Very fragrant, boasting rose, violet, red berry and peach aromas and flavors. Opulent, even creamy, with underlying acidity that freshens the finish and a subtle aftertaste of fruit and spice. Drink now through 2012.

The NV Brut Rose is a sinewy, taut wine laced with perfumed, energetic fruit. As delicious as the wine is, it is also clearly deeply informed by the Chardonnay of Mesnil, and I really wonder about the rationale behind a rose from a village that is so famous for its Chardonnays. To be sure, Delamotte's rose is a pretty, harmonious wine, but at the top level, there is simply too much competition from houses with vineyards better suited to making top-class rose.

Yeasty wine, with strawberry acidity and an edge of bitterness. The wine is light, frothy in the mouth, the fruit tight with a red currant finish.