How Good is Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Rosé Champagne?
In-Depth Tasting & Review…
Score: 91/100
Veuve Clicquot, more than many brands of Champagne, carries an image of glamour and luxury.
Of course, Champagne itself comes with such a positive reputation, of a relatively expensive sparkling of —supposedly— finest quality. It’s been synonym of celebration at least since the 19th Century when it was the drink of choice for all Kings and Emperors of Europe.
But commonly do you hear people disappointed by certain Champagne brands that did not live up to their high expectations of deliciousness. When it comes to spending quite a few tens of dollars on a bottle of bubbly, we are, justifiably, demanding!
Not with Veuve though… Everyone Seems to simply LOVE Veuve Clicquot!
Rarely do you hear anybody talking badly about the brand and their wines. Why?
The answer may lie in tasting, in depth, Veuve Clicquot Rosé…
Let me explain.
Note: if you’re too lazy or in a hurry to read the complete article below, you just watch the 2-minute video summary:
Why Does Everyone Like Veuve?
Taste this super-popular pink non-vintage cuvée by Veuve, nonchalantly and without paying attention all that much, and you will find notes of delicately-acidic strawberry and whipped cream.
Dig a little deeper, and you may find it tastes like freshly-baked strawberry muffins with clotted cream.
Of course, it also delivers the dryness and balance, the hint of mineral saltiness expected from a French Champagne. The one that goes so well with canapés and starters, and the one that doesn’t overwhelm your senses with vulgar sugars.
Who does not like such kind of flavors?
In short, pop a cork of Veuve Rosé, pour a glass, and it ticks all boxes of most people expectations!
If you think about it, this is how such Champagne is most-commonly enjoyed. At a cocktail party, at a romantic dinner in a restaurant, or even in a crowded club. Such environments don’t allow enough time and headspace to analyze a complex wine very thoroughly.
Yet, Veuve Rosé works under such conditions and for the non-geeky wine palate, because its primary flavors are approachable, consensual and loved by all…
For the real wine connoisseurs though, is Veuve any good?
The Dark Side of Veuve Clicquot Rosé
Take the time to analyze and decompose Veuve Rosé.
Let the wine loose some of its bubbles in the glass so you can smell it better. Use a wider glass perhaps than your usual flutes to let its aromas breathe.
Let the bubbly warm up a little too in the glass if you served it chilled, as this will allow for its full flavor profile to be revealed, nothing hidden by the cold temperature anymore.
In short, bring the dark side of your Champagne to light…
Most badly-assembled or average non-vintage Champagnes will fall apart through this process, eventually tasting of nothing more than grassy and slightly-lemony hay.
If you reveal Veuve Rosé like I did though, a whole new world is exposed to the educated palate.
The wine features a complex and subtle combination of fine strawberry and pomegranate liqueur, with hints of peppermint, salivating notes of grassy strawberry seeds, with sweetening brioche and golden syrup flavors.
The floral character is in fact outstanding too, printing a lasting impression into the finish. Spring meadow, dried rose petal, hints of violet, and definite aromas of iris live vibrantly on the palate, like a complex pot-pourri.
Even with slightly higher-than-usual a temperature, and less bubbles, Veuve’s overall balance remains very good.
(For a more complete description of Veuve Rosé, read my full tasting notes further below.)
This is truly why everyone loves Veuve…
It is built to satisfy simple enjoyment in any circumstances, pleasing all average palates. But it is also complex, concentrated, and balanced enough to impress and satisfy careful tasters.
Despite being a broadly available brand. Despite all the marketing glamour that surrounds it. As a critic:
I can only admit that Veuve rosé IS a good Champagne.
As a side note, this is probably why French Champagne remains so highly regarded. Because its flagship brands actually deliver in product quality, not only in brand prestige. Such conclusion I also found with the tasting of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial (you can click through to the article below).
Acknowledgement
Despite the very positive comments on the wine, this post is by no mean sponsored. Like all my wine reviews on Social Vignerons, this my genuine opinion about it.
The wine for this tasting and article though, was kindly provided by Vinatis.com, an online wine merchant.
You can check out their website and find Veuve Clicquot Rosé on Vinatis.
