Sparkling Rosé
Vintage image sourced from Pinterest
It’s weird that “serious” wine drinkers often dismiss sparkling rosé. It’s extra weird when considering that sparkling rosés are technically difficult to produce, incredibly versatile pairing-wise and frequently age-worthy.
But there’s that happy factor. That Instagram-worthiness. That Museum of Ice Cream-level giddy joy that comes with the power of pink. And bubbles. And even better, pink bubbles! How dare we mix “serious” wine with pink froth?
I firmly believe that pink froth deserves your unapologetic love. Sparkling rosés are as elegant, timeless and mood-altering as a great pair of pumps (or loafers, if you prefer).
I will giddily enjoy rose-colored bubbly any time of the year, but Spring seems to be the annual bellwether for each season’s rosé consumption, with and without bubbles. So if you, too, are feeling the call of the pink, gather your besties and get this tasting on calendars ASAP.
Stuff to know
I mentioned that “serious” wine drinkers tend to dismiss sparkling rosé, even though it’s a highly technical wine to produce, and is often even fuller-bodied and heavier-hitting flavor-wise than many white sparkling wines. Let’s get into why.
Much like in still (non-sparkling) rosé wine production, there are different methods winemakers can use to produce a pink drink. And oddly enough, the most common method used to make sparkling rosé isn’t even legal when it comes to making still rosé.
Rosé d’Assemblage
This French term can roughly be translated as the “addition method,” since the gist of the process is that a small amount - between 5-20% - of still red wine is added to a still white wine to create pink before the wine goes though a second fermentation in the bottle (a process called the “traditional method” described more in Sparkling Wine Essentials).
Almost all rosé Champagne is made this way, and we have the indomitable Veuve Clicquot to thank for inventing and popularizing this process in the late 18th century.
Interestingly, this process of blending red wine into white is illegal for making still rosé wine in the EU, which must be made from red grapes. So if you’ve ever thought that rosé wines are made by adding red wine to white to make things pink…you’d be wrong about pretty much all rosés except some sparkling ones.
Champagne avoided litigation largely thanks to tradition, and Prosecco has recently piggy-backed on the tradition, too. If anything, there are producers who would argue that the only way to make proper sparkling rosé is by assemblage, since winemakers can very carefully control the results, usually aiming for delicate colors, subtle red fruit flavors and a total absence of tannin. Rosé Champagnes made using saignée or maceration methods are often considered “inferior” in these traditionalists’ eyes.
Rosé de Saignée
Continuing with the French terms, the saignée method translates to “to bleed,” which yes, is rather macabre. The “blood” in this case is just grape juice though. Winemakers allow red grape juice to hang out with grapes’ skins for a (usually short) period of time before “bleeding” some or all of the juice off the skins, after which they proceed with the first and second fermentations.
Since red grape skins add color, tannin and flavor, even brief periods of time soaking together with the juice can add a little or a lot of all three, making the wine bright salmon, deep pink or even light red while adding structure and fruit flavors. Most of these wines are deeper-colored and fuller-bodied than rosé d’assemblage wines, much like the dark rosés covered in this tasting.
If a Champagne uses the term “rosé de maceration” on the label, the process is similar to saignée, though the temperature and amount of time the juice stays in contact with the skins varies. Some winemakers even co-macerate red and white grapes together, like Chardonnay with Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes.
Historically, rosé Champagnes made from a pink base wine were considered “inferior.” Since Champagne is one of the northernmost wine regions, its red wine grapes’ tannins can sometimes be quite harsh, especially if the grapes didn’t reach full phenological ripeness before harvest. No one wants to taste scratchy, underripe, green tannins in their rosé Champagne, so this old idea once made sense.
These days, not only is Champagne getting warmer and warmer, but winemakers are more skilled and working with better technology to help achieve finesse. For example, when grape skins are kept at cold temperatures while macerating with the juice, few tannins are extracted, even though color and flavor are imparted. More and more grower-producers in particular are exploring rosés de saignée and rosés de maceration, showcasing how “serious” these wines can be.
What to look for in this tasting
The bubbles! But really though, not all bubbles are created equally. Bubbles can be coarse and aggressive, and they can flatten out really quickly, like in some sodas. Other bubbles can be teeny tiny and persistent, creating a texture like a fizzy cream. Take a moment to look at the bubbles in your glass and consider how they feel on your tongue.
