Pink Champagne (12 Best Wines, Pricing, How to Buy)
Want to add the best pink Champagne bottles to your Wine Collection?
Once regarded as a frivolous summery drink, rose Champagnes have skyrocketed in popularity over the last few decades. They now command a higher price than their blanc counterparts, and are a must-have in your Wine Cellar all year round!
But why is it more expensive than regular Champagne? What makes rosé Champagne pink?
More importantly, which are the best ones you should drink or invest in?
In this article, we tell you everything you need to know about sparkling roses. We’ve handpicked 12 of the best ones that you should buy.
You’ll also discover the Easiest Way To Buy Pink Champagne for drinking and for investing!
Further reading
- Fancy a blush wine? Try some of the Best Rose Wines in 2021.
- Or if you are a red wine lover, try these Luscious Shiraz or Classic Chateauneuf du Pape Wines.
All you need to know about Pink Champagne
Pink or rose Champagne would make the perfect drink for any special occasion - be it a celebratory toast at a wedding, a birthday party, a bridal shower, or a valentine’s day lunch with your valentine.
Or picture a brunch table in your garden - with glasses of these pink sparklers and your best cutlery, decorated plant vases and flowers!
Let’s explore this cherished drink in detail.
What is pink Champagne?
Pink Champagne or Rose Champagne is made by mixing red and white wines.
It is called pink “Champagne” only if its made in the Champagne region in France.
Otherwise, you’d refer to them as sparkling wines, or by other names like Rose Cava in Spain, and Mousseux Rose in the Vouvray wine region in France.
Winemakers at Ruinart and Madame Clicquot of Veuve Clicquot were the first to sell rose Champagnes commercially in the late 1700s.
The growing popularity of pink Champagne
Interestingly, the global consumption of rose Champagnes has gone up by 40% between 2002 and 2018!
This is in stark contrast to its flagging sales and a reputation as a frivolous drink during much of the 20th century.
(Fun fact: Madame Lily Bollinger, who ran the Bollinger Champagne house till 1971, was adamant that they’d never produce a rosé! Nevertheless, the first Bollinger rosé was out in the market in the mid-1980s.)
Related articles:Curious to know more about French wines other than Champagnes? This article will tell you all about them.
If you’d like to read about rare wines and buy them, here’s a post that you’ll find useful.
How is pink Champagne made?
And, how does this bubbly get that gorgeous salmon color?
The answer lies in the winemaking techniques.
Here are the two methods used:
A. Blending white and red wine (Rosé d’assemblage)
Rose champagne can be made by blending 5% to 20% red still wine - Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier red wine - into the white wine.
This is done before its second fermentation in the bottle. (A second fermentation is always done in a different vessel than the one in which the wine was fermented first.)
B. Saignee method (Rose de Saignee or macerated pink Champagne method)
The pink shade of a Champagne is also achieved by bleeding it with the grape skins of Pinot Noir and Meunier red grape.
Here, the red wine grape musts (freshly crushed fruit that contains red grape skin, seeds, and stems) are allowed to be in contact with the grape skins for just a few hours. (Note that red wine is made by prolonged contact with red grape skins.)
This allows the natural pigments in the grape skins to color the juice and enrich it with their aromatic components.
So, although rose Champagnes are light in colour, they have powerful flavors - thanks to the punch added by the still red wine.
The Rose de Saignee technique is used by famous winemakers like Francis Boulard, Louis Roederer and Laurent-Perrier.
Is pink champagne the same as Rose champagne?
Yes, pink Champagne and Rose Champagne are the same.
However, it is not the same as “rose wine.” Pink Champagne is sometimes sweeter and more fruity than rosé wine and comes with delicate bubbles and crisp, clean flavors.
What is the difference between pink Champagne and regular Champagne?
Regular Champagne is a sparkling wine made using the flesh and juice inside the grapes - hence they’re free of pigment and are white like Prosecco.
They also offer less red fruit intensity than their Champagne pink counterparts.
