Champagne Laherte Frères Rosé de Meunier NV (Base 19. Disg. Jan 2023)

Meunier. Disgorged January 2023. This dazzling Meunier represents superb value in a market where rosé wines are getting increasingly pricey. Put simply, it’s a blend of Meunier vinified three ways. Some 60% of the volume is from fruit traditionally pressed off to make a white wine (over one-third of this component was reserve wines that had been aged in barrels). A second, 30% portion was made as a saignée rosé (the juice left in contact with the skins for a short period). The final 10% of the blend is from a full-blown red wine.

The fruit producing the white wine is from vines with an average age of 25 years, and the vines for the red and rosé wines are more than 40 years old. The wines fermented and aged in various vessels (vats, foudre and old demi-muid barrels) before being transferred to bottle for secondary fermentation. This release is a blend of 2019 (60%) and 2018 and was disgorged with just 2.5 g/L dosage. It’s a wonderfully pretty rosé with the juiciness of the ripe Meunier offset by mouthwatering acidity and the salty chalk expression that typifies the best wines of the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay.