Cristalino Brut Cava

I recently had this wine with a friend, and while I knew it would not be quite to my tastes (while Cristalino Brut Cava, NV advertised citrus flavors, I prefer an off-dry sparkling wine with lots of dried fruit, floral and yeasty notes and with a lingering red-fruit finish - Moscato d'Asti -- not Asti Spumante which tends to be too thin and cloying in flavor -- would fit the bill perfectly, except it is generally too sweet and it doesn't have enough carbonation for the cork to make an audible and festive pop on removal ... I am still on a quest to find a perfect sparkling wine for my tastes, in fact: update as of late 2006 -- I've found the perfect sparkling wine for my tastes -- admittedly distorted as it is based on the excellent but hard to find "Champagne Bubbles" candies made by Goelitz -- Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label), I appreciated this wine enough that I figured I would review it here.

Cristalino Brut Cava turned out to be a more complex wine than the tasting note on the box led me to believe. Indeed, while this is not saying much, it was more complex than Freixenet Brut Cava (which has the same apply taste as your typical Asti Spumante but with a citric edge and without the sweetness). This wine had a very distinctive and complex fruity nose and the flavor possessed abundant and varied candied fruit notes, especially citrus notes. It was like drinking a very citrusy mince pie or my step-grandmother's fruit-cake (which was very good, btw). However, don't let this description mislead you into thinking the wine was cloyingly sweet. Amazingly, in spite of having the flavor and scent of candied fruit, the wine was all but bone dry.

While I would rather eat a minced pie or a fruitcake and drink something with a more floral and fermented tasting fruitiness, this wine certainly was an enjoyable accompaniment to a nice evening watching funny movies with my friend after a long day of shopping in the city.