Rosés are Red, Violets are blue

With Valentine’s day around the corner it only seems natural to write something about rosé champagne, probably the champagne which we take least seriously in the UK. Usually bought for its pretty colour and often rather tacky association with all things romantic, and not for its merits as a great partner to food and a truly vinous champagne style.

Most rosé champagne is made in a very different way to other rosé wines. It's one of very few appellations to allow blending red wine with white wine. Typically they add around 7-11% red wine in to the blend until the right body, texture and aromatics are integrated into the wine. This type of blending allows the champagne houses to maintain a consistent colour and the consistent ‘house style’ which is oh-so important in champagne.

One of the things I love about rosé champagne, above other champagne styles, is the huge variety of styles that they offer, from the bold structured style of Bollinger's Grande Anne Rosé to the floral elegant style of Laurent Perrier Rosé and everything else in-between.

Here are some of my favourites:

Something to go with your Lobster

Charles Heidseick Rose Reserve NV

This is a great wine to go with you posh Valentine’s dinner. It has beautiful red berry aromatics of strawberry and raspberry and a creamy, silk-like texture on the palate packed with jammy fruits. The red wine in the blend (7%) comes from the great grand cru sites of Ambonnay and Bouzy, giving the blend enough power and intensity stand up to a rich lobster dishes or even lighter game dishes such as Guinea fowl.

Keep it English

Balfour Brut Rosé - £35.99 at Waitrose

This is arguably England’s finest sparkling rosé (though Nyetimber’s Brut Rose and the Gusbourne Estate Rose are fantastic too). It has beautiful stone fruit aromas with peach, nectarine and even a hint of marzipan on the palate. It’s a great aperitif and is very easy to get through a whole bottle with your partner.

On Special

Lanson Rosé NV - £17.99 at Tesco (usually £35.99)

This is £17.99 at Tesco until the 14^th February and that makes it incredibly good value for money. If you are looking for the safety of a brand you know at great price then this is the champagne for you. Like the Lanson Brut NV, this champagne doesn’t go through malolactic fermentation and as a result has a racy acidity which is great with smoked salmon blinis and other oily fish dishes. It also has a pure raspberry flavours which would work with sour fruit based desserts like summer fruits and cream. 

Splash Out

Bollinger Grande Anne Rosé 2002 - £85 at Majestic

Quite simply, to my taste, this is the best rosé champagne out there and the 2002 is one of my top 5 champagnes of all time. It’s made exclusively from Grand (77%) and Premier cru (23%) juice and has around 7-8% red wine from La Cote Aux Enfants added to the blend. It has a pretty salmon pink colour and a forest floor charactor on the nose. It’s another full bodied champagne which works great with so many types of food. It is rich enough to stand up to venison with a blackberry jus or an earthy veal and mushroom dish. It also has a lifted fruit-driven finish, which cleanses your palate like no other wine on earth. Go on, treat yourself.

Clos of Champagne

Definition: Clos, from the French for closure or enclosed, is a walled vineyard used to protect the grapes from theft as well as improving the mesoclimate. They are often founded by Cistercian monks and the word is often used in the name of famous wines even when the wall no longer exists.

I have been trawling through books and the internet trying to find the exact number of clos in the Champagne region, but haven't had much luck getting an answer. I could find around 16 but I'm sure there must be more. However many there are, they certainly only account for a tiny fraction of the 80,000 hectares of vines there are in the region. I'm only going to go through a few of the famous ones otherwise this could turn into an essay.

There is much debate as to how much difference having a wall around your vineyard actually makes, but it's hard to argue against the fact that walls protect against a number of evils. There are two vineyards in the whole region which have managed to survive the root-chomping phylloxera louse epidemic in the early 20th century. One is Clos St-Jacques and the other is Clos des Chaudes, both of which are under Bollinger's ownership. There is no doubt that they have managed to survive partly due to their high surrounding walls. It is the vines from these vineyards which make the fabled Vielle Vignes Francaises super-prestige cuvee which commands prices starting at £300 a bottle.

