2012 Champagne Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
The latest release of Taittinger’s prestige rosé Champagne, Comtes de Champagne, comes from the lauded 2012 vintage – and it more than lives up to the year’s very high reputation. This is a powerful, vinous Champagne – with the circa 15% still red wine shining through. The nose combines floral lift with savoury tones and sweet cherry fruit, orange peel, sweet spice and oystershell, leading onto a palate that is broad and textured. The mousse is gloriously fine and effortless, while there’s a fine tannic framework, a rush of red fruit on the mid-palate, before the whole thing tightens up on the long, mineral, saline finish, mouth-watering and irresistible. A superb wine that is drinking beautifully now but will only offer more over the next decade and beyond. A blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, the dosage is 9g/l.
Critic scores
Average Score
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Full bottle 1,715 g. 60% Pinot Noir from Bouzy, a percentage vinified as a red. 40% Chardonnay from Avize, Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger. Disgorged October 2024 with a dosage of 9 g/l. I tasted this way back in 2017 and it has come a long way since then. Exceptionally dark transparent tomato red – real clarete colour! The fruit is a cross between tomato and strawberry – a real statement with Pinot aromas dominating on the nose. Still forming itself on the palate with some light tannins still in evidence. Very much a food wine and very complete but I'd hold it for a while, ideally. Very distinctive, unusually emphatic and different from most rosé champagnes with, still, that light grapefruit-peel sensation on the end. A serious rosé champagne that I'd love to see next year some time! (JR)
Bright orange-pink. Appreciably different nose from the Comtes white 2014 – it's not exactly red fruit, but it's not citrus and apple either. More similar to stone fruit, in fact – perhaps a fuzzy peach. On the palate, that fruit gets more distinct and riper, with a red-cherry scent. Less obviously toasty than some, with relatively light body, but the fruit has genuine Pinosity. Floral notes on the finish, and plenty of persistence. Ready now, but the toastiness should improve with age. (RH)
The 2012 Comtes de Champagne Rosé is magnificent. Rich and explosive in the glass, the 2012 Comtes Rosé dazzles from start to finish. I like it even more today than I liked it last year! A rush of red cherry fruit, kirsch, blood orange, cinnamon and rose petal soars out of the glass. Vertical structure and tons of energy are the signatures. I would be thrilled to own this.
About the producer
Champagne Taittinger is one of the region’s leading Grande Marque Champagne houses and also one of the largest, when it comes to vineyard ownership. It is also the producer behind one of the region’s best loved vintage Blanc de Blancs: Comtes de Champagne.