THE WINE COLUMN
Tickled
Pink
Champagne is not the only home of elegant, traditional method sparkling rosé wines. Here are three delicious wines from exciting regions to watch
Antoine says,“ when others take eight to ten days. We need 30 to 40.”
He explains that the house doesn’ t like adding much sugar and, instead, prefers to coax out the fruit with long, cool fermentations.“ The natural acidity that we get as a result is the best‘ conservative’ for ageing the wine properly,” he says. We see what he means as he opens a 1991 vintage of their other prestige cuvée named after founder Nicolas-François Billecart, Elisabeth’ s husband. It is a wine that proves that with good fruit from a good vintage and plenty of time to get it just right, champagne can age beautifully over many years.
Billecart-Salmon’ s wine range reads like a masterclass of champagne styles. The classic collection includes a Brut Reserve, an Extra Brut, a Blanc de Blancs, a straight Rosé, a demi-sec and even a spicy, oak-fermented champagne
The Billecart-Salmon estate
( the Brut Sous Bois). Next, come the rare,‘ homage’, vintage wines, which include the cuvée Nicolas François Billecart created in 1964 and the cuvée Elisabeth Salmon whose first vintage was only launched in 1988. In 2003 however, Billecart-Salmon welcomed a new member to the family; the jewel in an already very worthy crown. Cuvée Clos Saint Hilaire was born from an exceptional parcel of vines during the magnificent 1995 vintage. But that’ s a story for another time... Q
Follow Helena Nicklin @ TheWinebird
Stockists: Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon: Circa £ 140 per bottle for the current 2002 / 2006 vintages. Hedonism Wines( hedonism. co. uk), Selfridges( selfridges. com), Uncorked( uncorked. co. uk)
England( Hampshire): Hambledon Classic Cuvée Rosé NV These rose-petal coloured English bubbles come from one of England’ s most exciting wineries. This brand new cuvée has already won a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge awards. £ 36.50 from Berry Brothers & Rudd.
Italy( Franciacorta, Lombardy):‘ Freccianera’ Franciacorta Rosato 2011 This is not Prosecco! A fine, Italian, traditional method sparkler made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir by Fratelli Berlucchi. From Italy’ s top, if little known, region for sparkling wines: Franciacorta. £ 29 from Italianwines. com and in store at Vini Italiani, London.
USA( Anderson Valley, California): Louis Roederer Quartet brut Rosé NV Made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir by the makers of Cristal, Roederer’ s northern Californian initiative has built its own reputation over the years for traditional method sparkling wine with generous, ripe fruit. £ 29.99 TheWineReserve. co. uk
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SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE 53