Wine Advisor
Bollinger, Brut Rose NV
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Description
Brut Rosé is a prestigious Champagne produced by Champagne Bollinger in the Champagne region of France. Brut Rosé is a sparkling wine characterized by its pink color, which comes from the addition of a small amount of red wine during the winemaking process. This style of wine is typically dry, with vibrant acidity and a refreshing taste profile. Brut Rosé often exhibits notes of red berries, citrus, and floral aromas, making it a versatile and food-friendly option. The fine bubbles and elegant mouthfeel add to its appeal, making it a popular choice for celebrations and special occasions. Overall, Brut Rosé is a delightful and festive wine that is perfect for enjoying with friends and loved ones.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Rosé is showing especially well, offering up complex aromas of sweet stone fruit, honeycomb, freshly baked bread and orange oil, followed by a medium to full-bodied, pillowy and vinous palate. Layered and concentrated, with a pretty pinpoint mousse and ripe but racy acids, it concludes with a long, expansive finish.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Disgorged in May 2021, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Rosé is vert pretty, offering up aromas of pear, orange oil and plum, mingled with hints of fresh bread, dried white flowers and spices. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and elegantly vinous, it's attractively balanced, with fine depth at the core, lively acids and a pretty pinpoint mousse. This is deceptively giving and charming out of the gates, but I suspect it will put on more weight with additional age on cork.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Disgorged in the first half of 2019 and based on the 2015 vintage, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Rosé is showing very well, wafting from the glass with aromas of red apple, plum, yellow orchard fruit, white flowers, dried orange, ginger and honeycomb. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, broad and vinous, with a fleshy profile that's enlivened by delicate phenolics. Fresh, precise and integrated, this is showing very well.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Rosé is also showing well, revealing scents of yellow orchard fruit, candied orange peel, pear, dried white flowers and spices. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with good depth at the core, a youthfully frothy mousse and bright balancing acids, concluding with a dry, chalky finish. The Rosé is based on the Special Cuvée blend, with the addition of red wine from Bollinger's vineyards in Verzenay and their famous monopole La Côte aux Enfants.
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
Bollinger's NV Brut Rosé is a beautiful pink Champagne composed of 62% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay and 14% Pinot Meunier> The wine gets its noble rosé color from 6% of added red wine from vineyards in Verzenay and Aÿ. Bread rolls, a hint of mocha and very fine red fruit aromas on the beautifully pure, fresh and perfumed nose lead to a highly delicate and fruity palate with a silky texture and filigreed structure. This is an aromatic, perfectly balanced and intense Rosé of great elegance and finesse. The finish is clear and fresh but also intense and highly stimulating in its subversive salinity. This is a great Rosé, and although it can surely age, I would always miss the delicacy and perfume of its youth! (Tasted from Lot L1804507 in May 2018).
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Rose comes across as delicate and even a touch frail. Sweet berries, crushed flowers and spices waft from the glass in this feminine Champagne. The NV Brut Rose is best enjoyed as aperitif wine over the next few years. This is Lot L109004. Disgorged December 13, 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2013. Bollinger is of course one of the great names in Champagne. The Special Cuvee is typically one of my favorite wines in its price range, but it is the 2004 Rose La Grande Annee that steals the show this year. Bollinger is unique among Champagne houses in that the reserve wines are all bottled in magnum and with natural cork, a huge, labor-intensive effort. Importer: Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Rose is a gorgeous wine laced with berries, flowers and chalk, all of which are woven together in a fabric of unusual class. The NV naturally doesn’t have the weight and gravitas of the 2002 Rose La Grande Annee tasted alongside it, but it nevertheless shows striking purity and class in a more accessible, fresh style. It is another terrific effort from Bollinger. The NV Brut Rose is 62% Pinot Noir (of which 6% is still Pinot), 24% Chardonnay and 14% Pinot Meunier. This is Lot L819801. Disgorged May 30, 2008. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2015. This is an exceptional set of new wines from Bollinger, one of Champagne’s historic houses. From top to bottom, there isn’t anything Bollinger isn’t doing well these days. I recently sat down with Chef de Caves Matthieu Kaufmann to taste through a range of the house’s 2009s. Readers will find notes on that tasting on www.erobertparker.com One of the distinguishing features of the Bollinger style is the aging of reserve wines in magnum under cork (not crown seal), a painstaking labor of love. Bollinger also has some of the most informative back labels among the region’s larger producers. It would be great to see Krug, Moet & Chandon, Roederer, Taittinger, Veuve Cliquot and a number of the region’s big houses follow suit. Importer: Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Rose is a richly-textured, bold Champagne loaded with generous ripe fruit. The wine shows excellent up-front intensity and weight, although it could be a little more refined in its personality. This medium-bodied Champagne will make a delicious aperitif but it also has enough stuffing to pair with a wide variety of foods. The Rose is 62% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay and 14% Meunier (roughly the same blend as the Special Cuvee), with the addition of 5% still Pinot juice (2004) that saw three weeks of maceration on the skins. The dosage is 9-10 grams. The high percentage of red grapes contributes to this wine's big personality. This is the first bottling of Bollinger's Rose. The estate is certainly off to a very strong start with this effort. This is Lot: 819801, disgorged around mid-April, 2008. