Friday Night Bubbles

N.V. Champagne Raymond Boulard Champagne Rosé de Saignée, $39, SelectedEstates of Europe. I love drinking Francis Boulard's wines. I like writing about his wines too - he apparently lurks out there in the blogosphere, and read my posts on his Brut Nature and Petraea. His comments are edifying, funny, and I think, very humble and sweet.

In my understanding, there are essentially two ways to make rosé of Champagne: still red wine is added to the blend, or the juice of red grapes is allowed a short period of skin contact. With the latter method, some of the color (and also skin tannins, aroma, flavor, I would imagine) bleeds out into the juice. This is called the Saignée, or bleeding, method.

I have not been a big fan in general of rosés of Champagne thus far. My experiences have been hit or miss, and the hits have rarely moved me enough to get really excited. That changed with a bottle of Geoffroy Rosé de Saignée. So much more vibrant and alive than the others I had tasted, and my first Saignée (at home, where you can watch the wine unfold in the glass, etc.). Now I keep my eyes open for rosés made using this method, so when I saw Boulard's non-vintage Saignée sitting there for less than $40, I pounced.

This wine has a spicy nose of pure and beautiful dark fruit and candied orange peel with lots of minerals and earth underneath. It is a nose of great clarity and vivid complexity. It kept my nose in the glass for literally minutes at a time between sips. The palate is richly fragrant with high toned currant and orchard fruit and a savory tea leaf component. There is a cleansing chalky finish with a resonant mineral depth that seems to be a Boulard calling card. We drank this with simple turkey burgers, but it seems as if it would support a variety of full flavored dishes.