2009 Champagne Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Rosé, Brut

Provence rosé, eat your heart out. This wine looks more like a clarete – deep orangey-strawberry pink. It's far from difficult to persuade yourself there are notes of both strawberry and orange in this concentrated, somehow upright wine. Nothing vapid about it, it's clearly a wine that would be extremely happy at a well-laden table. 

From a pretty ripe vintage, its superior pedigree is clear as it has an intense, sophisticated nose and a bone-dry finish after grabbing the palate and giving it a good scrub. There's no attempt to make a smooth-as-satin wine here. It's out to make an impression, and to prove that champagne really is a wine. 

The finish is even more adamant than the nose at this point. But I think it's time is now.

Drink 2018 - 2026

With its compelling notes of black cherry, citrus including grapefruit, spice and pastry, this has an alluring, even bewitching bouquet of striking complexity. The mouthfeel is just as captivating with its seductive, fleshy texture sustained by a dense yet perfectly balanced structure. The saline finish is sumptuous. This is a rosé Champagne that should age beautifully.

Drink 2023 - 2035

The 2009 Brut Comtes de Champagne Rosé is a rich, gourmand rendition of this cuvée, bursting with aromas of sweet red plums, buttery pastry, tangerine and baking spices. Full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a broad attack and a layered, enveloping mid-palate that's girdled by ripe acids, it already offers demonstrative drinking. This has turned out brilliantly. 

Drink 2022 - 2040

The 2009 Rosé Comtes de Champagne is one of the very finest recent editions I can recall. The intensity of both the Pinot and the vintage comes through loud and clear in a vinous, resonant Comtes Rosé that is engaging right out of the gate. Dark red berry fruit, spice, crushed flowers and blood orange are some of the many notes that meld together seamlessly. The 2009 is a truly special Champagne, but it is also very much on the exuberant side of things. All that said, I absolutely loved it.

Drink 2022 - 2037

A beautiful colour of bronze and orange with some pink at the end. Aromas of dried strawberry and orange peel with orange blossom and other flowers. Medium to full body with a round, creamy texture, very fine bubbles and a lovely, long finish. Plenty of subtle pie-crust and biscuit flavors at the end. Yet it remains so complex. Very vinous. 

Drink or hold