NV Domaine Francis Orban Rosé Champagne

WS92 While Francis Orban’s brut rosé carries a dosage of 9 grams of sugar per liter, he bottles this Extra Brut with 3 grams for his importer, North Berkeley. He ferments his base wines with ambient yeasts, including this pinot meunier, most of it pressed off the skins, gaining its strawberry-pink color from 14 percent made as a red wine. Its fragrant red-cherry fruit is tight and tannic for the moment, needing a year of bottle age to bring out the creamy richness and hibiscus scents—or decant it now for roast squab stuffed with wild mushrooms.

JD92 Made from 100% Meunier, with 6% red wine, the NV Champagne Extra Brut Rose pours a pink hue with a tinge of orange. It has a more saline and mineral character, with notes of herbs and tart red cherries. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, with wild cherry fruit that fills the mid palate, along with grapefruit pith and a chalkier texture. Crunchy and salty, it has more structure but it’s not bitter. It just needs more time in bottle to settle its light wild edge a bit.