For a deeper understanding of my thought process, and an even more in-depth description of what Ponsardin Rosé tastes like, find below my ‘unfiltered’ tasting notes, written as I was sipping and analyzing the wine, glass in hand….
My Full Tasting Notes of Veuve Rosé
Veuve rosé comes in a bright salmon pink color, quite intense and very shiny, filled with a wealth of orange gold hues making it look glamourous as we love to see in pink Champagne. It’s got also some intense red to hint, somewhat like a vibrant strawberry red. The combination of colors looks intriguing… and appealing overall!
The nose on this pink Champagne, is, straight away, very pleasing as well!
Fresh strawberry and whipped cream jump out of the glass, as soon as you get your nose any close to the opening.
Some fresh pomegranate, and hints of peppermint lift things up, even to the first smell. It does smell frivolous, and utterly satisfying, somewhat like freshly-baked strawberry muffins with clotted cream.
But one can also sense there is a lot going on to the background in here, if you just take the time to let the wine settle into your glass, warm up a tiny bit and lose some of its unsniffable CO2 bubbles.
The Dark (hidden) side of Veuve Clicquot Rosé
Yes, there is a dark side to Veuve rosé, one most drinkers of pink Champagne always miss—call it from lack of proper wine tasting training or experience, or lack of time and of the appropriate circumstances for appreciating a wine in its entirety—.
Rarely do you get, in a restaurant, even a wine bar, let alone a club, the headspace and quiet-enough environment to dig deep enough into a Veuve Champagne. Have you?
If you do however, give yourself time to sniff and taste this rosé for a little while, let it open up and talk to you, perhaps discuss it with your fellow wine loving friends. You will find out that there is actually a whole lot going on many simply miss out on, serving it too cold or not paying attention.
First, if your pour this Champagne is a wider glass than your usual flute, and allow the bubbles and the Co2 atmosphere forming at the surface of the wine to dissipate, you will be able to smell a whole new, deeper, and hidden world happening in the background. Tasting the wine slightly warmer than you normally would (not warm, just not as chilled as most people serve Champagne), it will tell your palate a story you never imagined was there.
So, let me give you a sense of that story….
Yes, on the palate, the dominant flavors on this Champagne are those of fresh strawberry, and a sense of buttery goodness. But the most striking element, the rarest one in fact, is the amount of floral character packed in this bubbly.
Spring meadow, dried rose petal, hints of violet, but more importantly, definite aromas of iris live vibrantly in this wine’s aromatic and flavor profile. Somewhat of a pot-pourri smell, a delicate and refined one at that.
The fruit character also is more elegant than first perceived. Fresh strawberry, but also pomegranate and subtle raspberry notes (or is it blackberry? Something along the lines of a freshly-picked berry for sure). There is an element of grassiness, best described as a fresh berry seed character, like the flavors you get from biting into strawberry or pomegranate seeds. The whole tastes like a refined strawberry, sour cherry, and raspberry liqueur.
Add hints of peppermint, white pepper, and sandal wood, and you’ll get to that realize Veuve rosé, in the end, brings out tones of a super complex and elegant woman’s perfume. A combination of your grand-ma’s fragrance, pot-pourri and herbs, with your teenager girl’s one: strawberry and vanilla.
The layered whole is delivered harmoniously on a dry, acidic and rather mineral whole, well balanced yet feeling crisp and biting like a lime on your palate.
Overall
Veuve Clicquot rose is a two-sided wine, much more so than many would appreciate.
Yes, it’s charming and appealing at first, ready to please most palates and quench the worldwide thirst for approachable and easy-to-drink bubblies.
Yet, if you do take the time to dig deeper, you will actually find some real depth and genuine character in it (at least I did). It is not only your superficial physical beauty from the outside. There is some sophistication on the inside as well. A complex combination of floral, spicy, freshly fruity, and elegantly doughy notes make for a refined and very long whole, delivered with a harmonious simplicity.
Perhaps that is the secret to the success of Veuve right here indeed. Never does I impose your senses with its charms and intricate complicated flavors. They’re there, only for those ready to appreciate them. Not forced, simply suggested!
Enjoy ?
Please let me know your thoughts