Also, don’t be confused between pink Champagne and blanc de blanc wine. The latter is a sparkling white wine made from white grapes.
What is an excellent pink Champagne?
The perfect pink Champagne has crisp, clean flavors and delicate bubbles that coat your mouth.
A sip of it would tingle upon your tongue with a long-lasting finish.
Food pairings with Rose champagne
The vibrant, fruit forward flavor profile of rose sparklers go brilliantly well with light summery nibbles. The fuller-bodied ones pair equally well with wintery meat dishes. And, some others work well as a light, fruity, post-dinner dessert drink.
Or, simply pull out your recipe book and bake a pink Champagne cake - a champagne-infused cake with vanilla butter cream - perfect for valentines day. You’d get 5 stars for this one, hands down!
Here are the ingredients of this cake if you’re ready to rush to the bakery right away:
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Egg whites
- Vanilla
- Pink champagne
- Salt, baking powder, and unsalted liquid butter
Whisk this flour mixture in a mixer at medium speed, pour into cake pans, and bake away.
Now: You’ll find that a prestige Cuvee rose is priced almost twice as much as a non rose wine or white wine from the same winemaker.
Let’s see why.
Why is pink Champagne more expensive than regular Champagne?
The demand for pink Champagne has surged over the last decade or more.
As the demand grew, the price of top cru Pinot Noir grapes also went up.
To cope up with the increased demand, sparkling wine producers in the Champagne region invested in specialized machinery to compensate for unpredictable temperatures and weather patterns.
These factors, along with the labor-intensive techniques used, drove up the prices of rosés, making them more expensive than white wines.
(Want to know how to value your wine bottles? This article will show you how.)
Now, if you want to invest in a pink bubbly, another critical question in your mind would be:
Does pink Champagne age well?
Rose vintage Champagnes like Dom Perignon, Ruinart, Louis Roederer Cristal, and Billecart Salmon age beautifully for 10 to 25 years - you won’t necessarily need to “drink rose young” in these cases!
There’s one caveat: They have to be stored under perfect light and temperature conditions, else you’ll ruin its taste and value.
So, which are the finest pink champagnes worth buying - be it for drinking or as a long term investment?
12 Best Pink Champagnes You Should Consider Buying (Including Prices)
Here’s a handpicked list of pink champagnes that you should consider adding to your wine collection.
1. Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Rose 2012
This pink color wine is a blend of 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay and is made using the saignée method.
Vivid and crystalline in the glass, the Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Rose 2012 is full-bodied and deep with a beautiful bouquet of strawberries, blackberries, fresh peach, tangerine and blanched almonds.
According to wine critic Robert Parker, this wine “will really come into its own” with around six years in the cellar. It has all the attributes needed for considerable longevity. It will be ideal for drinking between 2027 and 2050.
Price of Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Rose 2012: $620+
Read more about Louis Roederer’s Cristal Champagnes and how to buy them.
2. Krug Brut Rosé Champagne
This full-bodied, dry champagne is a blend of 59% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 8% Pinot Meunier. It is a pale onion-skin pink, and ages beautifully for many years after release, developing a layered complexity.
It has an orange-gold color, a supple texture, and offers a complex palette of gingerbread, coffee, orange peel, and a smoky flavor. It works wonderfully with main courses, including roast chicken.
Price of Krug Brut Rosé Champagne: $230+
3. Dom Pérignon Rosé Champagne 2004
Made with a blend of 34% Chardonnay, 38% Pinot Noir, and 28% red Pinot Noir, this wine tastes like strawberries drenched in rich cream.
It is copper-colored thanks to the higher proportion of still Pinot Noir used. You’ll find a delicate bouquet of red fruit, smoke, toast, spice, and crushed rocks. It will drink well for decades and keeps getting better with age.
Price of Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2004: $260+
Want to discover more about Dom Perignon, including history, types, pricing? Check out this guide.
