Six bottles, five countries—and a few surprised palates

Six bottles, five countries, and no label to hide behind. On 11 October, BWC gathered at VNTG Wine & Cheese Bar Dubai to explore sparkling wine beyond Champagne—with Alex Kovalov guiding the discussion and a semi-blind tasting putting our assumptions to work.

We knew the candidates. We didn’t know which wine was in each glass.

South African Chardonnay, Spanish Albariño, English rosé, Cava, Armenian Areni and a Russian vintage Blanc de Blanc made a wonderfully varied table. The challenge was to follow the clues: fresh fruit or toasted nuts? A sharp line of acidity or a broad, creamy palate? Briny freshness or the richness of age?

The bottle that got people talking

Lefkadia’s Temelion Blanc de Blanc 2016 drew several enthusiastic responses. Richness, a velvety texture and an integrated mousse gave tasters plenty to discuss. It wasn’t a formal room-wide winner, but it was a lovely reminder of why we cover the labels: an unfamiliar origin can turn into a very welcome discovery.

Mar de Frades brought a different lesson. Its Albariño Brut Nature showed how a grape often associated with still white wine could bring saline freshness to the sparkling conversation.

And then there were the ducks

Avondale’s vineyard helpers have feathers. The estate sends Pekin ducks through its vines to eat snails—a real “duck patrol”, and one of the morning’s more memorable stories. The ducks do the vineyard rounds; we do the tasting rounds.

Behind the fun was a useful lesson about the traditional method: bubbles are only part of the story. The base wine, blending, lees ageing and final dosage all help shape what reaches the glass.

You don’t need a perfect score to learn something. Sometimes the best result is finding a wine you would never have picked from a shelf.

Revisit the masterclass

Duck-patrol story: Avondale Wine.

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