Cuvée Rosé NV
Tasting Notes
The mousse is creamy and fine, but the wine is dry and quite bracing with a long, fine finish of fruit skin, ripe stone fruit and light toast. Sparkling wines such as this, with their hint of sugar, bright acidity and carbon dioxide have all the necessary tools to age well for years. Although delicious and perfectly appropriate to drink this wine immediately, this wine will change and mellow through 2021.
Download Notes$29.95
APPELLATION
VQA Niagara Peninsula
VINEYARD
Various
GRAPE VARIETY
29% Chardonnay
71% Pinot Noir
BRIX AT HARVEST
18.5
ALCOHOL CONTENT
12.5%
RESIDUAL SUGAR
10 grams/Litre
This is an LCBO Vintages essential
Suitable as the perfect aperitif to serve friends and family on arrival at between 5 and 8°C. This wine will pair nicely with shellfish or poached fish in pink sauces, smoked salmon or tuna tartare, charcuterie plates or antipasti. Although not sweet enough to pair with dessert, try with high fat creamy fresh and bloomy rind cheeses such as Upper Canada ricotta drizzled with honey and topped with toasted, candied nuts. Will marry nicely with fresh strawberries in season drizzled with a little aged balsamic or topped with cracked pepper.
David Lawrason, Wine Align
This pours moderately deep salmon pink. The nose is quite generous with cran-rhubarb, some matchstick sulphur and light brioche. It is light to medium bodied, nicely firm and dry with a touch of sourness. Just holds the line on austerity. Steely acidity. Excellent length and focus. Tasted October 2020
Carolyn Evans Hammond, The Star
Crafted by winemaker Jean Pierre Colas from Chablis in France, it’s about half Chardonnay and half Pinot Noir. It gleams the colour of wild salmon, and the fragrance lifts, spins and embraces with soft suggestions of strawberry and crushed seashell. The attack is cool and crisp with a subtle kaleidoscope of flavour and feeling. It calls to mind a sunlit porch, the spray of lemon oil as you twist the peel, a kitchen where someone is making raspberry jam. The bubbles are tiny and delicate.
And on the finish, the scent of wet stones after a cool rain lingers along with a touch of grapefruit pith that leaves the palate scraped clean. This is refined refreshment at a very good price for what it is. Score: 94. Pour this wine with smoked salmon on thin toast. (August 6, 2020)
Sara d'Amato, WINE ALIGN
Vibrant and compelling with a hint of little raspberry jam and hibiscous. Elegant with a very good acidic balance and an appropriate dosage. Fairly deeply coloured - strikingly so, of a deep garnet hue. Tasted October 2020
Jamie Goode, www.wineanorak.com
2014 vintage Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gamay (as a red wine, which helps with the colour and fruit flavour). 7 g/l dosage. Good solid pink/red colour. Fresh and expressive with red cherries and nice texture. Lovely fruit expression. Supple, fruity style with a bit of sappiness. 90/100
Rick Vansickle, Wines In Niagara
The blend for this “vintage” of the non-vintage Rosé is nearly an even split between Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with a splash of Gamay for “visual effects,” and a low dosage of sugar that keeps this refreshing sparkler fairly dry (10 g/l). On the nose, look for aromas of strawberries, cherries, rhubarb and a touch of brioche and minerals. It has a dry, refreshing feel on the palate with a vigorous mousse that gives bounce to the bounty of red fruits through a super-charged finish. “It appeals to everyone for any occasion,” Colas says.
