Champagne Thiénot Rosé NV

Having spent many years as a broker between the Champagne growers and the Grand Houses, Alain Thiénot, bought vineyards and set up his own House in 1985. The original house in the Rue des Moissons, in the middle of Reims, with a warren of chalk cellars, was soon outgrown and a purpose-built winery was built just outside the city. The cellars at Rue de Moissons are still used to age and hand riddle the bottles. The Estate is now run by the charismatic Stanislas Thienot and his sister Garance, with guidance from cellar master and viticulturist Nicolas Uriel. Thiénot source about 50% of their fruit from their own vineyards, higher than the average, mostly from Grand and Premier cru villages in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte de Blancs. Nicolas Uriel champions the Pinot Meunier grape, “when you can get top quality fruit it would be a shame not to use it!” often left out by the big houses and their blends fluctuate between the three classic varietals each year to maintain the House style.

Thiénot only make one rosé and it’s not surprisingly superb as are all their wines, based on the 2015 vintage from a blend of 35% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Meunier with the addition of reserve wines some aged in oak. The colour comes from the addition of still Pinot Noir sourced from the famous Pinot Noir Village of Les Ricey in the Aube region in the very south of Champagne. Vibrant red fruits on the nose and palate and a long dry creamy finish. Lovely!

It was interesting but not surprising that when the famous Australian winery, Penfolds decided to create a Champagne it was Thiénot door they knocked on, drawing on Nicholas Uriels experience and Thiénots vineyards in the grand cru village of Ay.