Champagne Monmarthe Rosé de Ludes Brut Premier Cru NV

We discovered these wines at Paris’ VinExpo a few seasons back, and a visit to the winery made us love these incredible wines even more! Gauthier Monmarthe, the seventh-generation vigneron, led us through their cellar, and we wrapped up in their salon tasting through their entire portfolio. His mom, Sandrine, made a delightful snack of fresh-out-the-oven gougeres, and man, what a day!  

The Monmarthe family has owned agricultural lands and vineyards in Ludes since the 1700s, with the house founded in 1930 by Ernest Monmarthe. The family has been fine-tuning their production and quality over the past six generations, and now, with Gauthier Monmarthe taking the lead on winemaking – this estate is beginning to draw attention here in the USA as a top-notch Grower Producer with a bright future to be certain! A blend of 35% pinot noir, 35% meunier, and 20% chardonnay from three successive harvests. The rosé part comes from the 10% addition of Coteaux Champenoise – a still pinot noir that Gauthier crafts on-site, aged in barrel and added after disgorgement. The wine goes through a full malolactic fermentation prior to resting for four years on the lees in the darkness of their cave 100 feet below the winery, with a final dosage of 8 g/liter added on their in-house bottling line (check out Last Bubble’s social media for more on that)!

This exceptional Rosé de Ludes pulses with aromas of strawberries and black cherries, with tart pops of pomegranate. Those flavors carry into the palate, along with salted watermelon rind, fresh-out-the-oven biscuits, chantilly cream – all accented with an undercurrent of iron ore minerality. I’m a tough critic on rosé champagne as a rule, but I’m a sucker for this! This is interesting, rare – and supremely delicious! For just about $40, you can have one of these rarities from a rising star producer that is developing quite the loyal following amongst Champagne enthusiasts. We got all that we could – the chance is now yours!