Champagne Tarlant Brut Nature Ros NV

50% Chardonnay/44% Pinot Noir/6% Pinot Meunier from organically farmed, hand-harvested estate vines across 63 parcels in 4 villages near Oeuilly in the Valle de la Marne. The main focus is making the perfect Pinot Noir, which makes up nearly half of the wine and is its starting point. Judging the appropriate levels of color, tannin and red-fruit flavors is a crucial challenge, given its high proportion in the final blend and the wine’s long aging. The Pinot Noir is destemmed, very slowly pressed, briefly macerated and put into Burgundy barrel for a spontaneous fermentation and 6 months of aging; the Chardonnay is direct-pressed, then naturally fermented and aged in barrel. The wines do not go through malolactic fermentation; sulfur is used in tiny quantities during pressing but not afterward. The blending is a barrel-by-barrel, blind-tasting process; given that Tarlants’ 60+ parcels are individually vinified, making the choices for both the ros and white Zro wines is an elaborate and extensive process. The final ros blend is typically around 75% current-vintage wine with 25% reserve wine, in this case the base being 2016. It was bottled in July 2017 and disgorged in February 2022 with zero dosage.