Page 116 - Decadence

A GLASS OF DECADENCE
IT’S THE TIME OF YEAR TO BE DECADENT AND INDULGE IN A BIT OF LUXURY.
Rosé and sparkling is white hot at the moment in drinks and so I felt I had hit the jackpot in terms of indulgence when I
stumbled across the five most expensive Rose Champagnes as sighted and written by Lucy Shaw in The Drinks Business, 5th December 2017.
Once derided as little more than fermented strawberry jam, the top rosé Champagnes are now taken seriously as fine wines and almost always command a higher premium than their blanc counterparts.
Ruinart was the first house to think pink, producing its inaugural rosé back in 1764.
Rosé Champagne is usually produced by adding a small amount of red wine – usually Pinot Noir from Bouzy – during blending. Although some houses, like Laurent-Perrier, opt for the saignée method, where colour is attained by ‘bleeding’ it from the skins of Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes.
With its fuller body and more robust, red- fruited flavour profile than blanc Champagne, sommeliers are drawn to rosé’s food matching capabilities.
So now that I have whetted your appetites, without further a do, here they are, with an indicative price tag, just for your delectation. Go on, indulge yourself, you deserve it, it’s Christmas!
5: Piper-Heidsieck Rare Rosé 2007 – £324
A blend of 56% Chardonnay, mainly from the Montaigne de Reims, and 44% Pinot Noir, the rosé was aged in cellar for eight years and boasts notes of lychee, wild strawberries and smoked tea on the nose, and exotic herbs, pomegranate, vanilla, passion fruit and a dash of paprika on the palate.
This is a serious rosé for true rosé aficionados, and would benefit from a few more years of cellaring in addition to its eight years of lees ageing.
4: Dom Pérignon P2 Rosé 1996 – £780
In 2014, Dom Pérignon’s inimitable chef de cave, Richard Geoffroy, renamed the house’s library series, Oenothèque, to reflect the different “plenitudes” he believes his sparklers evolve into.
Nurturing his wines like a protective father, Geoffroy feels Dom Pérignon essentially has three stages, or “plenitudes”, over the course of its life.
The first release (P1) kicks in around eight years after the harvest and is the style most consumers are familiar with. The second stage (P2) takes roughly 15 years, during which time the cuvée leaps to a new quality level where it will remain for many years.
The second life of the 1996 rosé has seen the fizz evolve to a coral amber colour, with a nose offering scents of saffron, lemon, cherry, raspberry, a touch of fig, brine and red pepper. Age has also softened the refreshing sparkler’s acidity and heightened its savory, spicy flavours.
3: Cristal Vinothèque Rosé 1995 – £1,900 Making a bold statement about its perceived value, Louis Roederer has priced its shiny new Vinothèque Rosé 1995 ambitiously high to say the least.
Those keen to get their hands on one of only a dozen 75cl bottles to go on sale in the UK will have to splash out £1,900 for the privilege, with only 200 bottles of the extra aged expression having been released worldwide.
Launched to slate the rising global thirst for luxury cuvées, the rosé has been aged sur lattes for 10 years in the Roederer cellars before being matured for a further decade under cork.
Champagne’s first prestige cuvée, originally created for Russia’s Tsar Alexander II in 1876, the “delicate and intense” 1995 rosé is crafted from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and offers a kaleidoscope of strawberry, peach and morello cherry flavours, alongside dried fruits and nuts with hints of lightly-roasted chestnuts.
On its finely wrought palate you’ll find citrus, gingerbread and honey mingling with a chalky and saline freshness.
2: Dom Pérignon P3 Rosé 1988 magnum – £2,141
The aforementioned evolution stages of Dom Pérignon reach their peak at the third plénitude (P3), which sees the Champagne aged for nearly 30 years until it reaches its ultimate crescendo.
Cellar master Richard Geoffroy believes that with time comes a fresh energy transmitted into the wines, and feels that the third plénitude is the moment when the wines reveal their true character.
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