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2012. Under the direction of Chef de Caves Mathieu Kauffmann, Bollinger produces one of the most consistent lineups in Champagne.Bollinger is one of the handful of larger firms that manages to put out consistently high quality wines despite its size. This estate based in Ay is probably best known to the public through its long association with the James Bond films, which is quite possibly one of the most successful product placement campaigns of all time. Despite the show biz glamor that has inextricably become part of the Bollinger mystique, at their best these are serious wines with significant aging potential. The low-dosage R.D. (recently-disgorged) series can be tremendous, and the Vielles Vignes Francaises, made from pre-phylloxera Pinot Noir vines, is one of Champagne's most exotic bottlings. The estate favors neutral oak barrels for the aging of its top wines. One of the most unique aspects of this estate is that the reserve wines are aged in magnum, rather than in tank, which is the prevailing custom in the region. Bollinger's back labels are quite informative, but it would be nice to see disgorgement dates as well on the non-vintage wines. Importer: Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A very fine, almost languid mousse. The nose takes a little coaxing at first, hints of cooking apples, wild strawberries with a touch of brioche and rose petals. Good definition. The palate is well defined, very good acidity, a little taciturn at first, lots of mineralite rather than fruit intensity, reserved and perhaps stony in character. Very precise, not the rose you would pour to seduce a woman but to show her you have taste. Tasted October 2008.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Rosé comes across as delicate and even a touch frail. Sweet berries, crushed flowers and spices waft from the glass in this feminine Champagne. The NV Brut Rosé is best enjoyed as aperitif wine over the next few years. This is Lot L109004. Disgorged December 13, 2010.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Rosé is a gorgeous wine laced with berries, flowers and chalk, all of which are woven together in a fabric of unusual class. The NV naturally doesn't have the weight and gravitas of the 2002 Vintage tasted alongside it, but it nevertheless shows striking purity and class in a more accessible, fresh style. It is another terrific effort from Bollinger. The NV Brut Rosé is 62% Pinot Noir (of which 6% is still Pinot), 24% Chardonnay and 14% Pinot Meunier. This is Lot L819801. Disgorged May 30th, 2008.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Rosé is a richly-textured, bold Champagne loaded with generous ripe fruit. The wine shows excellent up-front intensity and weight, although it could be a little more refined in its personality. This medium-bodied Champagne will make a delicious aperitif but it also has enough stuffing to pair with a wide variety of foods. The Rosé is 62% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay and 14% Meunier (roughly the same blend as the Special Cuvée), with the addition of 5% still Pinot juice (2004) that saw three weeks of maceration on the skins. The dosage is 9-10 grams. The high percentage of red grapes contributes to this wine's big personality. This is the first bottling of Bollinger's Rosé. The estate is certainly off to a very strong start with this effort. This is Lot: 819801, disgorged around mid-April 2008.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
(60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier; roughly 9 g/l dosage; L1403805): Bright orange-pink. Fresh red berries and tangerine on the spice- and smoke-accented nose and in the mouth. Sappy and expansive, offering juicy raspberry and bitter cherry flavors and a touch of toasty lees. Tightens up on the long, mineral-driven finish, which leaves a chalky mineral nuance behind.
About the Producer
Established in the commune of Aÿ-Champagne in 1829, the House of Bollinger is home to an impressive legacy of winemaking excellence, achieved through the polished precision of a finely tuned timepiece. Today, the Bollinger Champagne House reigns over 440 acres dedicated to the vine in the Champagne region of northern France, of which an impressive 85% is classified Grand Cru or Premier Cru. The vineyards are spread out over 7 main communes. Pinot Noir is planted in Ay (the headquarters of the House), as well as Avenay, Verzenay, Louvois and Tauxieres. Meanwhile, the House’s Chardonnay comes from Cuis, while Pinot Meunier is planted in Champvoisy. A complex and powerful grape, Pinot Noir represents 60% of the total plantings, which corresponds to the exact proportion of this grape variety in the blend of the House’s signature Special Cuvee. The two crown gems of the House are its twin plots, the Clos Saint-Jacques and Chaudes Terres, where ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines are tended to by hand, their fruit used to produce the very exclusive and rare Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Francaises cuvee.
