Champagne Louis XV Rosé 2006 75cl

The 2006 Louis XV Brut Rosé Millésimé is almost the same assemblage as the white, with 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but it gets its marvelous color from the 6% of red Pinot Noir from 40-year-old vines cultivated in the single vineyard La Forêt in Les Riceys. The wine displays a beautifully intense and slightly cloudy/milky pink color. The pink Louis XV is intense yet pure and complex on the nose, with toasty mocha, nougat and concentrated yet chalky/mineral flavored red fruit and paté de fruit aromas. On the palate, this is a round, intense, almost smooth but elegantly pure, dry and fresh, perfectly balanced, structured and charmingly vinous Rosé Champagne with a dominant Pinot Noir character at the moment, although its freshness and tight mineral elegance is driven by the Chardonnay part. The finish is intense yet finessed, with vibrant red currant flavors, very fine tannins, good grip and impressive length. Wild strawberries, raspberries and cherries emerge in the aftertaste. This is a gorgeous food Champagne but you can also meditate with it. I guess I have rarely had better Rosé Champagnes. Tasted November 2017 from Lot LL150 6R5153BT, which was disgorged in February 2016 (dosage: six grams per liter).<br/>Champagne de Venoge's finest wines come along in carafe-shaped bottles that one might call kitsch, but I like them. They don't fit in my fridge door, but my fridge is big and the Champagne's good enough to deserve its own shelf and an upright position. The prestige cuvées Louis XV and Louis d'Or are remarkably elegant and vinous sparkling wines with structure, great complexity and also finesse. The 2006 Brut Rosé is one of the finest you can get, and the 1995 Louis XV is a greatly matured and generous Champagne that is still terribly fresh even though it was disgorged more than ten years ago in 2006. Cellar master Isabelle Tellier is doing a great job; there is not a single disappointing wine in the current portfolio that starts with the easy-drinking Cordon Bleu and offers some sophisticated cuvées in the Princes range. Champage de Venoge is—despite its glorious but volatile history (in terms of frequent changes of ownership)—still an underrated rising star in the Champagne region. Champagne de Venoge is now owned by Lanson-BCC.