Well Barbara Walters did not come out of retirement to say “Good evening, I am Barbara Walters and this is 2020.”  I think it would have been lost on the television viewing audience, but then I didn’t recognize anyone on the show, that everyone was watching in the house.  I should really watch television once in a while, I guess, nah, it isn’t that important.  No more Guy Lombardo, or that great countdown in the original Ocean’s 11.  We did it here at the house, and of course I forgot to bring up the noisemakers, hats and tiaras. 

Excluding the Sparkling Juice that we had for the little ones, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they sampled some of the good stuff, we had three different types of bubbles for the partiers.  The first bottle was one that we discovered on our last trip to the wine country in Michigan and the great sparkling wines from Larry Mawby, one of the elder gentlemen of wine in the Traverse City region.  Mawby Sparkling offers wines made in both forms, Traditional and the Charmat Method.  The Mawby Sparkling US NV is a classic blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, aged in Stainless Steel, then later blended with some reserve wine, aged and with an added dosage to maintain a certain finish and bottled.  This wine is an excellent bottle of sparkling wine that is affordable, dry and crisp, with a steady flow of small bubbles, but still offering some fruit in the finish. 

The second wine that we opened was from France and it was JP. Chenet Rosé NV.  JP. Chenet is a French value wine that has world-wide distribution.  It was established in 1984 by the beverage company Les Grands Chais de France, and they even have their own unique shaped bottle with a curving neck.  They were one of the pioneers in France to list the varietal first instead of the region.  A very popular priced wine with only a French Appellation, made in the Charmat Method.  The wine is made from the Bobal grape that is a native of Spain and is now seeing some planting in France.  A very pretty pink, not as dry as I suspected with a finish of strawberries and small bubbles to add to the festivities.

The third bottle that I opened was also from France and the only one to be labeled Champagne.  We had Champagne Moet & Chandon Imperial Brut NV, and they may be the most famous house in Champagne, with one-thousand-one-hundred-fifty hectares of estate vineyards, plus contract growers, their seventeen miles of cellars and a production capacity of sixty-million bottles a year.  The house was founded in 1743, and their prestige cuvee is Dom Perignon; and in the Seventies partnered with Louis Vuitton to create LVMH.  Some of their other brands are Krug, Veuve Clicquot, and Chateau Cheval Blanc.  Considering the huge production, they have managed to have quite a consistent style of fresh and fruit forward wine, especially in their Brut non-vintage wine which is basically Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and some Chardonnay.  This wine was a golden straw color with a constant stream of tiny bubbles, with a nose of citrus fruits, mineral terroir and fruit and brioche in the finish, it was very elegant and tasty. And onto another decade, our seventh one.