Bollinger, N/V Rosé Champagne.

Introduced for the first time in May 2008, Bollinger Rosé has been in the making and a dream of the House for almost a decade. This wine evolved not as a curiosity, but as with all of the Bollinger cuvées, as a careful assembly of the very finest ingredients by their talented, passionate team. In the meticulous House style, Bollinger Rosé is modelled on the Special Cuvée blend, combining the fruits of previous harvests plus the addition of reserve wines from their cellars in Aÿ. The final component, which provides colour and delicate aromas of ripe red fruits, is a proportion of still red wine coming exclusively from Bollinger’s Grand Cru Vineyards in the Côte d’Aÿ and Verzenay.

The NV Brut Rose is a gorgeous wine laced with berries, flowers and chalk, all of which are woven together in a fabric of unusual class. The NV naturally doesn’t have the weight and gravitas of the 2002 Rose La Grande Année tasted alongside it, but it nevertheless shows striking purity and class in a more accessible, fresh style. It is another terrific effort from Bollinger. The NV Brut Rose is 62% Pinot Noir (of which 6% is still Pinot), 24% Chardonnay and 14% Pinot Meunier.