Love is all you need: 20 best pink bubbles this Valentine’s Day

Posted on Jan 29, 2019

Rose is the New World’s favorite wine colour right now. Pink hues ranging from delicate blushes to light reds are helping bottles fly off the shelves as millennials flock to their generational shade of choice.

And it seems the colour is weaving its magic on the wine show circuit too.

Pink bubblies outperformed their red and white rivals in the sparkling classes at Australian and NZ wine shows last year.

They collectively earned an average score of 87 compared with white entries (86) and sparkling red exhibits (85).

Of course, the performance was struck on a much smaller number of wines. Sparkling rose accounted for just 14 per cent of all bubbly exhibits last year – a mere sixth of the number from the dominant sparkling white category.

Still, it’s a bravura performance given the added difficulties of producing rose.

Pink fizz is a troublesome brew to get right. Winemakers must not only balance the usual demands of acid, sugar and alcohol but also colour. Rose’s come-hither tones are determined by skin-contact with the wine’s red component – typically pinot noir. Extracting more or less to match last year’s shade can affect any of the above or even add unwelcome flavours such as sour green notes.

Seasoned winemakers suppress a laugh at retailers’ demands to produce wines that match colour swatches and admit that a trademark pink is the first casualty in the effort to maintain consistency across the years.

But perhaps it doesn’t matter anyway. Who really cares if this year’s wine is a little redder or a little paler than last year’s when you’re toasting the love of your life on Valentine’s Day? If love conquers all, including pesky details like colour consistency, then here are the 20 best sparkling roses to choose from (listed alphabetically):

Blue Pyrenees Dry Sparkling Rose NV
Brown Brothers Sparkling Brut Rose NV
Champagne Bollinger Rose NV
Champagne Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose NV
Clover Hill Cuvee Exceptionnelle Brut Rose 2013
Clover Hill Cuvee Rose NV
Deutz Marlborough Cuvee Rose NV
Fowles Wine Stone Dwellers Sparkling Pinot Noir NV
Jansz Tasmania Premium Rose NV
Lanson Rose Champagne NV
Louis Roederer Vintage Rose Champagne 2012
Ninth Island Sparkling Rose NV
Pirie Sparkling Rose 2010
Printhie Swift Vintage Rose 2011
Sidewood Estate Isabella Rose 2013
Sittella Méthode Traditionnelle Cuvée Rosé 2015
Sterling Pinot Chardonnay Rose NV
Taltarni Cuvee Rose 2013
Taltarni Tache 2013
Tamburlaine Jake Pinot Noir Chardonnay Rose NV
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