Sweet Wines, Rosé and Bubbles

This cuvée has gone from strength to strength since it was first made in 2000. The percentage of Chardonnay is slowly growing, and in 2018 sits at 20%. Ageing in oak barrels adds complexity and depth. The palate is nicely textured and vinous, and there’s a wonderful fresh bread and bruised apple character throughout. This is really impressive for the price.

As the name suggests, this cuvée has no dosage, and so has not a drop of residual sugar. As a result, the wine expresses abundant freshness and minerality, supported by bright citrus and green fruit. The 2017 has a bright refreshing acidity and subtle richness, thanks to its oak ageing.

For complexity, depth of flavour, and interest, it’s hard to beat this ancestral method sparkling wine from Vincent Carême. So vinous and lively, it’s delicious in youth, and fascinating with some age. It’s made by transferring the still sweet and fermenting grape juice into bottle, and then trapping the subsequent carbon dioxide as it continues to ferment to dryness in the bottle. No dosage is added, though the spent yeast cells are expelled, leaving a brilliant, crystalline sparkling wine behind. It has such a wonderful depth and complexity on the nose, with a vinous structure on the palate, and a salty zing. The creamy mousse wraps around crunchy apple fruit. Experience from tasting back vintages of this cuvée shows me this wine ages brilliantly, and will develop complex depth, and savoury precision with a few years in bottle.

"This smells just like membrillo. Delicious! Exciting depth of fruit that seems to go on and on. The longest wine so far. Tiny traces of spice are folded like secret love notes into the fruit, and the acidity envelops every sip with its chalky lemon-sherbet ribbons. Apricots and golden figs. Fragrant with lime. This is truly thrilling." 17.5 points, Tamlyn Curran, jancisrobinson.com