Some people love it and some not; I am in the love category. A great luscious rose with 
plenty of fizz, dry but not bone dry - perfect.
Love it so much, in fact, that we had it at our wedding reception - with our own personalised label of course - twelve years ago; pioneers then as most quaffers only knew Laurent Perrier as THE rose champagne.
But the World has changed; all the big houses produce pink and some of the biggest brands have uber-premium vintage rose - think Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame rose - that is also uber-costly - £200+ as opposed to under £100 for the GD white 1998! Bollinger introduced their special pink to the market in 2008.
So what’s the difference? The usual vintage/non-vintage distinction applies, as does the blending process (different grapes and vineyards). Principally but obviously it is the colour: the old way of production was to macerate the skins of the black grapes - ie. allow the colour to bleed out into the pressing and then use this in the blend. The more modern way is conventional blending - adding still red wine (pinot noir normally) to the white blend at the time of bottling.
The paler more blush coloured pinks are typically from the maceration technique and to my mind are usually softer and more approachable. Just a personal opinion, though.
Either way, rose champagne is perfect for a special Wedding day, perfect for Valentine’s day, perfect for Mother’s day and equally perfect for every day; enjoy!
Tags: Bollinger, Champagne, Laurent Perrier, Mother's day, personalised champagne, pink champagne, Pinot Noir, rose champagne, Valentine's day, Veuve Clicquot, Wedding day