These walls also protect the vines from the cold winds which are also common in Champagne. Krug's 1.85 hectare site, Clos du Mesnil in Mesnil-sur-Oger, also benefits from actually being wrapped in the warm blanket of the town itself. The clos' ideal South-East facing aspect and chalky soils help to make an extremely fine champagne of great purity and elegance. Krug released its 1995 Clos d'Ambonnay in 2008 and as if Clos des Mesnil wasn't pricey or exclusive enough, Clos d'Ambonnay is only 0.685 hectares with only c.3000 bottles of the 1995 produced at the astronomical release price of £1,450 a pop.

For me, one of Champagne's most interesting clos' is not actually a clos at all. Phillipponnat's premier cru site, Clos des Goisses in Mareuil-sur-Ay, only has a wall on the bottom edge of the vineyard. But lets not be picky; Clos des Goisses is an incredible vineyard and well worth a trip to see if you are ever in the region. It is on a steep, south-facing slope and has an average temperature around 1.5 degrees warmer than the average temperature in champagne. This means this clos can make wines of superior ripeness, even in miserable years like 2001. Tom Stevenson wrote a great article on this amazing vineyard.

Another lesser known, but equally beguiling clos from Mareuil-sur-Ay, is Billecart-Salmon's Le Clos St-Hilaire. At around one hectare this vineyard can only make between 3,500 and 7,500 bottles of champagne every year and is only made in exceptional vintages. Clos St-Hilaire is situated right next to Billecart-Salmons grande maison and is named after the patron saint of the village it lies in. Only Pinot Noir is planted here and the Blanc de Noirs produced are bold and powerful with great ageing potential, not unlike Bollinger's Vielle Vignes Francaises.

The final clos I want to talk about is the only clos actually within the city of Reims. It is owned by Lanson and is very originally named Clos Lanson. It is a single hectare site which was bought by Lanson in 1976. The Chardonnay grown in this vineyard has been used as a component in both Lanson's Black Label and Gold Label champagnes for years, but next year (2012) will see its birth as a single vineyard cuvee. I have no doubt that there will be a big marketing campaign letting everyone know how exclusive and rare this champagne is and I'm sure it will have a price to match its rarity. I am particularly looking forward to hearing more about it.

I hope you find these incredible vineyards as interesting as I do and hope you get a chance to try a couple of them. You may have to re-mortgage your house first though.  

A List of the Clos' of Champagne (which I could find), but do let me know if I have missed any:

- Clos du Mesnil (Mesnil sur Oger) Champagne Krug - Reims

- Clos d'Ambonnay (Ambonnay) Champagne Krug - Reims

- Clos du Moulin (Chigny les Roses) Cattier - Chigny les Roses

- Clos des Chaulins (Pargny les Reims) Champagne Médot - Reims

- Clos Cazals (Oger) Champagne Claude Cazals - Le Mesnil sur Oger

- Clos des Goisses (Mareuil sur Ay) Champagne Philipponnat - Mareuil sur Ay

- Clos des Champions (Cumières) Champagne Leclerc Briant - Epernay

- Clos des Plants de Chênes (Moussy) Champagne José Michel- Moussy

- Clos Saint Jacques and Clos Chaudes (Ay) Champagne Bollinger - Ay

- Clos Saint-Hilaire (Mareuil sur Ay) Champagne Billecart Salmon - Mareuil sur Ay

- Clos Virgile (Beaumont-sur-Vesle) Champagne Portier - Beaumont-sur-Vesle

- Petit Clos (Bouzy) Champagne Jean Vesselle - Bouzy

- Clos l'Abbé (Cramant) Champagne Hubert Soreau - Cramant

- Clos Notre Dame (Vertus) Veuve Fourney - Vertus

- Clos des Bergeronneau (Villledommange) Champagne Florent Bergeronneau-Marion - Villledommange
- Clos Lanson (Reims) Champagne Lanson - Reims - 2012 release

This weeks sparkling offers - 15th April 2011

This week Sainsburys seems to be leading the way with champagne and sparkling wine offers. All champagne is 25% off until the 3rd May. I presume this is to take advantage of potential bank holiday weekend and royal wedding trade (suits me fine!) Though prices across the board are good here are my favourites:

Bollinger Special Cuvee NV 75cl - £30.13

This is as cheap as you will find anywhere in the UK. I'm sure most of you have already had Bollinger but if you haven't, you must. This is one of my favourite Non Vintage champagnes and is perfect for those of you who like you champagnes to be rich, honeyed and full bodied. Its a great food wine as well.

