Tasting Note I’ve tasted this sparkling wine numerous times over the past five years and not only does it get better with evolution, but it gains depth and complexity without losing any of its verve and youthfulness. Made from 100% estate grown chardonnay, there are layers of citrus and ripe orchard fruit over a backbone of marzipan and toast notes. This vintage sparkler strikes that rare balance of richness and precision, being both generous and nervy with bright acidity and a saline edge. The bubbles are very fine, and the long finish is yeasty and slightly nutty. This structured and layered wine offers both pleasure now and the promise of further evolution for another decade or more. Bottled in 2012 and disgorged in February 2022 with a dosage of 6 g/L and 11% ABV.

Backgrounder Blomindon Estate got its start in the late 1980s, first growing and selling grapes and then, for the past 20 years, making wine. Owner Tim Ramey made a smart choice in hiring winemaker Simon Rafuse in 2009, a Nova Scotia native trained at the University of Montpellier. The wines keep getting better and better. It’s a quaint and cute winery with estate vineyards — including the Old Block Chardonnay planted in the 1980s and used for this sparkling wine — that seem to stretch right into the Bay of Fundy’s Minas Basin. 

Accolades: WineAlign National Wine Awards Gold Medal