12.5%, Diam, $26

I’ve often thought that this wine is shaded by its Brut Tache brother, with said pink wine just that little bit better balanced. The packaging is a little more dour at that.

Anyway, this isn’t a bad wine, just  a bit pedestrian, marked with a fat and generous nose, the palate surprisingly full and round  with a hint of pineapple – more bottle age than yeast. Chubby mid palate and slightly awkward sweetness to finish, though lees weight gives this richness and some complexity to a twangy finish.

This brut perhaps needs a bit more line and restraint to be satisfying, the finish tumbling through sweetness and some bottle aged lumpiness. Plenty of flavour the only saving grace.

Source: Sample
Tasted: March 2014
Drink: 2014-2016
Score: 15.8/20, 85/100
Would I buy it? No.