Skip to main content
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Toggle Navigation Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant Your Cart

NV Rosé Brut 1er Cru

J. Lassalle
Discount Eligible $82.00
SOLD OUT

Raise your glass high: this year marks the fortieth anniversary of our collaboration with J. Lassalle! Some of the house secrets—and keys to such longevity—include using an ancient, vertical, wooden basket press to extract only the most delicate juice, permitting malolactic fermentation to occur naturally for all wines, and aging the wines extensively in their cool cellars so that each cuvée achieves maximum refinement at release. Lush and plush, with aromas of strawberries and cream, this wine is so elegant that it can make an immature boor such as myself feel like a sophisticated gentleman.

Anthony Lynch


Technical Information
Wine Type: sparkling
Vintage: NV
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: Approximately 70% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Meunier
Appellation: Chigny-Les-Roses
Country: France
Region: Champagne
Producer: J. Lassalle
Winemaker: Chantal Decelle-Lassalle and Angéline Templier
Vineyard: 50 years average, 16 ha total
Soil: Clay, Limestone
Aging: Aged minimum 42 months on the lees before disgorgement
Farming: Lutte Raisonnée
Alcohol: 12%

More from this Producer or Region

About The Region

Champagne

map of Champagne

True Champagne must not only sparkle, but also must come from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France and be made using méthode champenoise—a process that involves prolonged aging of the wine as well as a bottle fermentation used to add the sparkle to the finished product. Though wine has been made in this region since at least the 5th century, Champagne as we now know is a relatively new creation. It wasn’t until the 19th century that sparkling wine production took hold on a large scale in much part due to improvements in the strength of glass for bottles and the embrace of French nobility of the sparkling wines of the region.

Only three grape varieties may be used to make Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The chalk-heavy soils not only provide complexity and texture to the finished wine, but also act as a natural humidifier thus keeping the vine’s roots warm during colder months of the year. There are grand cru and premier cru designated vineyard areas but unlike Burgundy, there are few lieu-dit vineyards (though in recent years there has been a greater interest in producing vineyard specific Champagnes).

Kermit’s first foray into the region came in 1981 when he began importing the wines of J. Lassalle and Paul Bara—two producers whose wines we still import. In the mid 2000s, Kermit began importing the wines of Veuve Fourny et Fils.

Of Champagne, Kermit says, “You might be surprised to learn that I don’t like a goût de terroir to dominate the taste of Champagnes. If it dominates, you lose finesse. I want some, obviously—but only enough to keep things interesting.”

More from Champagne or France

Discount Eligible $67.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $183.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $117.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $314.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $158.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $66.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $75.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $188.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $100.00
SOLD OUT
Discount Eligible $212.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $44.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $75.00
AT CART MAX
Inspiring Thirst

I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.

Inspiring Thirst, page 171