Pommery Apanage Brut Rosé NV Champagne, France 75cl

Pommery is one of the grand names of Reims, a house with a long history and a labyrinth of chalk cellars beneath the city. Its wines are built around finesse and a fresh, gastronomic style rather than sheer power, and the house has long been associated with elegance and a certain restraint.

Apanage Brut Rosé is its non-vintage pink Champagne, a Chardonnay-led blend completed with Pinot Noir and Meunier, with a small amount of red wine added for its delicate colour. Chardonnay gives it lift and freshness, and the aim is a dry, refined rosé that works as happily at the table as before dinner. The style leans dry and precise rather than sweet or showy, and the colour is coppery-pink rather than deep.

As a non-vintage cuvée it is blended for consistency, spending several years on the lees in those cool chalk cellars to build texture and depth. The long lees ageing is what gives it its gentle, creamy edge.

It pours a pale, pretty pink and offers redcurrant, raspberry and wild strawberry alongside a crisp note of green apple. The palate is dry, fresh and well balanced, with real precision and a fine, elegant finish. The mousse is fine and softly persistent, adding to the sense of finesse.

This is a versatile, food-friendly rosé Champagne, at ease as an apéritif or through a meal, and it flatters both newcomers and enthusiasts. Serve it well chilled to open a celebration, with charcuterie and salmon, or with lighter red-fruit desserts, and it is polished enough for a special toast.