Most sparkling rosé wines are fruit-forward flavor-wise, though which fruit(s) show up and whether there are other flavors in the mix varies. My favorite descriptor is strawberries and cream, which has applied to many of the sparkling rosés I’ve enjoyed. Other red berry flavors are common, too, from raspberries to cherries to red currants. Blood orange, pomegranate, orange or lemon zest, white peach, rhubarb and even elderflower and brioche make frequent appearances, too.
If that fruity list makes you think that sparkling rosés are simple wines, allow me to dispel the thought. Many of these wines are just as complex as their sparkling white counterparts, often with even more structure and spice, too. Some lean delicate and floral while others show off flavors from lees aging like brioche and toasted hazelnuts, or from oak aging, with vanilla and cinnamon spice. Some sparkling rosés are even big, expressive wines that develop flavors of potpourri, smoke and dried red fruits over time.
The Wines
#1: Rosé Champagne
In Champagne, there are technically 7 different grapes that can be used to make wine, but in practice, almost all of the wines are made from Chardonnay (a white grape), Pinot Noir and Meunier (red grapes). To make rosé, red grapes need to be involved…but only so much. Almost all rosé Champagnes are made from white wine - either from Chardonnay or from carefully pressed Pinot Noir or Meunier grapes’ white juice - and only after the first fermentation is a bit of red wine added and blended in to make things pink.
This practice, called rosé d’assemblage, was created by Madame Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, better known as the Widow Clicquot, or in French, Veuve Clicquot. Blending red with white is a practice that allows winemakers to very carefully control the amount of color, flavor and tannin added to the wine. Usually, the resulting rosé color is pale, the flavors are subtly fruity and there are no marked tannins.
Many big Champagne houses make rosé Champagne, though by no means all, since rosé Champagne still accounts for only about 5% of Champagne production. There are certain houses, like Veuve Clicquot, Dom Pérignon, Charles Heidsieck, Roederer, Pommery, Billecart-Salmon, Krug, Bollinger, and Ruinart who are particularly known for their rosés.
Don’t forget to check out grower-producers (AKA récoltant-manipulants, or RMs, explained further in Champagne Essentials), whose wines may not have big brand names, but are equally, if not more delicious, since they own their vineyards and can manage every production step from start to finish.
What to ask for: Ask by name
Alternative(s): Rosé Franciacorta, Trentodoc or sparkling wines made using assemblage and the traditional method from the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa
#2: Rosé Saignée Champagne
Rosé saignée Champagne is usually dark pink or even light red. The boldness goes deeper than color, too, since these wines are made by red grapes’ skins spending time in contact with the juice before the first and second fermentations, turning the base wine pink while adding structure and flavor. This process, called saignée (to bleed), is similar to maceration, so if you see “rosé de maceration” on the label, that Champagne works here too.
The first-ever rosé Champagne was not actually Veuve Clicquot’s rosé d’assemblage, but Ruinart’s rosé de maceration. In 1764, Ruinart released an Oeil de Perdrix Mousseux wine, claiming the title of “first.” Oeil de Perdrix translates roughly to “partridge’s eye,” indicating that the wine’s color was a coppery pink hue. Since Ruinart’s wine was made by maceration, technically, the OG rosé Champagne was made with pink juice, rather than red added to white.
For many years, Champagne producers (and many wine aficionados) considered rosé saignée Champagnes “inferior,” since it’s very difficult to create a nuanced, delicate wine with this process. It’s much easier to control the final outcome when red wine is added to white. But more and more producers, especially grower-producers, are making wines with more body, structure, spice and red fruit flavor that are highly terroir-focused, much like Burgundian Pinot Noir, since these wines are often made from grapes from a single vineyard and vintage, rather than being blended from multiple vintages and vineyards, like most rosé d’assemblage. Some of these wines undergo long lees aging or oak barrel fermentation and aging, adding even more structure, complexity and spice to the mix.
Don’t be afraid of the dark (pink), and look for producers like Laherte Frères, Laurent-Perrier, Geoffroy, Olivier Horiot, Larmandier Bernier, Gratiot & Cie, Maxime Blin, Vollereaux, and Pierre Brocard, or ask your local retailer for their recommendations.
