Rosé "Zéro" Brut Nature (2016 Base)

NV
France
Champagne

50% Chardonnay/44% Pinot Noir/6% Pinot Meunier from organically farmed, hand-harvested estate vines across 63 parcels in 4 villages near Oeuilly in the Vallée de la Marne. The main focus is making the perfect Pinot Noir, which makes up nearly half of the wine and is its starting point. Judging the appropriate levels of color, tannin and red-fruit flavors is a crucial challenge, given its high proportion in the final blend and the wine's long aging. The Pinot Noir is destemmed, very slowly pressed, briefly macerated and put into Burgundy barrel for a spontaneous fermentation and 6 months of aging; the Chardonnay is direct-pressed, then naturally fermented and aged in barrel. The wines do not go through malolactic fermentation; sulfur is used in tiny quantities during pressing but not afterward. The blending is a barrel-by-barrel, blind-tasting process; given that Tarlants' 60+ parcels are individually vinified, making the choices for both the rosé and white Zéro wines is an elaborate and extensive process. The final rosé blend is typically around 75% current-vintage wine with 25% reserve wine, in this case the base being 2016. It was bottled in July 2017 and disgorged in February 2022 with zero dosage. 

92 points
"The current release of the Tarlant family’s Brut Nature “Zero” Rosé is from the b. It was aged just under five and a half years sur latte and disgorged in September of 2021. The cépages this year is fifty percent chardonnay, forty-four percent pinot noir and six percent pinot meunier. The wine is a beautiful salmon color and offers up a deep, complex and expressive bouquet of rhubarb, blood orange, rye bread, a lovely base of soil tones, dried rose petals and a touch of brown spice in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full bodied, focused and complex, with lovely depth at the core, superb mineral drive, elegant mousse, nicely mellowing acids and a long, classy and impeccably balanced finish. I so admire the Tarlant family’s commitment to aging their non-dosé bottlings for long enough prior to release to allow the acids to mellow out and the wine to start to drink with generosity. Fine, fine juice. 2022-2045."
John Gilman,
View from the Cellar
93 points
" Plenty of dried-cherry and cranberry character here, but also candied lemon and angelica. Pretty powerful and highly structured, this is light-years removed from the world of pretty, light rosés. Bold and very mineral finish that’s as austere as it is exciting. A blend of 50% chardonnay with 44% pinot noir and 6% pinot meunier, based on the 2015 vintage. Disgorged on February 1st, 2021. Drink or hold."
James Suckling,
James Suckling
December 2021

SKU/Code: 
DB2951-16
Product Line: 
Wine
Sparkling
Varietal: 
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Farming Type: 
Organic