4. Bollinger La Grande Annee Rose 2012 Champagne
Bollinger is a family-owned producer of sparkling wines from the Champagne region in France. They make many types of Champagne, including the vintage Grande Année, Vieilles Vignes Françaises, R.D., and the non-vintage Special Cuvée.
The uniqueness of the blend is that 70% of the grapes used come from Bollinger’s own vineyards, giving them complete control, from planting to harvest.
The La Grande Annee Rose 2012 is a quintessential expression of the low-dosage, full-bodied, dry style of this Champagne house.
Price of Bollinger La Grande Annee Rose 2012 Champagne: $90+
5. Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial
The Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial sparkler is made with 40 to 50% Pinot Noir, 30 to 40% Pinot Meunier, and 10 to 20% Chardonnay.
This Moet & Chandon wine has a rich pink colour with vibrant red fruit notes and a long, elegant texture. You’ll love the floral nuances of rose, and subtle notes of menthol and pepper!
This Moet & Chandon pairs really well with fruits and aged cheeses.
Price of Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial: $58+
6. Champagne Armand de Brignac Rosé
This is an intense salmon colour blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier and 10% Chardonnay. It owes its shade and intensity to the Pinot Noir from old vines from the Montagne de Reims sub-region in the Champagne region in France.
This Cuvee offers fresh layers of red fruit on the nose with a palate of wild berry, strawberry, raspberry, black fruit, and baked pastry.
Drink it now, or you can even cellar it for another 10-15 years.
Price of Champagne Armand de Brignac Rosé: $430+
7. Dom Ruinart Rosé 2002
This elegant blend is made of 80% Chardonnay and 20% red Pinot Noir. It has a vibrant, deep coral color with an intense and complex aroma.
The notes of exotic fruits and blood orange and lemon intermingle with aromas of violet flower and rose, with a touch of musk. You can drink now or anytime until 2027.
Price of Dom Ruinart Rosé 2002: $240+
8. 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose
This rose is 58% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 12% red Pinot noir. It has impressive aromas of cherries, chalky minerals and pink grape fruit.
The palette is deep and even and will taste richer if you hold it for 3-5 years before drinking. Drink this full-bodied Champagne now or before 2031.
Price of 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose: $110+
9. Piper-Heidsieck Rose Sauvage Champagne
This is a dark rose Champagne made from 50-55% Pinot Noir while other Champagnes use up to 25% of the grapes. It is a blend of 30-35% Pinot Meunier and 15-20% Chardonnay.
It is a refined, creamy rose with hints of roasted hazelnut and toasted brioche with layers of black currant, dried red fruit and licorice.
Price of Piper-Heidsieck Rose Sauvage Champagne: $35+
10. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin 2008 La Grande Dame Brut Rosé Champagne
Veuve Clicquot's prestige Cuvée is a beautiful pink gold with a light copper pink hue. It contains an audacious amount of Pinot noir (92%) and 8% Chardonnay. It is a ripe, mature, textured wine with toastiness coming from soft fruit.
The Veuve Clicquot Rosé shows powerful notes of red fruit combined with citrus notes. You’ll enjoy the subtle and spicy notes of strawberry, raspberry, and other red berries, rooibos tea and leather.
Price of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin 2008 La Grande Dame Brut Rosé Champagne: $295+
11. Billecart Salmon Brut Rose Champagne
This pale pink Champagne with glints of gold is made of 40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, and 30% Pinot Meunier.
It has a subtle aroma and a delicate fruity bouquet of raspberry and cranberry and the zest of citrus fruit. It can age for 2-4 years in a bottle.
Price of Billecart Salmon Brut Rose Champagne: $70+
12. Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut Champagne
This copper-pink wine comes packaged in an elegant bottle inspired by the times of King Henri IV of France.
This rose Brut Champagne is layered with bright, cherry notes and whiffs of chalky soils, with a rich yeast driven scent.
Drink this rose Brut Champagne now or until 2024.
Price of Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut Champagne: $32+
How to buy pink Champagne?
