Henriet-Bazin Cuvée Leonard Rosé Brut

50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir (from that 19% vinified as red wine)

From two Grand Cru Terroirs: Verzenay und Verzy

Dosage: 7g/l

3 years of bottle maturity

Contains 30% reserve wines until 1968

Lukas NOV22: In the nose notes of apple-raspberry with some rosehip as well as hints of cherry and hay flowers, in the mouth apple-raspberry notes, in addition light grapey accents and some raspberry buttermilk, very animating, pleasant acidity and great drinkability. Perfect as an aperitif.

Background Story from the winery:

Marie-Noëlle likes that her Rosé is not a simple colored champagne but that it clearly marks the aromas of red fruits specific to Pinot Noir Grand Cru from Verzenay and Verzy. For this, she produces its red wine by harvesting the ripest grapes on a south-facing plot located at the bottom of the hills. The southern exposure brings a richness, breadth and body. But this excess of sun also pushes the vines to go underground to hydrate themselves. The accumulation of silt from the bottom of the hill covers the chalk to a great thickness, which deprives the vine of the minerality that Marie-Noëlle did not want for this cuvée. Blended at 19%, the red wine offers a champagne rich in fruity aromas. However, there was no question of making a sparkling red wine, so it was blended with 50% Chardonnay to bring elegance and freshness. But rather than drawing on the minerality of Chardonnay from Villers-Marmery, Marie-Noëlle went to look in these plots of Verzenay so that the chalk is not omnipresent and allows the fruit to express itself fully. The difficulty of this blend and the multiple recepied Marie-Noelle experienced before foinding the perfect blend she was looking for having made me think of the Codex of Leonardo da Vinci, So we decided to baptize the cuvée Léonard.

It is therefore a Rosé Champagne that is both powerful and elegant, combining the richness of red fruits, the complexity of the blends and the elegance of our vinifications.

Unlike his label companions, Leonard is not on a bicycle but he rides a motorcycle. A beautiful red-raspberry color Monet-Goyon from 1933 which is also in our tasting room. A motorcycle is a bicycle to which an engine has been added to give it power. And Rosé is Champagne to which we have blended red wine which brings all its power. So you understand why Leonardo is the only one on a motorcycle. The character is of strong build, and wears big boots and pretty leather gloves that connect him to authentic and strengh of the Pinot Noir, just like the rosé he represents. But it is no less smiling, attesting to the friendliness and elegance of our rosé.