Discovering the new House of Champagne in a small town is like finding a treasure in a place where you least expect it.
A small holiday destination like Leavenworth has a lot of German-themed restaurants, gift shops, and beer gardens. Yet wine lovers can’t drink beer all day and often crave more than just a glass of mediocre wine when exploring such a fun destination.
House of Champagne is the answer to wine addict prayers.
They offer different tastings and pour champagne and sparkling wine by the glass. Sit by any of the two large windows and enjoy your favorite sparkling with the view of the most popular spot in Leavenworth.
During our visit, we tasted something we never tried before while recognizing many bottles we had opened for our wine club members in previous years.
Tasting Champagne
Drappier Carte d’Or Brut impressed us! Fine mouse, elegant notes of lemon, limestone, and overall minerality.
Champagne Drappier is a family-owned champagne house producing around 1.6 million bottles of champagne annually. Founded as a champagne house in 1808, it is now based in Urville, Champagne.
The house is proud of its vineyard’s rich history, which dates back almost 2000 years to the time of the Romans. In the early 1100s, Saint Bernard renovated the vineyard and built the cellars that remain a source of great pride for the house today. Drappier’s growing practices are also certified-organic!
Drappier Carte d’Or Brut will remain on our list of the favorite classics.
Moët & Chandon Nectar Impérial Rosé was rather unusual choice. We have tasted many Moët & Chandon products, but not this particular rosé. Curiously, it was not exatly what we expercted from this producer.
The taste led us to a conclusion that Moët & Chandon is shifting towards youthful palates masking or even hiding minerality and classic brioche flavors, and replacing them with fruity and candy notes. Tasting Drappier side by side with Nectar Impérial Rosé we clearly preferred our first choice.
Moët & Chandon description includes the intense fruitiness of mature red fruits, strawberry soup, raspberry, pomegranate, and sweet spicy notes with hitns of fresh mint. We found the mint note unusual, but overly dissapointing. The brown sugar notes and spices amazed us, and we are yet to decide if like it in Champagne. How about you? Did you taste Nectar Impérial Rosé?
Prosecco
Zardetto Long Charmant Brut is a premium Prosecco made from the most prestigious vineyards in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene area. We sensed yellow apple and pear with delicate notes of lemongrass and mint. Lively acidity and fine bubbles makes it feel bright and velvety at the same time.
We would not pair it with any strong flavored dishes. This Prosecco was perfect without any food bites.
House of Champagne Tasting Room
House of Champagne tasting room interior decor inspired us to think of celebrating romantic moments, having a date, or inviting people for a special occasion.
Of course, sipping fine Champagne by the window is a celebration itself, but we certainly appreciate comfortable chairs and modern style decor to go along with it!
We discovered the tasting room before our dinner at Mana restaurant, and our visit became a lovely prelude to Mana’s fine dining experience.