one mile, my knees start threatening to call their local union reps and go on strike. Do that for 25 more miles, and I’m pretty sure my entire body would expatriate to Canada. It truly boggles our minds that there are people who PAY for the opportunity to experience that kind of pain.

But, to each their own. One thing is certain, after a race like that, whether you are a runner or a fan, or someone who lies in bed thinking about the runners going by and shaking your head, you deserve a drink. May we recommend some champagne? Perhaps one such as the G.H. Mumm Brut Rosé ($35). This is a cousin of the regular G.H. Mumm Brut that we often go to for celebratory drinks. This one was full of spunk, as it created a vortex of bubbles once poured into our glasses. It had a sharp initial taste that was a little sour, surprising for a rosé. The flavor then melted into floral and bitter apple notes that carried a little sass with them. The end brought on a punch of grape that rounded out the flavor experience. We were not wowed by this one, but that probably wouldn’t matter after 26 miles of running. We’d just be happy to be alive!

Score: An all-around 3.

Recommended: While it was pleasing and went well with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie we watched while we drank, it wasn’t as good at the regular Brut. We’d go with that instead.

Things For Which You Shouldn’t Tip

We’ve entered the ranks of true un-paid bloggers with our recent milestone – two months without a new entry. And we’ll do the cursory whining, that there was wedding planning, and out-of-town trips, and script-writing, and flying monkeys that got in the way of our postings. But we know you’ve heard all that before, and they’re just excuses. If you really want to do something, you make time for it, simple as that. So we apologize. Feel free to throw virtual tomatoes (just not heirloom tomatoes, you should keep those babies to eat!).

While you may be unhappy with us, we’ve also been unhappy with some of the sparkling wine selections we’ve encountered over the past few months. Maybe we’ve been too stingy and haven’t been springing for the pricey stuff as much as usual (weddings can take a bite out of the budget), but I also think our good luck with finding bargain wines that still please the palate couldn’t last forever. And so, here are a couple wines you can be sure to avoid, at any price. (Unfortunately, because one of us changed phones, we no longer have photos, but you wouldn’t want to see these pitiful bottles anyway).

First, the Pol Remy Brut ($9), the second least impressive champagne we’ve tried so far. It was furiously bubbly and abrasively sour upon first sip. It lacked pretty much any other flavor besides sour, and even smelled slightly of wine that’s turned a bit too far towards vinegar. It did have a moderate crispness, but the wine itself lacked any complexity, and was just another empty promise. The ending was nothing but dry all over.

Score: She gives it a 1.5, he miraculously bestows a 2.5 upon this wine.

Next is the Enrico Prosecco ($13), a sparkler from an Italian vineyard that was established in 1983, which seemed promising as that was the year of this author’s birth. But alas, not everything founded in ’83 was meant to be spectacular. This was another wine with too many bubbles, perhaps trying to make up for a lack of flavor. It was typically dry, with sweet and sour top notes mixed together. The flavor was so light it was hard to identify, and merely tickled the tongue without providing any real enjoyment. The closest flavor we could come up with was watery apples, almost like apple flavored watermelons (are there such things?). It was an underwhelming, unremarkable experience.

Score: She gives it a 2, he goes with a 2.5

Recommended: Obviously, even at bargain prices, we suggest avoiding these wines and using your money for a nice six-pack of micro-brewed beer. For those times you need a break from champagne. Hey, it could happen.

A Prankster is Born

While we don’t have children ourselves (and thank goodness, yikes!), we do love visiting Rochelle’s side of the family to discover all the new antics our little niece has learned. She’ll be turning two in a few weeks, and true to toddler form, has already become adept at raising hell and causing trouble.

Her specialty, though, is using her innocent charms to lure people into a sense of security, before springing some impish trick. For example, she was out one day helping her grandmother water the garden, and decided she would be much better piloting the hose than her elder. Once in her grasp, she quickly turned the hose around and splashed water all over grandma’s legs. Grandma, not being in the proper uniform for a hose party, quickly backed away and told the child to turn the hose back on the flowers. Immediately, the smile left her little face, and with all sincerity she said “no, no” and lowered the hose, while waving grandma back over with reassuring glances. As soon as Grandma was back within distance, though, the devilish smile sprang back on her face and she unleashed another dousing with cruel precision. This game continued for several rounds, and each time the child composed her face into such a look of repentant sincerity it was hard not to believe she would be true to her word. Such is the power of a simple vocabulary and budding acting skills.

