Champagne Henriot Vintage Rose 2012 is made from a blend of 45% Chardonnay and 55% Pinot Noir grapes sourced from Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. The wine was aged for five years on its lees before release and now displays a combination of elegant, succulent fruit along with depth and texture on the palate. The red fruit dominates the wine with toasted more develop notes now present. The wine is a unique colour and was never a concern for wine maker Laurent Fresnet who was more interested in the wines organoleptic structure rather than hitting the right shade of pink to match someone’s lipstick or silk scarf.
Champagne Henriot, founded in 1808, is one of the rare Champagne houses that has remained under the same family ownership for over two hundred years. The wines improved massively under the watchful eye of cellar master Laurent Fresnet who won the International Wine Challenge “Sparkling Winemaker of the Year” award for two successive years, in 2015 and again in 2016. Laurent moved on at the beginning of 2020 and was succeeded by the talented Alice Tétienne who had previously worked with Krug. It is well priced and delicious stuff!
For seven generations, the family have selected grapes from only the very best vineyards, concentrated on the purity of Chardonnay and have aged every bottle far longer than the legal minimum in order to ensure each cuvée has an opportunity to evoke its full expression.
Henriot selects two thirds of its grapes from Champagne’s 17 Grands Crus and 42 Premiers Crus, a roll call of famous villages – Verzy, Verzenay, Avenay, Mareuil and Mailly for Pinot Noir, as well as Trépail, Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, Oger, Mesnil and Vertus for Chardonnay. Grapes from all vineyards, crus and parcels are fermented separately in order to capture the specific characteristics of the villages and to allow Chef de Cave, Alice Tétienne to faithfully reproduce Henriot’s house style every year. The non-vintage Brut may contain up to 50 different crus in a cleverly orchestrated balance with an average of 30% reserve wines.
