Matthew Jukes (19.5)“It must be said that tastings take all shapes and forms, but tasting this wine was the single most extraordinary event of the year. I have written up a couple of Henri Giraud Champagnes in the last twelve months, and they are all masterpieces, but this wine takes the biscuit. As always, the Argonne forest plays a leading role in this wine’s makeup. Giraud uses new Argonne oak, lots of it, and great Aÿ fruit in perfect harmony to make astonishingly impactful wines. But this rosé uses a ‘few liters of extraordinary Aÿ Grand Cru Rouge’ to transform this white wine into a rosé, and the result is game-changing. I tasted this wine at Hawksmoor Seven Dials before a ‘Monday Night £5 corkage’ dinner. I then popped a stopper in it and brought it out during the main course, after a couple of stellar white Burgundies and before a Vieux Château Certan, a Grange and a couple of other impressive reds. Having already road-tested 2013 Argonne at The Clove Club earlier in the year and finding it one of the most gastronomically-skilled wines on the planet, I was confident that this insanely beautiful rosé would step up to the mark. And boy, it did not disappoint. But, as well as it romancing Hawksmoor’s finest steaks, I was more interested in the impression this wine made on the assembled wine aficionados. While I am familiar with the Henri Giraud legend, the other five fellows around the table were not. This meant they could comment on the flavour without getting hooked up in the impeccable presentation and astronomic price tag. We all agreed that this statesmanlike wine was like nothing we had ever tasted before. One of our brigade was so baffled and befuddled that he admitted defeat early on. He loved the flavour but, not surprisingly, couldn’t find a place to file it in his wine memory, so he bowed out. The other four chaps were spellbound, carving out ever more fantastical descriptors and admiration for this unique wine. There is no doubt that the artistry and individualism of the Henri Giraud range are shocking to many and, in some cases, polarising, but if you crave Champagnes of the very highest standards with tremendous depth of fruit and an all-encompassing and otherworldly presence on the palate, you must taste these wines. 2011 Argonne Rosé hails from one of the world’s most famous villages and is embellished with some of the most revered oak on earth. The fact that it is a sparkling wine is a detail, a mere delivery mechanism, a vector of flavour. It is an elite messenger of the most elemental vine and wood flavours in drinkable form, and it blows my mind.
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James Suckling (100)This is something else on the nose, with saltines, dried orange, grapefruit, flowers, white pears, peaches, white pepper, rust and five spice. Crazy spice, citrus and rusty minerality. Very fine bubbles. Energy and softness combined. Copper colored, but otherwise hard to compare to other rosé Champagnes. Savory and intellectual. Unique in the wine world. 90% pinot noir and 10% chardonnay. 800 bottles. Try this if you can. Drink or hold.
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Vinous (93)The NV Rosé Rose Dame-Jane is light and airy in the glass. Crushed flowers, sweet crushed berries, white pepper and mint are all beautifully lifted. Translucent and gracious, the Dame-Jane is quite a departure for a house that was previously known for rich, opulent Champagnes. The Dame-Jane is done with an "Oeil de Perdrix" base in which Pinot is given a short time on the skins for added color and structure. Right before bottling, touches of Chardonnay and still Pinot are added to fine-tune the blend. The Dame-Jane is aged entirely in sandstone terracotta, an approach that works beautifully. This release is based on 2017, with 40% reserve wines. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. Disgorged: March 21, 2019. (Originally published in May 2021)
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