Moët has a very long history with champagne rosé, evidenced by a letter of order from Napoléon Bonaparte dated 1801. Today, rosé represents a phenomenal 20% of total sales, which Gouez has grown from just 3% when he commenced in 1998, prompting the 2014 opening of a new facility in the Aube to double red wine production capacity. Prior to this time, red wine was largely meunier from the Marne; now it’s half pinot from the Aube. Rosé Impérial is intentionally in the same style as Brut Impérial, though crafted from a unique blend. To create intensity of colour and lightness on the palate, Moët is unique in Champagne in employing a Beaujolais technique of heating and macerating meunier at 70°C for a couple of hours to extract colour and flavour without tannins. In a groundbreaking initiative, the press has now been completely replaced with a horizontal centrifuge to produce a more rounded style of intense colour and aroma without phenolic grip. Short macerations produce red wines of lighter colour, which explains a large dose of 20–25% red wine, though recent improvements in both the maturity of the grapes in warm seasons like 2018, and advances in methods of extraction, bring it as low as 12% in future releases. A full salmon crimson hue heralds a generous and bold rosé, led by the red apple, strawberry, gentle macerated red berry fruits and pink pepper accents of pinot noir, with a subtle sense of savoury tomato, concluding with a bitter grapefruit-pith feel. Drying tannin texture, phenolic grip and firmness make for a grainy and structured finish. Low dosage heightens the tang of fine acidity, upholding bright strawberry fruit line. One bottle was atypical, particularly dusty and dry, with an astringent palate stripped of fruit presence, concluding callow and truncated.
Source: Tyson Stelzer.