Dom Perignon Rosé, Champagne, 2003, 75cl

What's more, the price-quality ratio here is excellent by any Champagne standards, and puts that of many a prestige cuvee to shame. Moet's 2003 Brut Rose Dom Perignon exhibits both richness and robustness reflecting its torrid vintage, yet manages to stint neither on primary juiciness nor transparency to nuance; nor does it come off as at all heavy. Lightly cooked ripe strawberry and fig infused with rose hip, licorice, Ceylon tea, heliotrope and leather inform a delightfully forward nose and lush, effusively fruity palate. A tart and seedy edge to the strawberry serves for invigoration; and lobster shell reduction serves for mouthwatering salinity and somehow downright sweet animal savour. There is a hint of tannin, but it is fine-grained and suggestive of structural support. A long, seductively rich finish manages to harbor not just the immediately aforementioned virtues, but also a sense of transparency to floral and tea-like nuances and to virtually shimmering stoniness. This alluring and distinctive beauty should be worth following for at least the next half dozen years.

- David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate