Pink Champagne

A pink Champagne, or Rosé Champagne, is, as you’d expect, just like regular Champagne apart from its pale pink colour. Like regular Champagne, it must be made in the Champagne region, from grapes entirely harvested from designated Champagne AOC vineyards.

Like regular Champagne, rosé Champagne can be Vintage of Non-Vintage.

Vintage Rosé Champagne must be made purely from the grapes of one vintage and must be aged for at least three years before release. Vintage Rosé Champagnes can be aged for much longer after release and develop savoury complexity alongside their fruitier flavours.

Non-vintage Rosé Champagnes are blended from different vintages – often with small quantities of older reserve wines for added complexity. They offer the advantage of consistent quality and are often seen as the calling card of top Champagne houses.

Like regular Champagne, pink Champagne is made from a blend of different grape varieties – including the white grape, Chardonnay and the red grapes, Pinot Noir and Meunier.

For regular Champagne, the red grapes are pressed very gently to extract the clear juice – resulting in a white wine made from red grapes. But for pink Champagne, the red grapes are allowed some skin contact during fermentation. The resulting red wine is then blended with the Chardonnay to produce a pink, or rosé wine.

The secondary fermentation in bottle, which produces the bubbles, is the same for both white and pink Champagne.

Another difference between pink Champagne and regular Champagne is that regular Champagne can be made purely from Chardonnay (a Blanc de Blancs). But a rosé or pink Champagne must be made at least partly from red grapes to obtain the colour.

The best pink Champagne is, of course, the one you like. But there are some very famous pink Champagnes. Two classic examples would be the Laurent Perrier Rosé (usually available on our gifts page) and Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé.   

However, while these big-name Champagnes do have stellar reputations, we find that smaller ‘grower Champagnes’ often offer better value. These are pink Champagnes that come from small producers, made with grapes from their own vineyards. The pride these producers take in their wines shines through in your glass. You’ll find some lovely examples on this page.

Generally speaking, Champagne is made mostly from three grapes – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier. Some other less well-known grapes are also permitted but rarely used. As Pinot Noir and Meunier are both red varieties, rosé Champagne must be made at least partly from these to get the pink colour.

Pink Champagne can sometimes be more expensive than regular Champagne – though not always! This is because the winemaking process is more demanding.   

In fact, there are two ways of making pink Champagne ... and both present challenges.   

The first and most common method is to add a portion of still red wine to the Champagne. Getting the amount just right to get the colour consistent over vintages is challenging, and there is an art to the blending.  

The second method is to make the Champagne from red grapes, leaving the pressed juice on the skins briefly during fermentation – just enough to get that precious pink colour.

Pink or rosé Champagne works well with all the things you’d normally pair with regular Champagne. Which means practically anything, but especially white fish or seafood.

Classic matches include oysters, seafood salad, salmon blinis and lobster. A less conventional but equally delicious match would be with fish and chips.

Thanks to its gentle red fruit character, however, pink Champagne can be even more versatile. Try with grilled honey glazed salmon steaks, or Caesar salad. A richer, vintage style pink champagne will even match up to venison or duck.

You can also enjoy pink Champagne with dessert. Try with fruity puddings like Eton mess, or a fresh fruit cocktail, or with dark chocolate desserts like chocolate mousse.

Oh – and let’s not forget the cheese course.  One rule ... the creamier the better!