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

NV Rosé Brut 1er Cru MAGNUM

J. Lassalle
Discount Eligible $209.00
AT CART MAX

The wines of J. Lassalle are among the first, and certainly the longest-standing, “grower Champagnes” present in the United States. While the house style is deeply rooted in the terroir of Chigny-les-Roses, a small village in the Montagne de Reims, a vigneron’s touch—or a vigneronne’s, in the case of the three generations of Lassalle women to manage the estate—can also help define a house style. Their twenty-eight-year tradition of “une femme, un esprit, un style” (one woman, one spirit, one style) holds true today more than ever: one can point to their use of malolactic fermentations and careful blending of different climats and  cépages as the key to their lush, creamy, sublimely refined Champagnes. The Lassalle women craft a pale, elegant rosé Champagne, all about delicacy and lovely, plush fruit. Aged extensively sur latte before disgorgement, this soft, round rosé maintains a great balance of richness and refreshing acidity. It will provide utter satisfaction sipped as an apéritif, or all throughout a meal.

Anthony Lynch

Discount Eligible $209.00
AT CART MAX

Technical Information
Wine Type: sparkling
Vintage: NV
Bottle Size: 1.5L
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 $212.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $43.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $41.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $67.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $66.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $117.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $84.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $49.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $237.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $118.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $245.00
AT CART MAX
Kermit inspecting wine barrels

For the wines that I buy I insist that the winemaker leave them whole, intact. I go into the cellars now and select specific barrels or cuvées, and I request that they be bottled without stripping them with filters or other devices. This means that many of our wines will arrive with a smudge of sediment and will throw a more important deposit as time goes by, It also means the wine will taste better.

Discount Eligible $209.00
AT CART MAX