What to ask for: Ask by style name
Alternative(s): Rosé saignée or rosé de maceration sparkling wines made with the traditional method from the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa
#3: Cava Rosado
Cava rosado sometimes borrows the French term and goes by rosé Cava. Either way, these traditional method sparkling rosés are from the Penedés region in Catalonia, between Barcelona and Tarragona. Cava is traditionally made with local white grape varieties Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada, with the occasional support from Chardonnay, but to make rosé, we need red grapes, and in Cava, there are options.
The first red grapes to be permitted for Cava rosado production were Garnacha (Grenache) and Monastrell (Mourvèdre). In the late 90s, local Trepat and international Pinot Noir were added to the mix, and these days, both are quickly catching up to Garnacha’s popularity as the go-to red grape for making Cava rosado. Meanwhile, Monstrell, known for its thick skins and high tannin levels, has declined sharply in popularity.
Cava producers don’t have the same positive or negative associations with the assemblage and saignée (or maceration) methods as Champagne producers do, so there are many rosados made entirely from red grapes, which can often be tasted in the rich, ripe fruity flavors in these wines, like raspberry, pomegranate and blood orange.
Cava is also aiming to become the first DO to become 100% organic this year, so if you’re looking for organic or biodynamic sparkling rosés, Cava should be the first place you look.
What to ask for: Ask by name
Alternative(s): Stick with a Cava Rosado
#4: Rosé Crémant
Crémant wines are traditional method sparkling wines from wine regions in France that are not Champagne, like Alsace, Burgundy and the Loire. Each of these regions has its own local grapes and traditions, many of which include using white grapes or red grapes that are gently pressed to avoid any skin contact, creating white sparkling wines.
However, as rosés have gained in popularity worldwide, more and more Crémant producers are adding rosés to their assortments, using both the assemblage and saignée (or maceration) methods. Pinot Noir is the most commonly used red grape involved in making rosé Crémant, but each region has its own idiosyncrasies based on local grape varieties and tradition.
In Bordeaux, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, the grapes the region is best known for, are used to make bold, richly flavored rosé Crémants, too.
In the Loire, Cabernet Franc, Grolleau and Gamay accompany Pinot Noir, and many sparkling rosés are made entirely with red grapes.
In Jura, Pinot Noir is accompanied by local red grapes Poulsard and Trousseau.
Even Burgundy doesn’t only use Pinot Noir, since Beaujolais is part of the region too, and its Gamay adds soft floral and delicate fruity flavors to rosé Crémants.
What to ask for: Ask by name
Alternative(s): Stick with a rosé Crémant from any French region
#5: Rosé Prosecco
Rosé Prosecco is a very recent addition to the world of sparkling rosé. I can still remember reading industry news when the law went through, and then when the first wines, from the 2020 harvest, began to hit American shores. It was a marketing frenzy. All the big Prosecco brands were ready, and pink was everywhere. Even Kylie Minogue got in on it.
While rosé Prosecco, which uses the French term, rather than the Italian “rosato,” is new to the global wine scene, its popularity has already exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations. The first vintage was about 16 million bottles. The second, 70 million.
There were production shortages quickly followed by production growth, which is easier to achieve in Prosecco than in most sparkling wine regions, or at least those using the traditional method, which requires a year or more of lees aging before being ready to ship. Prosecco is made using the Charmat method, described in Sparkling Wine Essentials, which means that wine can be bottled and ready to go just a few months after harvest.
Rosé Proseccos are made in the same way and with the same white grape as standard Prosecco - Glera - but 10-15% Pinot Noir is added to the blend, giving us the pink.
What to ask for: Ask by name
Alternative(s): Stick with a rosé Prosecco
#6: Rosé Pétillant-Naturel
Pétillant-Naturel, or Pét-Nat, wines are made using a very similar to méthode ancestrale, a centuries-old way of making sparkling wine that doesn’t require as much time or special equipment as the traditional or Charmat methods. The bottles are typically crown-capped, and the fizz is usually soft and gently bubbly, though there can be wide variances even between two bottles of the same wine.
