Indiana Sparkling

My family is into list making, small wineries and geography. I am way into list-making and a sparkling wine and a little too competitive for my own good. I'm thrilled and gloating that in the first week of 2007 I have accomplished something as momentous as adding Indiana to my winery visited list (a competetion with my parents) and my sparkling wine drunk list (a cooperation with the mister).

At $25, the estate bottled 2005* Creekbend Vidal Blanc Sparkling from Oliver Winery in Bloomington, Indiana is over-priced. However, "value" is irrelevant when dealing with small state wineries. I wouldn't be able to try Indiana sparkling for any less, and I'm certainly glad we tried it. Nothing was amiss with this wine. The bubbles were fine and delicate and the drink crisp and refreshing. As a blanc de noir affecionado, I prefer some color to my sparkling wine, but I liked this almost clear wine better than most deeper colored chardonnay-based blanc de blancs. Ice wine (also made from vidal blanc) is added back in at the end. According to the bottle this adds a "hint of soft sweetness." While certainly not bone dry, the Creekside Vintage was not overly sweet. I wouldn't have noticed the addition of the ice wine unless alerted to it (and wouldn't that be of a different vintage? There is no way that this could be entirely a 2006 wine). The floral scents (I need to look up the difference between bouquet, aroma and nose in order to write another wine review) of the sparkling were reminiscent of the ice wine (which I had the good fortune of trying at the winery), but I would have attributed entirely to the grape rather than process.

Altogether, a tasty quaff and INDIANA proudly added to the lists.

*Front label reads "2005", back label "2006".