Collard-Picard Merveilles “Les Terrattes” 2017

Collard-Picard Merveilles “Les Terrattes” 2017 is one of the estate’s more narrowly defined wines: a parcel-specific Vertus Premier Cru rosé de saignée from the 2017 harvest. The documented blend for this release is 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, giving the wine a clear black-grape centre while retaining a measured Chardonnay component. That profile is especially interesting in the context of Collard-Picard, a grower-producer whose vineyards link two different parts of Champagne. The family estate combines Marne Valley sites associated with Pinot Noir and Meunier with Côte des Blancs and Vertus holdings that bring Chardonnay into the picture. Les Terrattes draws those strands together in a single vintage rosé rather than in one of the broader multi-region blends. The rosé de saignée method is central to the wine’s identity. Rather than treating colour as a secondary stylistic detail, this is a release in which maceration forms part of the construction of the wine itself. The precise technical details belong to the 2017 bottling and should not be assumed to apply unchanged to another release. Collard-Picard was founded in 1996 by Olivier Collard and Caroline Picard and today works around 16 hectares across 52 parcels. The estate’s dual family heritage remains visible in the range, with Marne Valley fruit on one side and Chardonnay from villages including Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Vertus on the other. That makes a Vertus-based rosé particularly revealing: it shows the producer working at parcel level rather than simply relying on the contrast between its two broader vineyard territories. For buyers, Les Terrattes 2017 is a specialist choice rather than the first bottle in the range. Perpétuelle gives the broadest introduction to the estate, while this wine is for drinkers who want a precise vintage, a defined Premier Cru origin and a Pinot Noir-led saignée rosé. Its appeal lies in that specificity: one named parcel context, one harvest and a clearly documented 80/20 blend.