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Laherte Freres “Les Beaudiers” Review – Rose de Saignee

One of the things we loved when visiting Laherte Freres in Champagne is that they had a strong focus on Blanc de Noir style wines- namely, white sparkling wines made from red grapes like Pinot Noir and Meunier.

Naturally, they also have a strong lineup of rose Champagne, and their Les Beaudiers bottle is one such example made exclusively with Menuier grown on old vines planted in the 1950s and 60s.

Naturally, we had to bring a bottle of this one home with us and we enjoyed it shortly thereafter.

If you’re into wine, odds are good you know that Bordeaux’s Pomerol region is known for being one of the most prestigious wine regions in the world, with wines carrying a premium well beyond what many would find attractive.

But this iconic region has a bit more approachable neighbor next door, Lalande de Pomerol, which is known for high quality wines (which still come in at a decent premium) but often without the super premium markup that the name allows.

So when we stumbled upon a 10 year old bottle from Chateau La Fleur de Bouard for a fairly reasonable price, all things considered at least, we jumped on it to see what Pomerol’s neighbor has to offer. This Merlot and Cabernet Franc blend (with a little Cabernet Sauvignon) certainly hit us with classic Bordeaux notes!

We had the extreme luxury of being able to visit Champagne producer, Varnier-Fanniere, when visiting the region in 2025. After getting a tour and tasting by the owner and winemaker herself, we quickly realized we were in the presence of greatness.

Their Champagnes are beautiful, with some incredibly flavor intensity, and, perhaps even better, were sold at a price point at the winery that we would say were exceptionally reasonable given the premium nature of the product.

One bottle we bought was from their St. Denis line, was an exquisite blanc de blanc with about four years on the lees, which was so good that we came home and bought the stock that a local grocery store had available (if only because at the time of publishing, Varnier-Fanniere was no longer importing into the States).

Naturally, a few of these bottles didn’t last long in our cellar, and we had to share this gem of a bottle with friends.

If you’ve read a lot of our wine reviews, you may have figured out that we haven’t really gotten into Burgundy wines just yet, if only because they are quite expensive in the USA.

But whenever we receive one in a wine box, like our Picked by Wine.com subscription, we get excited to try another. Les Hauts Pruliers Nuits St George was one such bottle, and we cracked it open right away.

Although this one is on the expensive side, it made for a rather nice bottle all the same.

Alsace is one of our personal favorite wine regions in France and has a history as unique as its grapes are flavorful.

It may not be the first choice for visitors exploring French wine regions, I will admit (as it often feels secondary to nearby Champagne and Burgundy), but for those who like fine Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, quaint towns, and world-class Christmas Markets in the holiday season, it is really hard to skip over a trip to Alsace.

But, as with planning trips to any wine region, figuring out the finer details of an Alsace wine trip has many things to keep in mind. So we have you covered here with key details to know when visiting Alsace for wine tasting!

It isn’t everyday that we stumbled upon aged Pinot Gris out in the wild. But one day while browsing a favorite wine store of ours we stumbled upon a Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve from 2017- holding about nine years of age since harvest!

As we have a number of Pinot Gris in our cellar that we are aging, we thought we’d give this one a try to see how a mid-level bottle from a top-tier producer was developing after nearly a decade. Although we expect the premium bottles to be even more intense, we were not let down with this one!

When we booked a wine trip to France, we decided to head east out of Paris and visit Champagne and Alsace on the same itinerary.

Part of this was purely out of necessity, as we were traveling onward to Germany and had to end in Munich, so heading east made sense to easily connect to onward trains. Another part was that it was Christmas time, and we wanted to check out the iconic Christmas markets in Alsace and nearby.

But, in reality, we booked both on the same itinerary because we could- the two regions aren’t that far apart (about 2-3 hours by train/car) and starting in Champagne was an easy ~50 minute train ride from Paris.

In retrospect, however, hitting two major French wine regions in one itinerary was a lot to say the least. So much so that we had to make sacrifices in both, particularly when it came to buying wine to bring home.

So in this one, we thought we’d share some pros and cons of combining Champagne and Alsace into a single trip, including what we liked and what we would’ve perhaps done differently.

When it comes to interesting and, dare we say, somewhat robust rose wines, we almost always look towards Tavel in France to enjoy bottles made with the Rosé de Saignée method.

This method effectively is bleeding off juice that is macerating on the grape skins as pigmentation is building. So rather than, say, a soft direct press or blending, this one produces wines that are similar to their red counterparts, but just a bit lighter overall.

Tresor des Sables from Les Vignerons de Tavel was one such bottle, which incorporates a bit of pressing into the mix as well, and is a beautiful rose, or, dare we say, just a really, really light red.

It’s not every day you can crack open a 1975 Sauternes-Barsac. Truth be told, we have never had one this old before. But after finding this one tucked away at a bottle shop we frequent for a rather reasonable price, we decided to give it a go.

Before even opening this one, we noticed something interesting- the cork had a small label on it that it was recorked at the winery in 1999. This was something we’d never seen before and gave us a hint that, for 24 years at least, the wine was cellared directly at the estate. After that, well, we put it on faith that it was stored well enough in the years in between.

So, what’s a 50+ year old Sauternes-Barsac like? Let’s dive into this beauty.

After returning home from our trip to Champagne, we, naturally, started buying more Champagne.

This wasn’t so much because we didn’t buy a lot while there (we did), but rather that many top producers were readily available to us at home- often not for much more than we could buy them in France. So we waited until we returned, grabbed a few bottles from producers we wanted to try but missed when on the road, and quickly popped them enjoy.

Pierre Paillard’s Bouzy Grand Cu Les Parcelles 2021 (labeled XXI) was one such bottle. Although we enjoyed this one, we do have to admit, it was a bit on the pricier side for our liking.

Laherte Freres “Les Beaudiers” Review – Rose de Saignee

Chateau La Fleur de Bouard Lalande de Pomerol 2016 Review

Champagne Varnier-Fanniere St. Denis Review – Exquisite Bubbly

Frederic Esmonin Les Hauts Pruliers Nuits St George 2022 Review

How to Plan an Alsace Wine Tour – Tips and Advice

Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve 2017 Review – Aging Well

Pros and Cons of a Champagne and Alsace Combo Wine Trip

Tresor Des Sables Tavel 2023 Review – Intense Rose

Chateau Doisy Dubroca Sauternes-Barsac 1975 Review – Vibrant

Pierre Paillard Bouzy Grand Cru Les Parcelles XXI Review