You can buy a good pink Champagne bottle at most boutique wine and alcohol stores, wine merchants, online wine portals, and wine auctions.
You should be ready to scour the price trends of various wine brands from multiple sources to find the value of the wine bottle, and the best prices to buy it.
In some cases, you’ll be able to find rare ones only if you’re an industry insider.
It gets further complicated when you’ve to deal with counterfeit bottles, which are rather common nowadays!
Luckily, there’s a smarter way to do it.
You can entrust a world-class wine investment team like Vinovest to pick the right pink Champagne bottle for you at the best prices.
Even better - they store your wine bottle safely for an extended period and sell it if that’s what you choose!
Let’s see how this works.
Buy the Best Pink Champagne bottles through Vinovest (for Drinking and Investing)
Vinovest is a wine investment company that lets you buy the finest pink Champagnes and other wines from anywhere in the world.
They will also store your bottles safely, sell them when the time is right, and even deliver them to you for drinking whenever you want to pop open your bottle of bubbles.
How does it work?
It’s incredibly simple. Just follow these steps:
- Sign up
- Answer a questionnaire for Vinovest to assess your risk appetite and investment preferences.
- Add funds to your account (minimum of $1,000).
- Pick and choose your wines suggested by the algorithm.
- Watch your portfolio grow over time, as you sit back and sip your glass of Prosecco, a Merlot red wine or a Henriot Cuvee Hemera!
Why should you buy Pink Champagnes and other wines through Vinovest?
Here are the 11 key benefits:
1. Easy buying
You can easily buy wines from any other part of the world using Vinovest’s intelligent AI-driven online platform.
2. Best Prices
Vinovest buys wines directly from winemakers, wine exchanges, and wine merchants. So, rest assured that you’ll get your pink Champagnes at the best possible wholesale prices.
3. Tracing provenance and authenticity
No more fretting about counterfeit bottles. Vinovest will meticulously authenticate your bottles and trace their provenance before you choose to buy them.
4. Portfolio curated by wine experts
Vinovest lets you create a high-performing investment portfolio of wines, including pink Champagnes. This portfolio will be carefully curated by an Advanced Sommelier, three Master Sommeliers, and a team of data scientists.
5. Storage under perfect conditions
Vinovest will store your bottles under optimal conditions in world-class bonded warehouses.
6. Insurance
Vinovest is insured with an FDIC equivalent for wine. This protects each bottle against breakage and loss.
7. Access to a global network
Through Vinovest’s global wine network, you’ll enjoy access to upcoming vineyards, private wine sales, and limited releases.
8. Low overall costs
Fund your account with a minimum of $1,000, and pay a 2.5% annual fee (1.9% for a portfolio over $50,000).
This will cover the following:
- Buying your wines
- Authenticating them
- Storage
- A full insurance policy at market value
- Managing your portfolio
- Selling your wine
You’ll also enjoy tax advantages because bonded warehouses don’t charge VAT or excise duty.
9. Full ownership
Needless to say, you get full ownership of your wines.
10. Easy selling of wines
The wine experts at Vinovest know exactly which wines command huge price tags. They’ll help you easily sell your wines if you wish to make a profit.
11. Easy delivery
If you want to open your wine bottles on a special occasion, you can have them delivered to your home easily. If you end up selling your wine, Vinovest will have the bottle delivered to the buyer.
Far easier than selecting, buying, storing, and selling the red wine or rose Champagne bottle yourself, isn’t it?
Wrapping up
Rose Champagnes make a fantastic addition to your wine collection - whether you want to
- Make a profit by selling your Cristal Rose
- Enjoy a glass of Perrier Jouët Blason, or
- Make a pink Champagne cake on valentines day.
But you definitely don’t want to spend hours researching which ones to buy, or buy them paying unjustifiably high brokerage fees or prices.
Vinovest makes it a breeze for you to buy or invest in authentic pink Champagne bottles from anywhere in the world.
So, sign up now and start adding these rose sparklers to your wine portfolio right away!
