You don’t have to be Poirot to see the difference between these bottles purchased from different sources (and importers). They both have the same control number (I assume) on the rear label (RM 25913-01), but the darker one also has a number (raised, not etched) below the back label: LR 201122. In this spot, the other bottle has a series of raised dots. They also differ in reported alcohol content (12.5 v 12%)
So, WTF? I don’t know of any flaw that could result in the color changing this dramatically, but I can’t say my experience with Saignee wines is that deep. The darker wine just doesn’t look correct. @William_Kelley? @Brad_Baker?
Is the glass the same color? Your photo cuts off before the fill level ends, so I thought I would ask. You may need to pull the foil to see, or maybe in person the exact bottle color is more obvious?
That said, those do look like two different wines.
Same glass, but what I thought were 4 dots are actually semi-braille. A 2-3-1-1-2 pattern
The lighter color is consistent with every other bottle of the wine I have seen (and we have consumed a number of bottles in the past). The darker one is, well, odd
My guess is that these are bottles from different vintages, but that is only my guess. Rose de Saignees are not consistent in color from year to year and depend on the grapes from the year and the way the pressing and maceration/skin contact time goes. The LR201122 bottle is from the 2020 vintage. Without knowing more about the other bottle it is hard to say. If it is braille, depending on the layout of the dot pattern, it could possibly be interpreted as 20112 which would be very similar to LR201122. I’ve never heard of Larmandier-Bernier doing any type of braille only lot numbers, but who knows. Any way to get an image or better description on these dots? I have had Larmandier-Bernier bottles that lacked any codes so things do happen sometimes in terms of codes missing. If these are identical bottles then the lighter one saw some type of light and/or heat damage. As for the color of the darker bottle, it looks perfectly normal to me. Actually both look normal for a Saignee (unless they are identical wines).
There could be, but I would expect that they would blend everything together to make it consistent for bottling. That is an assumption as I have never asked the question to Larmandier-Bernier before.
No idea on the dots and if they have any meaning or not. My guess is still that I think you have two different vintages of the same wine (or at least I hope you do).
Hmm. I had assumed the code on the back labels indicated that they were the same vintage but perhaps not. I wrote to the producer; we’ll see if they respond.
The RM code is their grower or recoltant-manipulant registration number in Champagne. It has nothing to do with the vintage or disgorgement of the wine although these numbers can change over long periods of time. Knowing how they have changed over the decades can help in narrowing down a release period for some older bottles, but not for pinpointing recent bottles or exact vintages.
Pretty sure the 1122 is Nov 2022 disgorgement date. Haven’t noticed the bumps on LM bottles. I’m guessing Brad is correct and they are different vintages.
I’ve had several of super dark red LB Rose de Saignee. And I’ve enjoyed them all. The only darker rose champagne I’ve ever had is the 2003 Jacquesson Rose. That was a crazy wine. Fun to try, satisfied to not own any.
Thank you for pointing this out. I never even noticed those dots on Champagne bottles which is slightly embarrassing. Have they always been there or is this a more modern trend? I’m travelling right now and not at home so I couldn’t grab any bottles to look at, but I stopped in a store today and discovered that these dots are on tons of bottles - still wine, beer, oil, coffee, soda, etc… Not on all as some glass bottles use a different marking for the molds. Don’t know how I never noticed the dots before.
I thought some of the dots on bottles were related to bottling equipment? I checked a bottle of LB (Latitude) and it does not have dots.
Doesn’t make a lot of sense for a code specifying details of a specific bottling to be manufactured into the bottle, makes more sense to add to a label or etch the bottle (or risk ending up with too few or too many bottles with the wrong code).
