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Balfour

2018

‘Saignée’

Brut Rosé   |   Kent - England
Shelf Talker Spec Sheet Wine Label Bottle Image

About

This is the first release of this wine as a part of the newly minted winemaker series.  Here the Elias and company have a bit more license to play in the winery.  The idea behind this wine was to make a wine better fit for the table than cocktail hour.  The focus was on tension and texture in the palate, with a bit less fizz than the Balfour traditional house style.  This is also the first rosé wine made at Balfour that was made pink via the maceration of red grapes rather than the more typical (in Champagne as well) addition of red wine to white.  The ripeness of the 2018 vintage was the ideal year to start this experiment and the results are pretty astounding.  The art on the label is from a piece that Richard owns, which is by a celebrated German painter, Lothar Götz.  Götz’s work is the bridge between the decorative and the abstract and that falls perfectly in line with the wine as well.

The fruit was hand-harvested in early September and the red varieties cold soaked overnight.  Fermentation occurred the next day as a cofermented lot with ambient yeasts.  After three days on the skins the ferment was pressed back to stainless-steel where the wine went dry.  The wine aged for a few months to settle and was lightly filtered, then bottled with a lower than usual liqueur de tirage, promoting a less fizzy final product.  After two and a half years on lees and with manual riddling, the wine was disgorged and topped with six grams of sugar per bottle and a small sulfur addition.

Stats

  • Grapes: 45% Pinot Noir - 35% Chardonnay - 15% Pinot Meunier - 5% Pinot Blanc
  • Vineyard: Hush Heath Estate
  • Vine Age: 10-20-years-old
  • Soil Type: Wealden clay over Tunbridge Wells sand
  • Viticulture: Conventional (no synthetic pesticides or herbicides)
  • Fermentation: Native – stainless-steel
  • Skin Contact: 36 hours
  • Aging: 5 months in stainless-steel followed by 30 months on lees in bottle
  • Alcohol: 12%
  • Residual Sugar: 8 g/L
  • pH: 2.83
  • Total Acidity: 8.4 g/L
  • Total SO2: 60 ppm
  • Total Production: 1,666 cases
  • UPC: 5060056541143

Tasting Note

Vivid dark coral colored.  It has an intriguing and complex nose. Hints of menthol combine wonderfully with wild strawberry jam and blackberry notes.  The palate is alive with fresh raspberries and lemon zest combined with a delicate herbal undertone. Dry and beautifully balanced with a hint of tannin that lends itself to pairing with a variety of foods.

Press & Reviews

Wine Enthusiast

91

"A uniquely herbal nose opens this rosé bubbly, made (unusually for a traditional method fizz) in the saignée method. Reminiscent of mint, fennel, white spice and raspberry hand soap, there’s a summer veg garden feel here. On the palate, a burst of bubbles makes for a foamy, persistent mousse, made even fresher by crisp acidity. Those green herbal aromas mingle with fresh red fruit, which flows to a lovely, long finish. This is a wine that dances to its own beat."
- Christina Pickard

Producer


Balfour

Region


Kent

Country


England

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