ROSE CHAMPAGNE

        Making your own special blend 
This year has been and will continue to be challenging trying to find and buy your favorite bottle of champagne. Especially if your looking for rose.
WHY….
There are reasons for this. First, there is a shortage of champagne. Plus a disrupted supply chain from covid caused major shipping problems. Forcing importers and distributors to deal with shortages. Plus, the region has seen reduced yields in the past years because of weather. The main reason is that champagne has never showed any signs of lack of demand. As a matter of fact. Champagne demand is up over 150 % world wide. The majority of champagne produced is brut and extra dry. There are others. However the most limited is rose. There’s less produced and the demand is strong. This holiday season will be limited at retail on all champagnes. Rose will be near impossible to find and if your one of the lucky ones be prepared to pay a premium.
So what’s a person to do? 
Rose champagne is made two different ways. 
Most rose champagnes are made  by a process called maceration. Which has the skins soaking with the wine juice for brief time period and allowing for the pink or salmon color the winemaker is trying to achieve. Time consuming and expensive. 
The second method and most common. Is to bleed white grape musts with black grape musts. The white being chardonnay and the black being pinot noir and or pinot meunier. All grapes grown the the champagne region of France. The winemaker will use their custom skills by blending 5-15% Red wine with white. Its a complex and delicate process.  
My suggestion is blend your own rose….. Yes, you heard me.
Purchase a medium priced French champagne. Like a Drappier, Lanson, Duval Leroy, Nicolas Feullatte, 
Rose champagne recipe
Grab a champagne flute 
Brut or extra dry champagne  3-4oz
Red burgundy or red blend     .5oz
Serve room temperature or chilled 
Experiment to your personal perfection and share your skills with family and friends

HAVE FUN and ENJOY!!