Pink champagne for Valentines Day! Of course, what could be better? Well……………..

The nasty little secret is that after decades of languishing in the déclassé wilderness, rosé champagne has stormed back to popularity in the last few years so now there’s a shortage of the stuff. Or rather a shortage of the red wine that goes into the blend to make it pink. So great is this demand that there is real pressure on the champagne houses to get anything pink, whatever its quality, into a bottle and onto the shelves. This accounts for the mass of indifferent rosé at the moment.

But not at the venerable house of Bollinger. Founded in 1829, it is still family-owned so it enjoys a big advantage – it can afford to be picky.

This week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine of the Week, the Bollinger Rosé non-vintage ($100), was not introduced till 2009 because, according to Stephen Leroux, the house’s Sales and Marketing Director, if they were going to do a rosé they were going to do it right. And do it right they certainly did.

As soon as I popped the cork my senses were enveloped in the most wonderfully seductive aromas of fresh strawberries. This is what rosé champagne should be all about, I thought.

This mist of strawberries comes from the pinot noir in the blend. As Bollinger is famous for its pinot, the rosé seemed a natural extension of the house style of rich, full-bodied, meaty Champagnes. When I ran this observation by Leroux he concurred: “This is exactly what we wanted to achieve. After all these years we said there is definitely a market for non-vintage rosé, but the question is ‘what rosé do we do?’ If we do something we have to be serious about it.”

The more they thought about it, the more they realized they were uniquely situated to produce a NV rosé “because Bollinger is in the heart of the Grand Cru vineyards of the pinot noir, because we have such an expertise in producing wine which has been fermenting in oak barrels, we have all the requirements to produce a great rosé.”

And make a great rosé they have most decidedly have.

This is a connoisseurs’ champagne, one that will reward the experienced palate. As Leroux explains “We’re not looking for an easy rosé, we’re looking for something really structured, and this wine has the structure of the Bollinger non-vintage with the charm of a rosé. That’s the magic of Bollinger, it’s a great wine, fuller flavored.”

And, with its pale copper hue and rich, complex flavor, it’s perfect for a luxurious Valentine’s celebration.

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