There’s a reason I called this “Wine for Dessert” and not “Dessert Wines.” For whatever reason, dessert wines have gotten a bad rap. There’s a tendency to think of sweet wines as the bottom shelf, gas station-style swill that tastes sweet like soda, but also not quite like soda, and that just screams future headache. These wines are not that.

And if you do serve wine for dessert, know that it is one of the easiest (read: laziest) desserts you can offer…and yet it’s somehow one of the classiest choices you can make.

Bubbles! Effervescence captured in a bottle. Just the sound of a cork popping is enough to inspire a cheer…even though ok, fine, these days I carefully & quietly pop those bottles. And not just because of proper etiquette, but because emergency room visits from poorly popped bottles are a real thing. Safety first, folks. Keeping a grip on the cork once the wire cage and foil are off and carefully twisting the bottle (not the cork) while holding it at a 30-45° angle pointed away from faces and breakable things is not just fancy, it’s smart.

Champagne usually comes to mind first when we start talking about sparkling wines, but this tasting will include 5 other classic styles so that you can get into what makes each style distinct and decide which you prefer.

First up, there are two things about rosé that I firmly believe to be true:

1. The color of a rosé doesn’t tell you anything about its quality.

2. Rosé is not just for spring and summer.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into it. This tasting is focused on the still rosé wines from around the world. But don’t worry, there will be another tasting focused on sparkling rosés too.