Two Champagnes and a Brunello

We had our friends over for a thank you and celebration--a thank you for helping us in the vineyard and a celebration for our friend's birthday. We have learned that Champagne is not just for celebrations anymore, but it is a potent potable that is good anytime, anywhere and with everything. We began our get together meal with cheeses that our friend bought from our nearby Cheese Shop which was 7 year old cheddar and cheeses from sheep and goat and paired it with this 2015 Laherte Freres Empreintes Millesime. It was a good pairing. The champagne tasted of stone fruit with an acidic finish which was mellowed out by the cheeses. It was an excellent way to begin the evening.
We are always interested in the details of the champagne and learned that it was a blend of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir. The dosage level was 2 to 4 g/L. We had the Laherte Freres Ultradition Extra Brut at a pre-Christmas celebration with our son and his family. We really like this champagne and think it is a better fit to our palate than the 2015 Laherte Freres Empreintes Millesime.

We moved on to this 2001 Brunello di Montalcino Capanna, that my husband pulled out from his cellar because our friends were on their way to a vacation in Italy. The meal my husband made was a roasted leg of lamb, Greek potatoes with a Greek salad. (We should have had a more Italian style dinner!) What we tasted immediately was that although the Brunello was now 22 years old, it was still very youthful tasting. The wine was made from Sangiovese Grosso grapes and comes from the vineyard of Capanna, a micro-estate located in Montosoli, which is considered to make some of the best crus of Brunello. No chemical fertilizers or herbicides are used, and every effort is made to maintain natural biodiversity in the vineyard. The winemaking is a fruit forward expression.¹ We enjoyed it!

For the finale, our friend brought over her favorate champagne, an Egly-Ouriet Les Vignes de Vrigny Premier Cru. The champagne is made from old vine Pinot Meunier located in the premier cru vineyard of Vrigny. The champagne is made from indigenous yeasts, and the wine is not filtered and benefit from long aging on lees before disgorgement. The wine spent 40 months on lees and was made in 2017 and disgorged in November 2021. It is extra brut with a dosage of 1 g/L. All of this information is located on the label in the back of the bottle, which is a great way to learn more about the champagne. We paired it with a French Silk Pie a recipe from Handle the Heat. We know that our friend is a chocoholic and this pie is just the perfect, silky yet light chocolate pie we have ever tasted! So we made it for the second time in honor of our friend.
Happy Birthday! Hope your trip to Italy is going well!
References:
1. Wine.com, Capanna.