To make a Pét-Nat, there is only a single fermentation. Traditional method sparkling wines like Champagne and Charmat method sparkling wines like Prosecco undergo a first fermentation, then a second one is induced in a pressurized environment, creating and capturing the bubbles. By contrast, Pét-Nats are bottled when the first fermentation isn’t quite finished yet, so that the yeasts continue doing their thing, eating the sugars in the juice and releasing alcohol and CO2, all of which are captured in the bottle, creating a gentle fizz. Many Pét-Nats have low alcohol levels and some cloudiness or yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle, kind of like kombucha, but there are filtered ones that are clear as glass, too.
Pét-Nat wines hit peak trendiness about a decade ago, but sales are still going strong and frankly, they should be, since there are many that are simply delightful and somehow casual, the kind of wines that are perfect for weeknights and summer barbecues.
Look for a rosé Pét-Nat from any country, made with any grape variety or varieties for this tasting.
What to ask for: Ask by name
Alternative(s): Rosé de Limoux or méthode ancestrale rosés from Bugey-Cerdon, Clairette de Die or Beaujolais
Tasting tips
The eats
It’s hard to go wrong food-wise with sparkling rosé. Thanksgiving dinner? Check. Sushi? Check. Pigs in a blanket? Check. Pasta Carbonara? Check. French fries? All the checks.
You can pretty much serve anything you feel like serving and it will likely be delicious with these wines. Since it’s finally warming up here, now that we’re past April’s on-again-off-again weather, I’m inclined to go with the Spring vibes, serving up dishes like our favorite leek and salmon quiche, asparagus in every way and sliced radishes with all the butter and flaky salt. If you’re feeling more of a Niçoise salad bar or anchovy toasts, more power to you.
Charcuterie-wise, you have all the options. Goat cheese and figs are particularly friendly with sparkling rosé, while classic Brie, water crackers, strawberries, honey-roasted nuts and olives of all kinds are bound to induce happiness.
If you want to add some extra zhuzh, make strawberry shortcake or serve the simplest strawberries topped with whipped cream as a dessert. Even strawberry or raspberry sorbet is a treat after enjoying these wines. Bonus points if you have pretty ice cream glasses to serve it in.
The prep
These wines should be pretty easy to find, and your guests will have a range of price points to choose from for each style. In general though, sparkling rosés cost more than their white counterparts, since there’s more technical skill, higher production costs and extra steps involved in making them.
It’s up to you as a host to decide if you’d like to set a spending range for this tasting, or if you’d prefer to let your guests determine what they’re each comfortable spending. Know that the Champagnes will usually to be the most expensive. To account for this, the people bringing Champagne could aim for non-vintage wines, and could get creative in seeking out Champagnes from lesser-known producers. Your other guests could also take this into account, purchasing higher-priced examples of their assigned wine styles to help balance things out.
This is one of those tastings where a bit of extra equipment will go a long way in making the experience better for you as a host. Two items that I highly recommend having on hand:
Ice buckets. With sparkling wines, properly chilling isn’t just about the tasting experience. It’s about safety. Chilling sparkling wines reduces the pressure in the bottles, so that the risk of a rogue cork and wasted wine is dramatically diminished. Taking a few extra minutes to chill: worth it.
Sparkling wine stoppers. If you can swing 6 of these, fantastic. Mine somehow always go missing, so I’m not even sure how many are left in my liquor cabinet at the moment. Once all of your bottles are opened for tasting, bubbles will leak out, flattening the wines. If you put these stoppers on between pours, you can dramatically extend the life of the wine and its bubbles.
I didn’t mention Champagne flutes or coupes here, and that was intentional. I recommend using white or universal wine glasses (unless you’re a bubbly aficionado like me and have dedicated tulip-shaped sparkling wine glasses). Not only will using white or universal wine glasses save you the money and storage space for extra glasses, it’s actually a better tasting experience, giving you plenty of room at the top of your glass for the wine’s aromas to come through clearly.
A note on the tasting order: with rosé wines, I recommend lining them up by color, so that the palest (often, though not always, subtlest) wines are tasted first, and the deepest-colored (often boldest) wines are tasted last.
That said, if any of your guests bring a rosé style that is off-dry or lightly sweet, like anything labeled with Extra-Sec/Dry, Sec/Dry, Demi-Sec/Dry or Doux/Dolce, serve that last.
