Ben's Bubbly: La Marca Prosecco

Well, we survived our first family bout of the stomach flu. We found out that playing pass the puking baby and then change your clothes is not fun. At least he was feeling better by the time we caught the bug. Three of the four babies at Ben's daycare were out last week and no less than eight other family members of the babes were stricken, too. I'm still not feeling 100% four days later.

In better news, Ben has started pretending to talk on our cell phones. He has always been fascinated by them and wanted to chew on them, but now he will pick up the phone and hold it to his ear and babble. It took me almost twenty one years to get my first cell phone, but I have a feeling I won't be able to keep Ben from getting one of his own for that long. Actually, he already has one as we gave him an old one (sans battery), but he still would rather play with one of ours.

La Marca Prosecco

My run of disappointment with Prosecco continues with this pretty little bottle. The robin's egg blue label is eye catching and as I saw in a liquor store yesterday, the La Marca received 90 points from a major wine publication. I don't do points, but if I did I can tell you that this does not strike me as an outstanding wine. Nice, sure. But definitely not outstanding, or whatever 90 points is supposed to mean these days. It is almost clear in color with only the slightest suggestion of a yellow tint. The nose is equally underwhelming. There is a bit of apple and lemon, but not much else. On the palate, faint flavors of baked apple, banana and a twist of lemon are noticeable for a few brief seconds before your taste buds reset. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this wine, but it is not at all that interesting. 11% abv. Gift $15. Good

Ben's Bubbly: Valentine's Day edition

This sweet child of mine is growing up so fast. Just a few months ago he was completely dependent on us for everything. Now, he actually is mobile and can communicate. And when I say mobile, I mean that he finally has started walking. He's still mostly crawling, but he now can walk about 10 feet across the floor before he either reaches a piece of furniture or decides to sit. While this is exciting (and at the same time terrifying) the cooler thing is that he is also starting to use sign language to communicate. We've been trying to teach him (and ourselves) sign language. We haven't used a whole lot of signs, but just this week he has signed "more" and "all done," in addition to "milk" (which has been doing for a few weeks, though he prefers the dive and grab approach for that one...). We are so excited that he is now able to express his own feelings to us (and the cats). He has been waving hello and goodbye for a few weeks now and he especially likes to greet the cats whenever they enter a room with a quick wave, but they usually decide to vanish when they realize they've been made!

This week for the bubbly we didn't just have a bottle after Ben went to bed as we usually do. We invited a group of friends over for a Valentine's Day party, sans babies. We asked each couple to bring a bottle of bubbly to share. All told, we had six bottles of sparkling wine and a sparkling wine-based punch that also included rum and pomegranate. The punch was a hit and we only opened three of the bottles. It was a fun way to celebrate the holiday and try a few different bubblies in one sitting. I was more concerned with cooking (though I still managed to over-grill the oysters) and didn't take notes on the wines, but I'll at least give my general impressions.

Ben's Bubbly: Mionetto Prosecco Brut D.O.C

This week our weekly evening of sipping sparkling wine happened to fall on our fourth wedding anniversary. We had been wanting to try a Japanese restaurant near our house, but phone number was disconnected so we decided to try Delvickios, a new Italian restaurant that opened recently. We left little Ben in the capable hands of Grandma. When we got home, Grandma said that he had been a little fussy, but he perked right up when he saw us walk through the door and resumed his new trick: sticking his tongue in and out like a little frog.

I did not have high expectations for the restaurant, and the meager wine list, with only two sparkling choices, which did nothing to further my expectations. I settled on the Prosecco, figuring it would go better with a full meal than the sweet Lambrusco. We could tell they don't get a lot of bottle purchases of sparkling wine because we were twice asked if we were celebrating. Because I don't believe sparkling wine should be reserved only for celebration, I wanted to say, "no, we always drink sparkling wine on Thursday night." However, my wife admitted that it was our anniversary. We started the meal with mouthwatering homemade breadsticks with marinara. I preferred to eat the bread sans sauce in order to fully enjoy the cheese-sprinkled buttery goodness. We also ordered the appetizer sampler plate and were thoroughly pleased with the meatball sliders and pepperoni rolls. Definitely not haute cuisine, but delish nonetheless. The caprese and artichoke dip that came with the sampler were ok, but nothing special. Both our entrees were good; my linguini slightly edging out her chicken tiamo. When it came time to order dessert, we both decided that we were too full, but would come back and try a pizza or calzone and get something sweet after. The wine was almost a second thought to the yummy food.

NV Mionetto, Prosecco D.O.C. Treviso, Brut

The first Italian wine in Ben's Bubbly is from the Prestige Line of the same winery that makes the Il brand of Prosecco and Moscato with the crown cap and silk screened bowling pin-shaped bottles carried by many retailers. This bubbly is exceptionally light in color, aroma and body. Green apples, lemon rind and almonds were apparent on both the nose and the palate. Every few sips I would get a hint of stone fruit, but not enough to make it interesting. Overall, not bad for a sub $30 bottle on a restaurant list, but this wine does nothing to make me want to drink Prosecco when there are so many other interesting sparkling wines around the world. 11% abv Purchased $24. Average/Good (tasted 7/14/11)