Charles Heidsieck, Rosé Millésime 2012 - 75cl

This is not a pale, poolside rosé Champagne, and it never pretends to be. Charles Heidsieck's 2012 Rosé Millésime pours a coppery gold with glints of tangerine — a serious colour that tells you the wine has both age and red-wine content behind it. The blend is 62% Pinot Noir, of which 9% is still red wine, against 38% Chardonnay.

2012 gave Champagne power and structure without costing it freshness, and this cuvée uses all of it. The nose starts ripe and faintly smoky, that mineral chalk-cellar character the house is known for, then unfolds into pomegranate, blackthorn, quince and fresh almond, with a note of blueberry underneath. Roasted nuts and toasted brioche arrive as it warms — the marks of proper time on lees rather than any winemaking trick.

The palate is energetic and juicy, with the acidity doing real work: steeped raspberry, peach skin, candied mandarin peel, a touch of ground coffee and vanilla from the extended ageing. What I like most is the finish, which closes on a light, deliberate bitterness — the kind that makes you reach for food rather than another sip on its own.

At £108.99 this sits among the more expensive rosé Champagnes on the shelf, and it earns the position by being a wine you drink at the table rather than in the garden.

How to Serve

8–10°C, in a white-wine glass. A flute buries the pomegranate and almond entirely and does the colour no favours either. This one genuinely improves over half an hour in the glass, so pour it early.

Where to Drink It

J Sheekey, where a rosé with this much grip belongs alongside the fish pie. Dandy on Maltby Street for something looser and more inventive. Bentley's, if the plan is crab and a long afternoon.

Food Pairings

Roast quail, or pigeon if you can get it — the red-wine component gives the wine enough substance for game birds, and the bitterness on the finish handles the fat. Dressed crab is the lighter route and just as good.