Bollinger Grande Annee 1999 75cl (vintage may vary) - £48.88

Sainsburys probably aren't making a penny from this offer. All the wine company's I have worked for buy the champagne at this price! Bollinger Grande Annee is one of the best value top champagnes out there. It is every inch as good as Dom Perignon. It's made from grapes from about 70% grand cru and 30% premier cru sites and each bottle has been aged for 6 years before release to help it gain richness and complexity. This is a Pinot Noir driven blend and has lots of rich orchard fruits and a crisp, clean, biscuity finish.

Dom Perignon (vintage may vary) - £74.99

Another great price. I haven't been able to find out if this offer is for the 2000 vintage or the 2002 vintage but either way its still a great deal. Again, I doubt Sainsbury's will be making much money from this offer. If you can try and get the 2002 vintage. Its had very good press across the board and has been given 96/100 by Robert Parker (a top wine critic). Dom Perignon is Moet and Chandons prestige cuvee and this vintage is set to go down in historical. Its full of tropical fruit and elegant floral notes. It is very intense and will benefit from 5 years cellaring but is still very drinkable now.

 http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/

Comite Champagne Annual Tasting - London 2011

Last week was the 2011 Annual Champagne Tasting in London hosted by the Comite Champagne. This is one of the most anticipated events on the champagne calendar in the UK. It's a great opportunity for the trade to meet the people behind some of the legendary champagne houses, as well as some humble growers making exceptional champagnes. It is often the first chance the trade have to taste new releases and this year was no exception.

Events like this are a perfect opportunity to taste champagnes side by side. You can compare champagnes from the same vintage, champagnes with similar blends and champagnes from the same region. This gives you a great insight into what defines each champagne house.

With 68 brands showing their champagnes and over 200 champagnes on show it was impossible to taste everything, so my game plan was to concentrate on slightly lesser known houses, which I think will grow in profile over the next few years.

Here are my top 3's for the event:

Money no object best champagnes:

1) Bollinger Grand Anne 2002 (available nationwide) - a superstar champagne from a great Pinot Noir vintage.

2) Bruno Paillard Blanc de Blanc 1999 - an expressive champagne which is entering its drinking window, but will age beautifully for at least 10 years.

3) Delamotte Blanc de Blanc 1999 (Oddbins) - this is a really unique champagne which will really suit lovers of white Burgundies. 

Champagne houses to watch:

1) Bruno Paillard - this is a champagne house with the upmost standards. They only use the first press grapes, age each champagne for a minimum of 3 years and use a low dosage to allow the flavours to really express themselves. (full profile to follow)

2) Delamotte - Delamotte is the sister house of Salon and has a reputation for sourcing top chardonnay grapes from the top Cotes de Blanc communes of Le Mesnil, Oger and Avize. Quality has been on the rise since it was acquired by the Laurant-Perrier group 

3) Philipponnat - This house has already got a great reputation amongst champagne connoisseurs but I think it has the quality to hit the mainstream. 

Best Value Champagnes:

1) Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Vintage 2004 (£19 in Majestic) - there is a lot of quality out of the 2004 vintage. This champagne shows complexity way beyond its price point. It has pure fruit and lovely bread-like characters which a lot of cheaper champagnes cannot achieve.

2) Le Mesnil Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru 2004 £29.44 (Waitrose) -At £30 this isn't particularly cheap but the fruit is sourced from some of the best vineyards in the Cote de Blanc and the 2004 vintage was a great vintage. This champagne has very vivacious bubbles and citrusy fruit with floral high notes. It has a balanced acidity and will continue to get better for the next 5 years.

3) Delemotte Brut NV £25 (available nationwide) - top grapes go into this chardonnay-dominated blend. It even takes grapes from vineyards that go into the fabled Salon champagnes. This champagne has a fruit-forward style with delicate pear and citrus flavours and a fine bead of bubbles.