2007 Jerome Prévost "La Closerie Fac-Simile Rosé"

100% Pinot Meunier
Dosage: 0 g/l
Method: Assemblage
Production: 2.800 bottles
Glass: Spiegelau Adina “Red wine”

It’s always something special to taste the debut release of a wine. It’s even more exiting when it comes from a region of traditions – and in this case, my favorite region. So who’s saying that nothing is going on in Champagne?

It had no idea what to expect here, but even so, I was surprised to see how shy and fragile the wine was at opening. But in fact, I prefer Rosé Champagnes, which are leaning to these characteristics; and this is such an example….well almost. Once again, I encountered a Champagne, which was constantly evolving in the glass. As the nose opens up, it has small dozes of iron and salty red fruits – mainly cherries. With the last two glasses it puts on in weight and exotic fruits emerge, especially a note of quince is detectable. It’s also starting to show some darker fruits patterns, rising from a slightly oxidation. This makes me speculate, that within a relative short time frame, lets say 1½ years or so, this will be a completely different Champagne. The oxidation note will be far more dominant at that time, but if it can still hold on to these fragile, subtle and feminine signs, we truly have something to look out for.
I might add that once again, this is the sort of Champagne, which you can easily rise in temperature and obtain more nuances without killing the freshness.

To conclude: I wasn’t at the same ecstatic stage, as I was with the new Rosé from Bérèche. I missed that final edge and magic dust. But still a very nice bottle of Rosé, which certainly holds some promising features. Time will tell.