Open ze Widow and let in summ-air

A while ago I was writing about a sparkling wine called Veuve du Vernay, because I ran a little competition on the Bubble Brothers blog to guess the value of this bottle:

There were a good few guesses, which mostly proved to be on the high side - because the obvious antiquity of the bottle detracted from, rather than added to, its original small worth. But to cut to the chase, as you'll see at the end of the list of comments on that original post, we attracted the attention of Keith Isaac MW, through whose good offices we now have available for purchase the entirely different kettle of bubbles that is the relaunched 21st century-style Veuve du Vernay and its pink sibling.

If you've had to cut back on your champagne consumption because of straitened economic circ's, I am sorry. The sprightly and generous widow Vernay will not assuage all your pain, granted, but will keep you in light-hearted effervescence for the duration and beyond. The new bottle shape and packaging are elegant enough to go anywhere. The wines, as they say elsewhere "don't suck" - which, in comparison with some budget bubbles, I consider a virtue to put alongside the more positive attributes of clean, fresh, straightforward liveliness in the glass. Both the white and the pink are genuine good value and quite the opposite of disappointing in their competitive but boobytrapped price range. A fair deal for tough times. The white brut is a blend of grapes, currently Colombard/Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay. So far, so French. The rosé, however, is made from Tempranillo. I thought that was a mistake on our part and pulled our shelf information off, until a little research confirmed the unusual choice of grape. In order to make the best wine possible at an irresistible price, Cécile Terrasse, the winemaker, has clearly not limited herself to conventional or local options just for tradition's sake, and this has paid off in a cheerful, fruity, quaffable pink fizz. Bubble Brothers are delighted to add two very affordable new lines to our selection of bubbles, thanks entirely to the mysterious ways in which blogging refreshes parts that other media often doesn't reach.