Holidays may be right time to try rose champagne

SAN FRANCISCO -- In the mood for a bit of bubbly this season? You may want to join the blush rush.

"Definitely, people are drinking more rose champagne than before," said Herve Rousseau, owner of Flute, a champagne bar with two locations in New York and a third coming in Paris.

Not too long ago, pink fizzy wine was not the most sophisticated of tipples. But the rising popularity of drier rose (pronounced rose-zay) still wines has translated to the sparkling world as well, with a raft of elegant choices available.

"The market has discovered that sparkling rose can be delicious and dry, and the color is certainly extremely festive. We're seeing huge growth in that market as an industry," said Eileen Crane, winemaker and president of Domaine Carneros, a sparkling wine producer in the Napa Valley that is owned by the French company Taittinger.

A word about champagne vs. sparkling wine: To purists, true champagne comes from the Champagne region in France. The United States has agreed to stop new domestic producers from using the name; however, existing companies were grandfathered in.

Classic sparklers get their bubbles from a secondary fermentation in the bottle, generally through adding sugar, yeast and a little bit of wine, often known as "methode Champenoise."

A second way to create bubbles is through the Charmat process in which the secondary fermentation takes place in bulk tanks.

Bubbles around the world include Italy's popular sparkling wine prosecco and Spain's cava. Bubbles are also popular in Italy in wines such as the dry or semisweet red Lambrusco, lightly sweet sparkling Asti, and the even sweeter frizzante (semisparkling) Moscato d'Asti.

Several different types of grapes go into sparkling wines. Blanc de blanc is made from chardonnay grapes. Blanc de noir is made from the red grape pinot noir although the wine itself is white. Rose champagnes get their pinkish tinge from allowing the red grape skins (known as the must) to stay in contact with the juice for a short time, or by adding small amounts of red wine.

An example of how far rose has come, looking at imports of champagne, roses made up just under 2 percent of the total in 1995 -- 227,000 bottles out of a total of 12.5 million, according to the U.S. Office of Champagne, based in Washington D.C. Last year, rose was at about 9 percent -- 1.9 million bottles out of about 23 million.

"Dry versions of rose go beautifully with pink foods," said Karen Page -- author with Andrew Dornenburg of "What to Drink With What You Eat" -- "salmon, tuna even things like lobster, bouillebaise, pork."

If you really want to get ahead of the curve think red; sparkling shiraz is beginning to emerge on U.S. store shelves.

"It's very flexible with lots of different foods," said Page. She likes sparkling shiraz for holiday dinners where lots of different entrees and wacky side dishes may appear. "Sparkling shiraz is a wine that can pair up to lots of different flavors."

Winemaker Crane sees a general easing up when it comes to sparkling wine, whether it's a willingness to think pink or mix things up with champagne cocktails, also making a comeback.

If you don't plan to polish off the bottle, a key accessory is a champagne stopper, a device that prevents bubble breakaways.

Opening a bottle of fizz sets the stage for something special, Crane said. "You walk into somebody's house and they open a bottle of chardonnay and you think, 'That's nice,' but you hear the cork going on a bottle of champagne and you think, 'Oh, they're really happy to see me!'"