It was our turn to host family Christmas this year, and I declared
this year we'd eat cold-cuts and sparkling wine. Stocking-up at
Costco, I was not surprised to see the Roederer NV Brut was sold-out.
My fiendish scheme this year thus was to buy one bottle of
Roederer L'Ermitage 2000, one bottle of the Kirkland Champagne, and
four bottles of Korbel (same price as that one bottle of L'Ermitage).

I did a leg of lamb this morning and opened the L'Ermitage first.
Superb, as expected. Creamy mousse, very smooth, gently doughy
with tangy, refreshing acidity, very clean fruit, fine perlage and
a rich streak. Delicious; just enough left for the first family to
arrive. Next open was the Kirkland Champagne, which was toastier
but still crisp and mouth-filling, with good mousse and fine perlage.
Again, clean fruit. Very nice at $20.

The early-birds got the good sparkling wine - everyone else quaffed
the Korbel; vigorous mousse and energetic mousse, definitely the
freckled kid-sister after the first two, but still pleasant.

Leg of lamb was marinated for an hour in a simple mixture of
EVOO, crushed dried rosemary, black pepper, salt and crushed
garlic. Simplicity all the way around and it was perfect.

Dana