Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose 2006 Champagne 1.5L

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé is a prestige cuvée made entirely from grapes sourced from the best vines in the prestigious Côte des Blancs and Montage de Reims regions. It is only produced when the harvest is of exceptional quality worthy of a vintage year. Winemaking methods involve strictly using just the first press juice and ageing 5% of the wines for four months in new oak barrels - a third of which are renewed every year - to enhance the intrinsic qualities and complexities of the final blend. The Pinot Noir grapes, 15% of which are made into red wine, originate from the famous vineyards of Bouzy. Presented in 18th century antique style bottles, this hand-crafted champagne is aged eighteen metres underground in the UNESCO status Saint-Nicaise cellars in Reims for a minimum of eight years before being released.

Loïc Dupont, head winemaker at Taittinger commented: "I think the recently released 2006 vintage is possibly the closest stylistic comparison to emerge since the 2002."

Weather: The 2006 vintage was a year of mixed weather. It began with a rainy spell and late spring, but with little or no frost in the vineyards. Early summer was positive, with the months of June and July creating perfect conditions for flowering. Although there were some storms in late-July, the overall health of the vines was great since the weather remained hot through to the harvest with spells of rain in August promoting even healthier grapes.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand Cru | Pinot Noir: Bouzy | Chardonnay: Avize, Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger | Red Wine: Bouzy
Grape Varieties: 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay | inc. 15% Red Wine
Ageing: 8-10 years on the lees
Dosage: 9 g/l
Drink: Now to 2031

Tasting Note: On the nose this champagne has bursts of strawberries, morello cherries and blackcurrants. On the palate it is very expressive with more blackcurrant flavour and a hint of pear. The mid-palate contains a tannin tartness that leads to a magnificent finish that lingers. Ideal for fruit desserts.

With history dating back to 1734, Champagne Taittinger is the third oldest House in the region. When Pierre Taittinger purchased Forest-Fourneaux in 1932, the label was officially born and a century of incredible growth saw Taittinger become one of the biggest producers and one of the last big independent, family-owned Houses. This changed briefly after a takeover in the early 2000s, however the House was bought back into the family in 2008 by Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger. Today, the brand has been successfully refreshed with entrepreneurial spirit and is firmly under family control: Pierre-Emmanuel remains President, son Cloivs is Export Director and daughter Vitalie is Marketing Director.

The proud owners of 288-hectares of vineyards in the best localities, Taittinger self-supply half of their grape needs. The hallmark of the Taittinger style is the high percentage of Chardonnay, providing the characteristic elegance, delicacy and freshness for which their champagnes are so well-known. The pride of the House is the pure-Chardonnay prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne, a pioneering blanc de blancs that ranks amongst the finest of all prestige cuvées. In late 2015, Tatittinger announced that they had started sparkling wine production in Southern England.

Cellar Master: Alexandre Ponnavoy
Winery Location: Reims | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Montagne de Reims
Annual Production (bottles): 6,000,000

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This Champagne House was originally established by Jacques Fourneaux under his own name in 1743, making it the third oldest Champagne House in existence. Jacques came from a family of important vineyard owners and was succeeded by his son Jerome who was the advisor to the young widowed Nicole-Barbe Clicquot. Jerome blended all the Veuve Clicquot wines between 1805 and 1810.

There is little to say about the formative years which were uneventful compared to the great success of the post-war period. Purchased in 1932 by Pierre Taittinger, he went about changing the name to Taittinger Mailly & Cie and started purchasing a great number of vineyards whilst the economy was depressed and land was going cheap.

Pierre had spent much time in the Champagne region when serving in the First World War as a young cavalry officer. Stationed at the Château de la Marquetterie, he fell in love with this remarkable property whose name came from the history of cultivating alternating plots of black and white grapes and the Château was one of his most revered purchases. Taittinger’s home is situated above miles of chalk tunnels and fourth century Roman cellars once belonging to the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St Nicaise and are perfect for the slow ageing process required for great champagnes.

Owning some 288 hectares of vineyards in the best localities of Champagne makes Taittinger the second largest domaine owner in the region. The most famous of these are the vineyards surrounding Château de la Marquetterie and parcels in the prestigious Côte des Blancs. These ensure a regular supply of approximately 50% of Taittinger’s annual needs, significantly more than other well-known Champagne houses. The remaining 50% are purchased from carefully selected growers, some of whose links go back four generations. As quality is of paramount importance, Taittinger only use grapes from the finest vineyards in Champagne and impressively rank in the top two major Champagne houses in terms of self-sufficient supply.

The hallmark of Champagne Taittinger is the high percentage of Chardonnay used in their winemaking which can be anything from 40% in the Brut Réserve to 100% in the prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs. This Chardonnay dominance provides a style of elegance, delicacy and finesse which is recognised worldwide and has earned the house many accolades and awards over the years.

All of the Chardonnay grapes used in Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs originate from the 100% rated Grand Cru vineyards of Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger and Oger in the Côte des Blancs. Vineyard procurement is the role of Managing Director, Damien Le Sueur, the vineyards are then managed under the watchful eye of Vincent Collard and the champagnes are made by long-standing Taittinger Chef de Cave, Loïc Dupont.

Today, the Reims-based House is headed by Pierre’s son, Pierre-Emmanual Taittinger. His son Clovis and daughter Vitalie are also both actively involved in the day-to-day running of this thriving family-run Champagne house.