JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset No. 21, Crémant de Bourgogne, Brut, NV

This sparkling wine from Burgundy is a good value for a French wine made using the traditional method, but you can find a better value if you look to other countries. It has a slight yeastiness, a full mouth feel and is acidic. The wine has a strong aroma of crisp apple, and flavors of fall fruits. A great wine to drink on a crisp fall evening.

Price: $20.00

Ratings:
Taste: 3
Value: 3
Drinkability: 3
Effervescence: 4
Complexity: 2
Overall: 15

Updates to Rating Systems

I recently read two books about wine that have inspired me to rethink and slightly change my rating system for sparkling wines. I highly recommend both of them if you are looking to further your knowledge and interest in champagne or wine in general. The books are: How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto by Eric Asimov and Champagne: A Global History by Becky Sue Epstein.

My new ratings system is as follows:

I will still be looking at taste, value, drinkability, and effervescence, but I will now additionally rate the wine based on complexity. I think complexity is another way to differentiate between higher and lower quality wines.

I have also defined my rating scale and decided that it is from 0 - 5 instead of 1 - 5. The breakdown of each point value is:

0: Poor (you do not want to drink this)
1: Satisfactory (probably not worth drinking, but might be serviceable)
2: Fair
3: Good
4: Very Good
5: Extraordinary

The total points possible will now be 25.