Ruinart Rosé Brut NV

Twelve per cent. That is how much of this blend is Pinot Noir vinified as still red wine, and it is the fraction responsible for the coral colour and the faint pull of raspberry skin. Another 43% of the Pinot Noir goes straight to press as white, and Chardonnay makes up the remaining 45%. A rosé built by a Chardonnay house, and you can taste which way the balance leans.

Ruinart was the first Champagne house to set up in the business, founded at Reims in 1729, and it still ages its wine in the Gallo-Roman chalk crayères beneath the city. Chardonnay has been the maison's signature ever since. Between a fifth and a third of the blend is reserve wine held back across several vintages, which keeps the style steady bottle to bottle. Dosage sits at 8 g/l. Two to three years in the cellar before release. Current bottles arrive in the paper Second Skin case rather than the old gift box — nine times lighter than the box it replaced.

The nose is more tropical than you might expect of a rosé: mango and passion fruit edging into rose petal, then redcurrant. Warm spice follows. On the palate it is dry and fairly taut, the red fruit sitting under the citrus rather than over it, with a finish that turns towards pink grapefruit and something cool, almost minty.

How to Serve

8–10°C, and please not a flute. A white-wine glass gives the aromatics somewhere to go; a flute traps them at the bottom. Twenty minutes out of the fridge if it was chilled hard. No decanting.

Where to Drink It

Scott's in Mayfair, at the crustacea counter, working through the oysters. Bentley's for the same idea with less ceremony. The Wolseley mid-afternoon, when rosé stops being a celebration and becomes a habit.

Food Pairings

Cured salmon, sliced thin, lemon squeezed over it. The acidity and that light phenolic grip handle the oiliness in a way a white Champagne cannot quite manage. Char-grilled prawns are the other good answer.