While we could be a little disturbed that our niece has learned the power of a shy smile and dishonest intentions at such a young age, we choose to celebrate this feat. Because it’s never too early to learn that the world rewards ingenuity, and will only crush those who choose to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Bravo, little Bean, bravo. We have high hopes for you.

To celebrate little nieces, and the prankster in all of us, we recently settled down to a bottle of De Chancey Crémant de Loire Brut ($15). The wine was exuberantly bubbly right out of the bottle, like a little kid after too many pop rocks and soda. It had an almost creamy mouth feel, with bread and pear flavors dominating its top notes. It had a smooth, dry feel after swallowed, with an overall fruity aftertaste that was reminiscent of orange. The experience was sweet, without being cloying, a balance we can only hope our little niece will learn one day. But for now, give her the hose, and don’t believe a word she says.

Score: She gave it a 3.5, he gave it a solid 3.

Recommended: Yes, it was very pleasing, and reminded us what a pleasure it is to be able leave the children behind after the antics are over and relax in our kid-free apartment.

Tastes Like the IRS

There are few things less appealing than doing taxes. Maybe macro-economics lectures, or house-sitting for a friend who has an epileptic cat with continence issues. But filling out those forms for the IRS is right up there. Their jargon is so opaque and overwrought it could only have come from the bowels of bureaucrats stuffed on the carcasses of campaign promises past.

The math involved borders on pure hocus-pocus, magically adding and subtracting from that imaginary pile of money in the sky until a final number pops out of the hat. And while we’re happy for our refund when it’s all said and done, it still leaves us feeling like we need a long shower, a good scrub, and a stiff drink. The stench of dank DC basements lingers.

So perhaps it’s a good time for this next review. The Pierre Chainier Séduction Brut ($10) would rival tax form legalese for the bad taste it left in our mouths. Rather than using anything close to the champagne method for sparkling wines, this seemed to be a blend of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, with some caustic bubbles added to the mix. It was sweet yet bitter at the same time, like meeting an ex on the street while you’re out with your new significant other. And much like doing taxes, it left us both with a headache afterwards. While “seduction” is in the name of this wine, we can’t think of anything else that would kill the mood quicker. Except maybe a shirtless tax attorney.

Score: Our very first 1.

Recommended: Only as a gift for the loveless bureaucrats in your life.

Celebrate the Stops

Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be much to celebrate in life. We all feel this. There can be major upsets, huge heartbreaks, crushing failures. There can even be little things. That package you’re dying to receive that gets lost in the mail. A fabulous new recipe you wanted to try that turned out worse than your grandmother’s meatloaf. Or a huge case of writer’s block when all you want to do is get that dang work off the ground (and off your shoulders).

But we think this is perhaps the best time of all to celebrate. When there’s nothing else you can do anymore. When you’re about to throw the whole thing out the window. When that questionable stain from last week’s party just isn’t going anywhere. Because if anything, having these fits of inadequacy and frustration forces us all to pause. To stop driving relentlessly forward toward some end that’s never going to be good enough. If all you have left is a champagne flute and a patch of hardwood floor, stop, take a breath, and remember this is the perfect time for some refreshment.

Take all those lemons, and turn them into champagne! (Hmm, new market here? Lemon champagne anyone?) One we recently tried that might be worth a shot is the Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut ($19). This sparkling wine had a smooth, juicy taste heavily laden with apples. It was crisply dry like a Granny Smith, but with no real bite at the end. It had spicy undertones that almost warmed the tongue, and was very pleasantly carbonated. This tangy wine became stronger in flavor as we drank, amplifying it’s tartness. An enjoyable experience, and one that might remind you that as long as you have a glass of bubbly, everything else can fix itself.

Score: An all-around 3.

Recommended: Sure, it’s pretty solid, and certainly better than a trip to the DMV.

Spring Time for Bubbly

We’re sure we’re not the only people thankful for the recent start of daylight savings time and the extended evening hours we’ve all received. Things have even warmed up recently in our fair city of San Francisco, leaving us with many nights to open the windows, feel the cool Pacific breeze, and enjoy the many blessings we have in our comfy little apartment. And walk around with no pants. (Did we say that?)

