Pink champagne: how to choose according to your taste?
Champagne remains a wine for special occasions – holidays, banquets, special occasions. And of all types of champagne, pink is often considered the most refined and expensive. However, it is important to choose the right wine so that it does not disappoint discerning tasters.
Pink champagne: how to choose according to your taste?
Rose champagne manufacturers
Strict requirements are imposed on sparkling wines produced in Champagne – only they can be called champagne according to international rules, but the production of rosé champagne is especially difficult. Therefore, such wine is supplied by a limited number of winemakers.
One of the most famous, but also the most expensive, rosé champagne brands is Dom Pérignon. The Veuve-Clicquot brand is also quite well-known to the Russian consumer – these wines are sold at a more affordable price, however, in France, a bottle of rose wine from “Veuve Clicquot” will cost on average 2 times more expensive than a less well-known brand of champagne. René Geoffroy and Francis Boulard champagnes are also highly regarded – these brands have been noted by many French wine guides as producers of high quality champagne. At the same time, even less well-known manufacturers can pleasantly surprise you with their rosé champagne.
It should be borne in mind that Russian brands – “Abrau Durso” and others – produce sparkling wine called champagne, but it has only a conditional relationship to real French champagne.
A good way to find a new interesting brand of champagne is to visit a wine exhibition with a tasting
Basic information about rosé champagne, like any other wine, can be obtained by examining the label. This is especially important if you are faced with a wine from an unknown manufacturer. First of all, you should pay attention to the letter codes. The most valuable champagne is marked with the letters NM or RM. This means that the winemaker himself grew the grapes and supervised the creation of the champagne before bottling. The quality of the wine is stable – if you like this champagne, you can safely buy it next time.
The RC or CM code means that champagne is produced under one brand by several farms united in a cooperative. Such champagne remains of high quality, however, the shades of taste may differ even within the same year. Cheaper champagne is marked with the MA code, which means that wines produced using different technologies can be sold under the same brand. In this case, it is much more difficult to guarantee the stability of the product.
The label of the so-called “vintage” champagne contains information about the year of production. Keep in mind that older champagne is not always the best. Much depends on your personal taste. Champagne is considered young if it is stored for 15 months to 3 years. This wine has a light aftertaste of fresh fruit, it is the lightest. Aged champagne – from 3 to 5 years old – begins to show the taste of candied fruits and ripe fruits, such a drink becomes more intense. The taste of champagne over 5 years old reaches its maximum concentration, which is not liked by all consumers.
If you do not want to drink champagne immediately after purchase, store it in a cool, dark place with the bottles laid horizontally.
There are good years and bad years for rosé champagne. For example, most wine guides advise against purchasing champagne of the 1998-1999 harvest, while 2000 turned out to be extremely favorable for sparkling wines.
Another important indicator indicated on the label is the sweetness of the wine. Brut champagne contains the least amount of sugar. Semi-sweet or sweet champagne is made from the sweetest grapes.