2008 Champagne Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Rosé, Brut
Critics reviews
The 2008 Comtes de Champagne Rosé is bright, steely and finely chiselled right out of the gate. It shows quite a bit of energy and also more overall tension than the Blanc today. It will be interesting to see how the 2008 ages, and if the fruit ever emerges. I suspect the 2008 will always remain a rather nervous Rosé, even if it is quite striking today. Crushed red berry fruit, mint, chalk and white pepper build into a finish supported by bright, salivating acids and plenty of steely minerality.
Drink 2022 - 2038
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (May 2022)
Full bottle 1,708 g.
Mid-orangey pink, it is fully developed and beautifully aged, with notes of almonds and bitter oranges. A really fine champagne with delicacy and pungent intrigue. A real treat and incredibly persistent. It is a sore-throat wine.
Drink 2023 - 2033
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (August 2024)
Taittinger's 2008 Brut Comtes de Champagne Rosé, which arrives on the market this year, has unwound considerably since I last tasted it. Offering up inviting aromas of red berries, plums, sweet spices, orange rind and freshly baked bread, it's medium to full-bodied, pillowy and vinous, with an ample core of fruit, lively acids and an elegant pinpoint mousse.
As I wrote in 2019, Taittinger is using more Pinot Noir and opting for more extended sur lattes maturation for this bottling. The result is that Comtes Rosé is becoming a more gastronomic Champagne. Deceptively charming as this 2008 is today, I suspect it will tighten up with a bit of age on the cork.
Drink 2021 - 2035
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (October 2021)
Deep colour of bronze with orange-peel and golden hues. Strawberry, earth, bark and orange with peach-pie aromas. Full-bodied and layered with lots of phenolics that give this Champagne and velvety and rich texture. It goes deep down. Open and beautiful. Exotic and flamboyant. So fresh and vivid. Just jumps out of the glass. So much energy.
Drink now
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (August 2022)
The proportion of Pinot Noir in Comtes de Champagne Rosé has tended to increase in recent years, as evidenced by this 2008 vintage, which is almost 70% Pinot Noir. There is 15% red wine, and the rest is Chardonnay. With notes of spices, black cherry, morello cherry and black fruit, the bouquet is impressively complex and delicious. On the palate, the vinous texture, fine bubbles, depth and complexity allow for a long, chalky, chiselled finish. This is a gastronomic Champagne rosé with great ageing potential.
Drink 2021 - 2040
Yohan Castaing, Decanter.com (July 2021)
About this WINE
Champagne Taittinger
Taittinger is one of the few family-owned independent Champagne houses in Reims. It produces a very classy Non-Vintage blend and complex Vintage Champagnes as well.
Its top Champagne is Comtes De Champagne - first produced in 1952, it is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes from 6 Grand Cru sites in the Côte de Blancs. This is finely aromatic, rich, creamy Blanc de Blancs at its best, though patience is required as the wine should not be approached for at least ten years.
Rosé Champagne
Rosé wines are produced by leaving the juice of red grapes to macerate on their skins for a brief time to extract pigments (natural colourings). However, Rosé Champagne is notable in that it is produced by the addition of a small percentage of red wine – usually Pinot Noir from the village of Bouzy – during blending.
Recommended Producers : Billecart Salmon (Elizabeth Salmon Rose), Ruinart
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.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Full bottle 1,708 g.
Mid-orangey pink, it is fully developed and beautifully aged, with notes of almonds and bitter oranges. A really fine champagne with delicacy and pungent intrigue. A real treat and incredibly persistent. It is a sore-throat wine.
Drink 2023 - 2033
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (August 2024)
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