Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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By Harriet Lembeck Everything's Coming Up Rosés C hampagne is back in the game. Since 2010, through 2011 and into 2012, Champagne sales are ris- ing – especially the rosés. When your customers ask about special parties, graduations and wed- dings, think pink. Explain that rosé champagnes are no longer sweet, and they are no longer frivolous. Remember Piper Pink? Its formal name is Piper Heidsieck Rosé Champagne. Of the grapes used, chardonnay is the only permitted white grape in cham- pagne, and it gives the acidity and forward fruit that lends longevity to the wine. The red pinot noir gives structure and depth, and the red pinot meunier adds richness and fruit. Because these rosé champagnes have an extra red wine component, they have deeper color and complexity, and go well with ham, lamb and beef. They can hold up to spices, and are versatile enough to serve with grilled fish. The additional color can be achieved by two methods. The usual way is to take still red wine from different villages in Champagne, and add it to the ferment- ing wine, at the time of the assemblage, which is just before the second fermenta- tion. Usually this is between 15% and 18%. The method is easy to control, and achieves consis- tency of color, year to year. This is more difficult because the colors lighten a little with each of the two fermentations, and red shades tend to drop out. Several years ago, when sparkling wine makers in Napa Valley were learning how to make these wines, they saw that deep colored juice turned paler after the first fermentation, and paler still after the second fermentation. This was all right if they were making a white sparkling wine, but not good if they were trying to make a rosé. Adding still red wines to the blend, instead of fermenting the juice on the skins to get the color, corrects this. At a recent lunch at the Brasserie in This 10-year-old Pol Roger Rosé still tastes fresh, and could take even more aging. New York City, where 13 rosé cham- pagnes were served, only five were vin- tage-dated. Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne for Dummies, explained that the practice of making non-vintage wines dates to the days when rosé wines didn't sell well, and it didn't make much sense to produce a rosé that was vintage- dated, especially when the vintage cham- pagne market is so small to begin with. It is much easier to use reserve wines, from previous years, in the blends, which means that these "multi-vintage" wines cannot carry a vintage date. Houses like Ayala and Alfred Gratien only make NV Rosé Champagnes. And the houses that do make vintage-dated rosé cham- pagnes, don't produce very much. At this lunch, where the bottles with A more difficult process is fermenting all of the red grapes on their skins, (maceration), to pick up color. Few Champagne houses do this, but Taittinger, Louis Roederer and Nicolas Feuillatte are among those who do. Harriet Lembeck, CWE*, CSS** hlembeck@mindspring.com is a prominent wine and spirits educator. She is president of the renowned Wine & Spirits Program, and revised and updated the textbook Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers and Spirits. She was the Director of the Wine Department for The New School University for 18 years. (*Certified Wine Educator, **Certified Specialist of Spirits) vintages ranged from the deep and rich 1999 Nicolas Feuillatte Cuvée Palmes d'Or Rosé, all appeared as if they could take more aging. The 2002 Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve Rosé had a great deal of length. You can safely reassure your customers that older vintages, such as 1999 and 2002, are still in great condition, and are delicious. Rosé Champagnes Match with a Wide Range of Foods Multi-Vintage Champagnes were in the majority. A new label, Barons de Rothschild Rosé, was fresh and crisp. G.H. Mumm Rosé had a lot of toasty character. These offset the flavors of assorted hors d'oeuvres, from 10 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • May/June 2012