Keeping Mumm.

It's not a secret that I love bubbles, I think they should be consumed most every day. So, it was to my surprise that I noticed, just recently, that Mumm Napa Valley had a sparkling wine that I had not yet tried - Cuvee Renouveau. What? I needed to remedy that instantly. And there perhaps would be, I thought, no better time than New Year's Eve to imbibe in a bottle of the aforementioned Renouveau and then compare it with it's soeur Française, Cordon Rouge. So, I procured myself a couple of bottles of the American red-striped bubbly (not the Jamaican beer) and a couple of bottles of the French variant.
If Mumm Napa were trying to duplicate Cordon Rouge they got pretty darned close. The grapes are sourced from the Anderson Valley, slightly cooler than Napa, and perhaps more suited to bubbly production. The Cordon Rouge's mouth feel is irresistibly and undeniably French, redolent with yeast and toast, whilst the Renouveau has an alluring nose heady with sour-apple skin and ripe pear, still they are incredibly very similar.
However, I'm not going to over analyse that which is sparkling in the glass before me, it's New Year's Eve...I'm just going to enjoy two rather decent wines.
Happy New Year!