What is Rose Champagne?

Rose Champagne is essentially any pink or blush champagne. Although I have said “pink” champagne, it can actually vary in colour much like a typical rose wine, from orange, to pinks, purples and even reddish in colour.

As with all white champagnes, rose champagne gets its name from being produced in the French region of Champagne. This is where the most famous and elegant of sparkling wines are produced.

The same methods are used elsewhere in the world but they aren’t able to adopt the champagne name as they are not produced in the region. These wines are simply named sparkling wines. It can also have a different name depending on what country it is produced in. In Italy, they have a sparkling wine called Prosecco, in Spain, they produce Cava.


How is it made?

Rose champagne or sparkling rose wine is made just like any other champagne. First of all, a still rose wine is produced by either blending white and red wine together to get a pinkish colour or a method called ‘Saignée’ which is when the wine is allowed to stay in contact with the grape skins longer than would normally be used to produce a white wine but a lot less than a full red.

This still wine is aged as usual in a wooden cask or in steel depending on the winemaker. The wine is then bottled with a mixture of yeast and sugar and left to age again. During this aging process, the yeast reacts with the sugar, converting it to alcohol. As the yeast does this, it produces carbon dioxide as a by-product. As there is nowhere for the gas to go, it is dissolved by the wine, creating bubbles.

The yeast is then removed. If left in, it would leave the champagne or sparkling wine cloudy.

First, the technique remuage (riddling in English) is used to move the yeast to the neck of the bottle by slowly rotating and tipping the bottle. This was once done by hand but is now mechanically done.

The second technique called dégorgement is then used to actually remove the yeast from the bottle. The neck of the bottle is cooled until the yeast is frozen. The lid of the bottle is then opened, the frozen yeast is slipped out and the bottled is then quickly resealed with a cork held in place by a small amount of wire.