Nights like these make us want to celebrate everything, from successfully unclogging a drain (take that, hairball) to finding that elusive foreign film (Takeshis’ is ours!). Long evenings and lots of little victories can only mean one thing – more champagne.

This one is actually a sparkling wine. And while we were too distracted marveling at the fantastic Bay weather to take a picture of our bottle, you will still have to trust our review is genuine. This time it was the Chandon Extra-Dry Riche ($19). While we’ve been disappointed by Chandon’s wines before, we gave this one a try mostly because it came as a gift at no cost to us, so we had little to lose besides our thirst. True to its promise of extra-dry flavor, it had a very bitter front note that was the most aggressive we’ve experienced. This wine wrestled you into drinking it. Like many less expensive sparkling wines, it was a little too bubbly, tickling your nose in all the wrong ways. The taste was better and smoother on the finish, but left our mouths feeling dry, making us feel like we needed a sip of water after every taste. While the wine was a bit one-note in flavor, it did have buttery after taste that was a pleasant contrast with its sharp initial flavor. The evening was so nice, we managed to finish the entire bottle without complaint. Sometimes, it’s all about the ambience.

Score: She gave it a 2, he let the evening carry him away and gave it a 3.

Recommended: It could be good with spicy food as a way to cut the heat and have something else to complain about, but would be overpowering otherwise.

This Time It’s Chocolate Tuesday

We’re sure most everyone knows that today is Mardi Gras. A time to bare all for the sake of some plastic beads and way too many Hurricanes. But as some of you may or may not also know, today is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. So lets keep our tops on for the moment and celebrate the fact that women are here to keep the world a little more civilized. Or at least keep the world’s bathrooms clean. (Have you ever seen a single man’s bathroom? Even microbiologists have to shiver.)

Without being too cliché, there might not be a better way to enjoy the more feminine things in life (and indulgence!) than chocolate. And hey, you know what goes well with chocolate? You get a king cake if you answered “champagne.”

That’s right, women, repressed Catholics, and unleashed coeds everywhere can agree that champagne makes any celebration complete. Before you get too drunk to walk home in your 5-inch heels, we’d like to recommend another bubbly libation, the Duval-Leroy Brut ($35). This champagne lights up the party immediately, with plenty of bubbles when it hits the glass. Thankfully, the carbonation settles down once it hits your mouth, playfully tickling your palate as you drink. It had a very light, sour smell that still managed to remain enticing, more like a delicate yogurt. It had a tart, clean, fruity finish, and was crisp and easy to drink. Overall, the experience was refreshing and palate-cleansing, with a unique taste for a French style champagne. Perfect for a charming carnival with the fairer sex (we’re sure Bourbon Street is keeping it classy as always).

Score: An all-around 3.5

Recommended: Sure, it has one of the more unique yet enticing flavors we’ve experienced.

Snuggle with Bubbles

It’s possibly the most hated holiday of the year. Valentine’s Day. That day when somehow true love boils down to chocolates, flowers, and reservations at overly expensive restaurants. Or, on the flip side, the day when you wish all you had to do to find true love was buy someone chocolates, flowers, and expensive meals.

Even those of us who have someone are pretty disgusted by this pseudo-celebration of love (and America’s love affair with spending money on useless crap). We would rather be attacked by a pack of rabid Chihuahuas in heat than be forced to join the dining masses out on Valentine’s Day, even in this completely romantic city.

But there is one bright side. We are confident enough in our relationship to skip all the saccharine cards and overly packaged sweets, and get right down to the good stuff. That’s right, we’ll be staying home and drinking champagne. And you should too.

Whether you’re snuggling with your one true love, someone you just met at a bar, or a couch cushion covered in cat hair, nothing can beat an evening in with the bubbly. We recently had the pleasure of spending a weekend down in Mountain View with a couple possibly as cute as the one in this apartment, our friends Katie and Mike. They gamely agreed to help us try out a new champagne for the sake of our blog and the further education of adorable (and homely, why not?) couples everywhere. The selection that evening was Taittinger Brut La Francaise ($45). As we hunkered down like a pair of love bugs in a wooly shag rug, we enjoyed the crisp, clean flavor of the wine, laced with bitter apple and a honey-like aftertaste. It had a pleasant carbonation that tickled our stupidly smiling mouths and left us refreshed. Our only regret was that we only had one bottle to share. But don’t worry, we won’t make that mistake come Valentine’s Day. So stock up, hunker down, and forget about candy hearts and mushy Facebook statuses.

