Champagne Chavost Rosé de Saignée - 75cl

Most rosé Champagne is made by blending a little still red wine into white. Chavost do it the harder way. This is a rosé de saignée — the juice is bled off the red skins after a short maceration, taking its colour and its fruit directly from the grapes rather than from a blend. It is a riskier method and a rarer one, and it produces something with far more presence in the glass.

Chavost is a small grower cooperative in the Coteaux Sud d'Épernay, led by Fabian Daviaux, and it has become one of the more interesting addresses in the Marne for anyone who likes their Champagne unvarnished. This cuvée is 67% Meunier and 33% Pinot Noir, drawn from a single vintage, aged 18 to 20 months on lees, and finished with zero dosage. No sugar to round the edges, and no added sulphites either.

The colour is properly vivid — nearer a light red than a blush. The nose is powerful and unmistakably Pinot-driven: stewed blackcurrant, cherry and raspberry, with a cranberry tartness behind and a touch of vanilla. On the palate it is structured enough that it drinks a little like a red wine with bubbles, all bright red fruit over a firm, chalky frame, running long and bone dry.

This is a gastronomic rosé, not an aperitif novelty. Put it on the table with food and it will do the work.

How to Serve

Chill to 8–10°C and pour into a white wine glass, never a flute — this cuvée needs the room. It is worth opening twenty minutes before you drink it.

Where to Drink It

Noble Rot, for a list that takes grower Champagne seriously. Brat in Shoreditch, where the fire suits it. Planque in Haggerston for something low-intervention and unhurried.

Food Pairings

Roast duck or pigeon — it has the structure for game birds, which is unusual in a rosé. A plate of jamon or a dish of grilled red mullet would also be very happy here.