2008 Rare Champagne, Rosé Millésime, Brut

2008 Rare Champagne, Rosé Millésime, Brut

Product: 20088060965
Prices start from £273.38 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2008 Rare Champagne, Rosé Millésime, Brut

Buying options

Available for delivery or collection. Pricing includes duty and VAT.

Description

The price of the 75cl bottle, reduced from £303.75 previously, includes a 10% discount. This offer is valid until midnight on 31st March and does not apply to BBX listings.

This has fantastic concentration, with notes of seashells, waxed and preserved lemons, blanched almonds, toasted coconuts and a smoky touch like tobacco and white ash. Waxy and textured, with very fine, almost imperceptible bubbles. Long, mineral and serious finish. Still tight. 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, mainly from Montagne de Reims. Disgorged end of 2022. 8g/L dosage. Tasted from Magnum, which will be launched later this year. 

Drink or hold

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (August 2023)

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate93+/100

The 2008 Brut Cuvée Rare, now re-baptized as "Rare Champagne," continues to evolve at a glacial pace. Offering up aromas of citrus oil, freshly baked bread and wet stones, it's medium to full-bodied, taut and incisive, with a tangy spine of acidity and a pretty pinpoint mousse, but much in the way of texture or amplitude has yet to emerge. While I continue to think that this has the makings of a very attractive bottling, continued patience is advised.

Drink 2023 - 2043

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (August 2022)

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Jancis Robinson MW17.5+/20

Disgorged in May or June 2019.

Paler than 2007 – the 2008 effect! Smells like an upmarket household shop. Hint of scented candles. Lots of strawberry fruit, very fine. It's still quite chewy—pure and mineral but pretty young.

Drink 2020 - 2030

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (September 2019)

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James Suckling96/100

This has fantastic concentration, with notes of seashells, waxed and preserved lemons, blanched almonds, toasted coconuts and a smoky touch like tobacco and white ash. Waxy and textured, with very fine, almost imperceptible bubbles. Long, mineral and serious finish. Still tight. 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, mainly from Montagne de Reims. Disgorged end of 2022. 8g/L dosage. Tasted from Magnum, which will be launched later this year. 

Drink or hold

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (August 2023)

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Decanter96/100

In the first decade of this century, two years really stand out for Champagne: 2002 and 2008, although many now think that the cooler, more poised 2008 may win out in the end. Described with the two words, ‘precisely gracious’, the 2008 will be the next Blanc release. 

For the time being we have the fabulous rosé to enjoy, which is far lighter than the 2007 and much more refined. Cellar master Régis Camus waxes lyrical, comparing the colour to a ballerina’s pump or even the light filtering through the stained glass of the Basilica in Reims. 

Lovely evocative comparisons for a lovely, highly accomplished wine. Lychee, verbena and a basket of crisp red fruits all conspire with almonds, nutmeg and soft spice to shape this truly outstanding wine.

Drink 2019 - 2030

Simon Field MW, Decanter.com (October 2019)

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Jeb Dunnuck98+/100

The 2008 Champagne Rare Rosé is straight-up sensational. Only the second time they’ve produced this cuvée, it offers a deep, full-bodied, powerful yet chiselled and laser-focused style carrying loads of wild strawberry fruit and notes of orange blossom, spice, and crushed rocks. Backwards, austere, yet simply loaded with potential, it needs a solid 4-5 years of bottle age and will drink brilliantly for two decades or more.

Drink 2023 - 2043

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (November 2019)

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About this WINE

Rare Champagne

Rare Champagne

Award-winning winemaker Régis Camus is the mastermind behind Rare Champagne. From 2002 until 2018, he held the post of Cellar Master at renowned Champagne House, Piper-Heidsieck. Under his tenure, the Rare Millésime Champagnes attracted much acclaim, especially given that these wines are only released in the best vintages. So that he could better focus on the Rare Champagne range, Régis took the decision to leave Piper-Heidsieck and establish his own Champagne House. Rare Champagne, therefore, is now operating as a separate entity.

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Brut Champagne

Brut Champagne

Brut denotes a dry style of Champagne (less than 15 grams per litre). Most Champagne is non-vintage, produced from a blend from different years. The non-vintage blend is always based predominately on wines made from the current harvest, enriched with aged wines (their proportion and age varies by brand) from earlier harvests, which impart an additional level of complexity to the end wine. Champagnes from a single vintage are labelled with the year reference and with the description Millésimé.

Non-vintage Champagnes can improve with short-term ageing (typically two to three years), while vintages can develop over much longer periods (five to 30 years). The most exquisite and often top-priced expression of a house’s style is referred to as Prestige Cuvée. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.

Recommended Producers : Krug, Billecart Salmon, Pol Roger, Bollinger, Salon, Gosset, Pierre Péters, Ruinart


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Champagne blend

Champagne blend

Which grapes are included in the blend, and their proportion, is one of the key factors determining the style of most Champagnes. Three grapes are used - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.

26% of vineyards in Champagne are planted with Chardonnay and it performs best on the Côtes des Blancs and on the chalk slopes south of Epernay. It is relatively simple to grow, although it buds early and thus is susceptible to spring frosts. It produces lighter, fresher wines than those from Burgundy and gives finesse, fruit and elegance to the final blend. It is the sole grape in Blancs de Blancs, which are some of the richest long-lived Champagnes produced.

Pinot Noir accounts for nearly 40% of the plantings in Champagne and lies at the heart of most blends - it gives Champagne its body, structure, strength and grip. It is planted across Champagne and particularly so in the southern Aube district.

The final component is Pinot Meunier and this constitutes nearly 35% of the plantings. Its durability and resistance to spring frosts make the Marne Valley, a notorious frost pocket, its natural home. It ripens well in poor years and produces a soft, fruity style of wine that is ideal for blending with the more assertive flavours of Pinot Noir. Producers allege that Pinot Meunier lacks ageing potential, but this does not deter Krug from including around 15% of it in their final blends.


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