What is rosé champagne?
Rosé champagne has been trendy for several years however, not everybody knows what hides behind the pink to salmon-coloured drink. Effectively, a rosé champagne is defined by only two features: It has to be a champagne and it has to have gained its colour through contact with red grapes.
In order to be regarded as champagne, a sparkling wine has to be made from grapes which were grown in the French wine-growing region Champagne. There are strict regulations concerning the density of the plants, the limit on harvest and the obligatory manual harvest. Furthermore, there are strict production directives such as the immediate pressing of the grapes after the harvest, the use of bottle fermentation, the ban of the transversage method and a minimum storage time for the yeast of at least 15 months for non-vintage and 36 months for vintage champagnes.
To give the rosé champagne its pink colour, it has to go through a complex process that varies by producer. Traditionally, the colour develops through the contact of the red grape with its skin during the pressing. Another, more modern method is to add a small part of pinot noir wine to the finished champagne.
Due to the difficult production process, rosé champagnes are usually more expensive than champagnes of the same quality. In total, only three to five percent of all produced champagnes are used to create rosé champagnes.
Like regular champagne, rosés receive a designation which denotes the sugar content of the bottling. Brut stands for up to 12g rest sugar per litre and indicates a dry champagne, while rosés with the designation sec may contain between 17g and 32g rest sugar.
The history of rosé champagne
Although rosé may seem like a drink that has become popular in the last few years - especially since many champagne houses have added rosés to their product line recently the sparkling rose-coloured drink has been available for centuries. While rosé wine was already mentioned in documents in the 16th century as vin gris, rosé champagne was first produced by the famous widow Clicquot in 1777.
The reputation of rosé
When rosé champagne comes up in conversation, the opinion prevails that rosé is an inferior sparkling wine. Thats why many champagne fans in particular are skeptical about the current rosé boom. However, rosés bad reputation is mostly due to the production of cheap, rose-coloured, sweet sparkling wines that have nothing to do with rosé champagne. A real rosé champagne is much drier and has to adhere to the strict regulations of champagne production and is therefore in no way inferior to other champagne.
Popular rosé champagne brands
Today, many traditional champagne brands offer one or more rosé champagnes in their assortment. These brands include Ruinart, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Laurent Perrier, Louis Roederer and Heidsieck. The champagne house Moët Chandon has even created a rosé champagne that was specifically created for enjoyment on ice: the Moët & Chandon Rosé Ice Imperial Champagne.
Our assortment
Gustero offers a large selection of champagnes with dozens of rosés from the most important champagne houses. Discover our ever-growing assortment!
