You can be 100% certain that every single release of today’s wine will be a powerful, etched-from-chalk Grand Cru Champagne that has the rare ability to silence a room. Accordingly, André Clouet has become somewhat of a favorite child to us—for five years running, it has been our singular value-for-dollar Champagne benchmark.
Now, we can hardly keep up with demand: In the past, we could have offered this whenever we wanted, but now times are much different. The world has caught wind of these spectacular wines and put a severe bottleneck on our allocations. So now we stand at the front door, nose pressed into the glass, waiting for our (much smaller) shipments to arrive. Six months it took this time! But now, deep into June, we are thrilled to reveal our first André Clouet
cuvée of the year. Today’s offer marks the newest disgorgement of their luxurious, richly layered rosé from one of the greatest Pinot Noir Grand Crus in Champagne: Bouzy. If there are still people out there that have neglected this jaw-dropping bottle, the most efficient course of action would be to take you by the shoulders and yell out “what are you doing?!” We try to provide this stunning, still-under-$50 (!) rosé to our customers every year, and when we are able, the majority of subscribers take their max amount. What I’m getting at is that our stock goes quick—hurry!
The Clouet family first found the spotlight after becoming the official printers for the Royal Court at Versailles in the mid-18th century (hence the beauty of their wine labels). Their estate in Bouzy, which current owner Jean-François Clouet still calls home, dates back even further! Beneath this historic site lies their labyrinthine chalk cellar, which still contains partial false walls that hid precious bottles during Nazi invasion in World War II. With all this historic grandeur surrounding him, Jean-François respectfully draws from tradition and time-honored techniques while embracing modern technology. And, with only 20 acres of estate vines, he can make this philosophy a reality.
Derived from mid-slope vines within the prestigious Grand Cru village of Bouzy, this rosé is crafted from 100% Pinot Noir from the 2015 vintage with a healthy portion of older reserves (note: it's the same base vintage as last year's, just a later disgorgement!). This wine fermented—both alcoholic and malolactic—in stainless steel vessels and then aged for over three years on lees in bottle. After a late disgorgement, it was topped off with a light dosage of five grams of sugar (technically qualifying it for the Extra-Brut category) and still Bouzy Pinot Noir (8%) in order to achieve its trademark salmon color. Fun fact: “No.3” was originally created to assist customers in judging the color, with the numbers ranging from 1 (the lightest) to 10.
With incredible terroir, extended lees aging, and meticulous winemaking, Clouet’s rosé offers an incredibly balanced combination of ripe fruit, texture, depth, and minerality that is nearly unrivaled. Perhaps it's hard to judge a wine in your hand versus one you had the year prior, but the newest release of André Clouet’s Grand Cru Brut Rosé feels like the freshest one yet. Its vibrant salmon pink gives off astonishingly ripe, ultra-clean aromas that burst out as energetic beads of carbonation swirl upward with vigor. Service temperature is always key, especially in high-quality Champagne, so make sure you’re sniffing and drinking around 50-55 degrees. When at the optimal temperature, it erupts with seductive notes of Rainier cherries, watermelon, grapefruit zest, wild strawberry, raspberry, white peach skin, damp roses, finely crushed chalk, and a touch of wild herbs.
The lush, medium-bodied palate coats your palate with zesty fruits that have been topped off with a dollop of fresh cream and sprinkles of crushed rock minerality. This is not an angular rosé Champagne; it boasts ripe, stunningly supple textures that deliver the utmost pleasure. Delightful in its youth, this wine’s fruit will take on savory components over the next 3-5 years, so stow a few bottles away, or at the very least space them out over the next year until the next disgorgement arrives! When consuming, please serve in a wide tulip or all-purpose stem and prepare the following smoked salmon blinis on a sunny Sunday. Cheers.
