Home > Weekend Wine > Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Rosé La Moussière 2005
Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Rosé La Moussière 2005
Another
rosé (after my previous tasting of the Pibarnon
Bandol 2004) this week, and in a way another recommendation. Although I discuss mature
as well as young wines in my Weekend Wine feature, the accepted practice with most rosé wine is to
drink it young, the only obvious exception being pink Champagne, which seems to
age with an inordinate amount of grace in some cases. Thus it seems
obvious that any time I write about a rosé, I should be writing about a young,
currently available wine. Having said that, I'm not sure that I have any real
evidence for following the maxim of "drink rosé young". My only experience with a
"mature" example was as a student, when I picked up a bottle of rosé at a
knock-down price from a local wine merchant. The reason it was reduced was quite simply that it was about
ten years old, something which would sound alarm bells today, but back then I
knew very little, as my exploration of wine was only just beginning. I'm afraid I can no longer remember the producer or vintage
(although I seem to recall it was a Bandol), but the experience was enough to
suggest that those who avoided aged rosé were probably doing the right thing.
Today
rosé seems to be an increasingly popular style, as UK sales have increased
dramatically in the past year or two. For that reason alone it seems appropriate
to look at a few examples, and this week it is the turn of another famous French appellation, Sancerre.
Although I think Bandol, when pink, probably trumps all other wines that would dare to
be rosé, there are a few other regions that produce good quality if not the
best. I have enjoyed one or two bottles of Tavel in my time, this being an
appellation based solely on rosé, an interesting concept in itself. In my
experience they always tended towards the richly alcoholic and heady, orange-tinged style, but they gave some
pleasure provided this was what you were expecting. The fact that my encounters
with them were usually in roadside French bistros obviously has nothing at all
to do with my fond memories of them. From Sancerre, however, we have a more
delicate style, based solely on Pinot Noir. The wine in question is the 2005 Sancerre
Rosé La Moussière from Alphonse Mellot, which is produced from the
Moussière domaine, a 30 hectare south-facing vineyard which is the source not
only of all the La Moussière cuvées produced by Mellot, but also the
Génération XIX wines and Cuvée Edmond.
On inspection it has an appealingly elegant colour, a salmon-pink-orange hue,
rather close to the colour of onion skin.
On the nose it is delightfully fresh, with intertwined nuances of vanilla, cream
and nettles, with notes of redcurrant leaf and strawberry leaf. It is quite open
and appealing. On the palate it seems similarly fresh, but with creamy nuances,
and nettly fruit. It certainly has a delicious style, with a full,
mouthfilling character on the midpalate, ripe and yet cut through with tingling acidity.
It all rounds off with a creamy finish. This is very good indeed. Not all rosé
has to be Bandol, it would seem. 17/20 (21/5/07)
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