There are few celebratory drinks better than Sparkling rosé. The combination of the subtle pink colour and ribbons of fine bubbles can be matched by few other wines. But some times Sparkling rosé can be undervalued - how could something so pretty and pink also be a serious wine? But yes, great sparkling rosé does exist and can be one of the world’s great food wines.
Champagne and sparkling wine rosé comes in all shapes and sizes. From cheap and cheerful wines, with simple juicy fruit all the way through to vintage Champagnes with layer after layer of subtle complexity, as well as everywhere in between. So some wines are made with a simple tank ferment to create bright fruity styles while other wines are given the full Champagne treatment with long aging on yeast lees, sometimes for a decade or more, to provide subtle French pastry complexity.
In many ways, sparkling rosé is simply sparkling white wines with a little colour; the colour coming about in one of two ways. Generally a splash of dry table wine is added to a sparkling white wine to add that touch of colour. In the best wines, however, the wines are fermented on red skins for a short period of time to draw out colour.
Sparkling rosé can be made in most regions around the world but as for sparkling wines it is the cooler regions that really shine. So in Australia it is wines from Southern Victoria and Tasmania that hit the highest peak with New Zealand also well suited to great Sparkling rosé. Northern Italy and Champagne in France also have a proud history crafting exceptional Sparkling rosé.