This weekend, made long by taking some personal leave, my wife and I traveled to Virginia where I graduated with my doctorate, my fourth and likely final degree. It was a little bittersweet, traversing the brick-paved pathways of yet another campus and, when called upon to do so, turning my tassel from right to left for the final time. The robes and hood of a doctor are elaborate, and the journey long, but in all reality this ultimately amounts to but another stop along the way as I do my best to navigate life, now accompanied by my wife, Sonja, and my son, Titus, who inspired me more than anyone else to finish my dissertation in a timely manner.

In celebration of the occasion, my wife and I picked up a bottle of sparkling wine to share back at the hotel room, finding ourselves less able to go out with an 8-month-old son who is ever in need of his sleep. This Cremant from Burgundy was tucked away on the back shelf of a wine store we don’t have in the Midwest, and I was more than a little intrigued by the iridescent label and rare combination of Blanc de Noirs, Burgundy, Cremant, ready availability and relatively low cost. The Louis Bouillot Blanc de Noirs is truly a delightful wine, combining the creaminess of Cremant with the weightless effervescent fizz of good sparkling wine, and the character of using Pinot Noir grapes in light, white, sparkling wine. Desirable, delicate structure and light notes of white rose petals, pear, the mildest citrus, and hints perhaps of the varietal, this product, available in the $20 range, is in my estimation nothing short of excellent, and something I’ll certainly look for again.

Louis Bouillot produces a wide variety of sparkling wines, based strictly upon what I saw on the shelves. This one gets 93 points on my scale, and comes recommended.

My son, Titus, and I at my graduation yesterday.