I finally made it to the booze store to peruse the bubblies and after all the recommendations I chose... none of them. Could not find one.
I think I did OK though. I briefly considered the $264 French champagne because, well, who wouldn't like to drink a $264 bottle of wine, but common sense got the better of me.
I remember somebody mentioning something about Spain so when I found the Neveran Perles Roses I figured I couldn't go wrong. The tasting notes were interesting and it did rate a respectable 89.
The second is a bottle from the Alsace. A Ruhlman Crement, D'Alsace. It has this nifty little sticker on it that says Concours 2011 MEDAILLE D'OR Colmar. While my French is not very good, I'm pretty sure it does not say Lump of Coal Award.
I'll let you know how they taste.
I'm very surprised you couldn't find any of those suggestions at your LCBO, especially those Ontario sparklings. Even at my local LCBO, my most recent visit they had bottles of the HOP Cuvee Catharine Brut (though not the Rose) and the Cave Spring Blanc de Blancs Brut. I ended up with a bottle of the Cave Spring sparkling.
