NV Comte de la Chevaliere Rose Sancerre 750 ml

The Comte de la Chevalière Sancerre Rosé is a remarkable wine. It draws inspiration from rosé Champagne to build additional complexity and poise in the glass by blending together multiple vintages. And that unusual intrigue hasn’t gone unnoticed: Wine Enthusiast awarded this bottle 93 points and Editors’ Choice honors, praising its complexity and texture.

Since Sancerre rosé is so fantastic, you might think there’s more of it out there—but it’s rare for us to be able to offer it. That’s because it’s made from 100% Pinot Noir, and there’s not much of the grape planted in Sancerre. After all, it’s much harder to farm and lower-yielding than Sauvignon Blanc, so Pinot is a real labor of love for any winemakers who want to work with the grape.

For their Comte de las Chevalière rosé, the Cave de Sancerre harvests Pinot Noir at the perfect time—with enough acidity to be vibrant on the palate but ripe enough that there’s beautiful, soft fruit to balance—then they ferment and ages the wine in stainless-steel tanks to preserve brightness and purity of flavor.

But what separates this from most rosé on the market is the way the Cave blends multiple vintages together. It’s inspired by Champagne, where most wines are crafted from disparate years blended together to build complexity and ensure a consistency of house style. It turns out that this principle works brilliantly in the Loire, as well—so well that we’re shocked we don’t see it more often.