2006 - Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Rose

The 2006 Comtes de Champagne Rosé has come together beautifully since I last tasted it. Time has released its inner concentration and layers. Exotic spice, blood orange, pomegranate, cedar and sweet spice tobacco lend notable flair, with the the Pinot very much front and center.

From a high-maturity vintage that saw a September harvest, the 2006 Comtes de Champagne Rosé—disgorged in 2016 with a dosage of nine grams per liter—is showing beautifully, bursting from the glass with a bouquet that mingles aromas of cacao nib, wild strawberry and sweet spices with hints of burnt, buttered toast. On the palate, it's medium- to full-bodied, ample and vinous, with succulent yet racy acids and a long, perfumed finish. Tasted side by side, the 2006 Comtes de Champagne Rosé reveals a slightly tauter musculature than the currently more overtly gourmand 2009. When Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger reacquired Taittinger, restoring it to family ownership, the house ceased using herbicides from 2006 onward in its estate vineyards, renewing its commitment to cultivating living soils.