Reserve wines: connecting thread for RSRV 4.5 and RSRV Rosé Foujita

A reserve wine refers to the part of the wines from the harvest set aside each year. These wines are rigorously selected on the basis of their potential for development. In this sense, they play a crucial role in the blending of the RSRV 4.5 and RSRV Rosé Foujita vintages, as they act as a “common thread” through the years.

At the blending stage, reserve wines are added to the wines of the current year in order to bring new aromatic characteristics. They thus allow each vintage to maintain a “linearity of style” over the years. In addition, they can bring roundness, mature or woody notes linked to aging.
The method used for their breeding is not unrelated to their style. They can notably be bred on fine yeast particles, in which case we speak of “breeding on fine lees”, which contributes to the development of the wine’s ageing aromas.

Depending on the characteristics sought for a vintage, reserve wines will be kept in barrels, tuns or vats. The tuns are large capacity barrels (those from Maison Mumm have a capacity of 11,000 litres), which limit contact between the wine and the wood. Depending on the result sought for the vintage, the aging method will vary.

The RSRV Rosé Foujita and RSRV 4.5 vintages are the only RSRV vintages to be enriched with reserve wines at the time of blending. They are characterized by vanilla woody notes. This is due to the conservation in barrels or tuns of part of the reserve wines used for blending.
The Bourguignon-type barrels of Maison Mumm can hold up to 228 liters, they offer more contact than the foudre between the wood and the wine, which allows the obtaining of these woody aromas. For the conservation in barrels, the House imposes itself to use only barrels aged from zero to four years maximum to preserve the woody aromas.

The use of the figurative comparison of “backbone” or “common thread” of certain RSRV vintages to designate reserve wines then takes on its full meaning: not only do they guarantee certain of their characteristics but also the balance of the taste style of the vintages over the years.

Finally, reserve wines aged in wood are also used in the production of dosage liqueurs. These liqueurs are considered in many ways as the “final touch” of the RSRV 4.5 and RSRV Rosé Foujita cuvées.