Lacourte-Godbillon Rosé Extra Brut NV
We have 12 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
Summer Shipping Advisory: Orders may be temporarily held during periods of extreme heat to ensure wine arrives in optimal condition.
View current shipping weather map →
The Land
Écueil is rated 90% on the old échelle des crus, which makes it premier cru rather than grand cru, and that ten-point gap is most of the reason a wine this serious costs what it does. The village sits on the Petite Montagne de Reims, the western shoulder of the Montagne, closer to the city than to Épernay. Its 144.5 planted hectares run across slopes that face east and southeast, so the fruit gets morning light and then cools through the afternoon, which protects acidity in a Pinot Noir village. And it is overwhelmingly a Pinot Noir village: 76% of the plantings, against 12% each for Chardonnay and Meunier. Écueil is one of the few crus in Champagne where Pinot Noir is not a choice so much as the default.
The Wine
This is a rosé d'assemblage, not a saignée, and the difference shows. The wine is 100% Pinot Noir, built on a 2022 base with 48% reserve wine, and the color comes from a short skin maceration plus a measured addition of still red wine from the estate, which keeps the hue pale and the tannin almost absent. Base wines ferment plot by plot, some in oak and some in stainless, depending on where the fruit came from, and stay in contact with their lees. After bottling the wine spends at least 24 months on lees, and this release was disgorged in March 2025. Dosage is 1.5 grams per liter. Wild strawberry, sour cherry, blood orange and crushed stone, then a dry, chalky middle and a finish with real grip. The 2022 base came from a dry, hot season that gave clean, ripe fruit with slightly lower acidity, which is exactly why the low dosage works.
The People
Jean-Guy Lacourte and Claudine Godbillon began bottling under the family name in 1968, after generations of Lacourtes had farmed Écueil and sold fruit. Their daughter Géraldine and her husband Richard Desvignes took over in 2006 and turned a grower-bottler into one of the references for the Petite Montagne. They farm 8.5 hectares in Écueil plus a parcel in neighboring Les Mesneux, work the vineyards organically with grass left between the rows, harvest by hand, and handle every stage from pruning to disgorgement. The philosophy is blunt: ferment small lots separately, age them long on lees, add as little sugar as possible, and let the parcel do the talking. Biodynamic work is underway on the estate.
Food Pairing
A rosé Champagne this dry belongs with food, not with a sunset. Grill lamb chops over charcoal with salt and rosemary and the Pinot fruit steps up to the char. Duck breast with cherries is the obvious move and it earns the cliché, since the wine already carries sour cherry. Salmon, slow-roasted at low heat with olive oil and dill, meets the texture without overwhelming it. Or just cold prawns with a sharp cocktail sauce, where the acidity does the work. This is the bottle for the first warm evening of the year, when you want something with structure but not weight.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Champagne is the northernmost major wine region in France, defined by its cool climate, chalky soils, and centuries-old tradition of sparkling wine production. Centered around the towns of Reims and Épernay, the region is divided into key subzones like the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, and Côte des Blancs, each favoring different grapes—Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Chardonnay respectively. The region’s signature chalk and limestone soils provide excellent drainage and impart a distinctive mineral character to the wines. While méthode champenoise was refined here in the 17th century, Champagne’s global prestige grew through the 19th and 20th centuries, cementing its role as the benchmark for sparkling wine worldwide.
