2006, Raphaël Bérèche "Instant Rosé No.1"

55% Chardonnay

40% Pinot Noir

5% Pinot Meunier

Assemblage 6% Red wine

Fermentation: Spontaneous

Malo: Unintended

Disgorgement: 4/5-2009

Glass: Spiegelau Adina “Red wine”

I am neither in favour of generalizing nor categorizing when it comes to wine. Unfortunately, it’s something that’s quit common, as it’s a good tool of sorting out all of those tasting experiences. Of course such a pattern is pretty innocent, natural and useful, but thing is, by categorizing we accept that wine is suitable for such schematics and ignore how complex a liquid we have to deal with. Okay….this is another debate which I might open another day, but it takes me to the wine in hand and in fact challenge my own way of analyzing a bottle of wine. You see, when it comes to Rosé Champagnes, I have a tendency to categorize. It’s not that I have specific groups set-up in my mind, but I definitely see myself jumping to generalizing conclusion when I smell a “rat”. It happens that I find myself in situations where I am puzzled about the whole En Vogue Rosé thing.

Well – that was then and this is now. I think an angel just entered the room and reset my brain. This Rosé simply knocked me over and it’s funny because it’s a Rosé Champagne that’s so easy to understand, but maybe it’s this simplicity I have been searching for in the Rosé jungle – who knows? Now let’s concentrate on this utterly resistible babe. Already at first pour I was in love, incredible fresh and fragile stuff, where the aromas is dream come true of dried red fruit; such as – currant, apricot and cherries. The taste is in perfect harmony, so classy, fragile and unheard appetite and seductive. The style is fragile, mineral infected and it simply stands out as one of the most balanced Rosé I have ever tasted.

When I drink Champagne at home I always take it out from the fridge and rest it 20 minutes to reach around 9-10 degrees and when it hits 14-15 I sometimes just dip it for a short time in an ice bucket to keep a temperature around 10-13 degrees. With this Champagne I never got around to the ice-bucket trick as it tasted perfect all the way up to 16 degrees. To me that’s a sign of class.

There are 895 bottles of this babe – so hurry up.