Score: This one received a unanimous 4.

Recommended: Beats paying $10 for a glass of Korbel at a restaurant any day.

Everyone's a Cylon

Huge nerdy confession to make…we are currently watching Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Ahhh, we said it! While Josh came to terms with his love of this dramatic SyFy series long ago, I held out as long as I could. But while spending a week in rural Virginia over the holidays, we became desperate for any means of entertainment besides watching the cat sleep on his back. BSG was offered, and having few alternatives, I accepted. And like the spread of a nasty cold in a kindergarten class, we were soon both sucked into the world of humans vs. robots.

We have our favorite characters (Tom Zarek, Bill Adama, Lee Adama before he got fat), and our favorite villains (like that sexy Number 6). And it has that awful Lost-like story arc that ends every episode on a cliffhanger. Excruciating! It’s like prime time drama coated in crack, you almost hate yourself for wanting more. And yeah, I have to admit, I really hope they find Earth.

It has also made me suspicious that in the end, everyone on the show is actually a Cylon. Heck, maybe everyone we know is actually a carefully integrated robot. How would we discover the truth? They bleed, people, they bleed!

But if the humans did find Earth, I’d be waiting to pop open a bottle and celebrate the end of a fascinating show, and the return of my regularly scheduled life. We’ve been practicing our celebrations with regular champagne tastings during marathon BSG-watching nights. Like our recently discovered Monthys Pére et Fils Brut Reserve ($30). In between nail biting scenes of robot domination, we soothed ourselves with sips of this pale yellow, very dry champagne. It retained the classic yeasty, almost sourdough taste of most real champagnes from sip to sip. Its strong, smooth aftertaste was a comforting assurance that this was the real deal, and not some fake robot champagne waiting for the right moment to turn on its evil programming and nuke the whole town. It didn’t knock our socks off, but it was completely enjoyable, letting us get lost in the plight of a far-off version of mankind. Maybe those Cylons just need a drink. Hey, no one could nuke a bottle of champagne.

Score: She gives it a 4, he gives it a 3.5

Recommended: If you’re up for trying something new, and you’re running from demon robots, this is sure to ease your mind.

Getting the Band Back Together

While it has been lovely out this weekend in San Francisco, the winter months have brought more and more days where it just seems too (relatively) cold to do much of anything outdoors. We may venture out for work and groceries, but we’re always happy to throw off our hats and handwarmers and warm our toes in our snug little apartment.

But lest you think this hampers our ability to get down, we have one thing to say: Rock Band 3. Yes, that’s right, we’re getting the band back together, just in time for a wintry global tour! And all from the warmth of our own swanky blue couch. To be fair, only Josh was in the band before, but he was nice enough to buy me a keyboard so I wouldn’t miss out on the epic sets about to blast through our television.

I used to think only children played with toy instruments. Then I tried playing “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse on Easy mode, and stopped feeling quite so smug about my own musical abilities. A palsied grandmother might have an easier time hitting all the notes. There is much band practice in our future, which means I may have graduated to a “medium” skill level by the time that darned groundhog decides winter isn’t going to end.

We’ll post a picture of the band (Iron Rhino), soon, but for now having an imaginary band has reminded us that we can still party like real rock stars. With champagne!

Or champagne and pizza to be exact. This is easily becoming our favorite celebratory meal, both for its ease and fabulous tastiness. Featured in the photo is a classic around our apartment, the pesto pizza with fake grilled chicken and mozzarella. Paired with this was another champagne gifted to us, the Saint-Hilaire Blanqutte de Limoux Brut 2006 ($12). This very pale, very bubbly champagne was so carbonated it was audibly noisy in the glass, like the roar of the crowd from backstage. It did have a mild yeasty taste that melded into sour notes once consumed. It was tart and tangy, and seemed to waffle between dry and wet in our mouths. Its top-of-the-mouth floral flavor built in our mouths the more we drank, leaving us less satisfied each time. While this champagne's flavor was bold enough to fill our palates, it wasn’t tasty enough to pair with our robustly delicious pizza, or our recently developed rock band egos.

Score: She gave it a 2, he was in a kinder mood and gave it a 3.

Recommended: Leave this one for the roadies, folks.