Valentine’s Day is near and sparkling wine to share with your significant other is probably in your thoughts. But which sparkling wine? Champagne or cremant from France? Franciacorta or prosecco from Italy? Cava from Spain? How about sparkling wine from BC?
Blue Grouse Estate Winery and Vineyard Paula sparkling wine from Vancouver Island would be a nice choice. It shows off BC fruit flavours. You can’t mistake it for a toasty or biscuity Champagne, but that is OK. Many people enjoy a sparkling wine with fresh fruit aromas and flavours. Here is my quick review of Blue Grouse Estate Winery and Vineyard Paula sparkling wine.
Blue Grouse Estate Winery and Vineyard Paula 2014, BC – This wine is a blend of aromatic white grapes; Muller-Thurgau (42.5%) and Ortega (42.5%) from the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, and Pinot Auxerrois (10%) and Riesling (5%) from the Okanagan Valley. The secondary fermentation in the bottle had no dosage added. The wine is dry but has a slight feeling of sweetness, which I believe comes from the fruitiness of the grapes. The wine is a bright medium lemon with a green tinge to it. Swirling shows teardrops on the glass. You don’t see a lot of bubbles in the glass, but they are there when you taste the wine. The wine has medium intensity aromas starting off as ripe, sweet stone fruits, but with some air (a few minutes), you get cut apple as well. The wine is dry, higher acidity, body and flavour intensity. Medium-sized creamy bubble, with tart acidity coming to the palate after the bubble dissipates. Roundish mouthfeel with an acid edge. More stone fruit and lesser citrus and grapefruit flavours to start, but as the wine opens in your glass you can add crisp apple, pear and some stoniness to this wine. Medium length, leaving you with some stoniness, grapefruit rind, other citrus and some bitterness.
Pair with raw oysters, ceviche, goat cheese, and/or a nice salad.
Rating: [usr 4] – 
Where Can I Buy This Wine?
There are many private wine shops that sell Blue Grouse wines. You can check for the closest stores to you at this link. Of course, if you live in Vancouver Island, you can drop by the winery as well. You can also order their wines via their website. Enjoy.
