Peter Foges tells us all about rose champagne:
One legend has it that this ineffable nectar was first created for a queen to match her bridesmaids’ dresses. But it wasn’t until well into the twentieth century that rose champagne went democratic and entered the public domain. In Depression-era New York it passed in the more upscale speakeasies for cherry soda. But it reached an apogee of applause when it turned up in the movies, most memorably in 1959 in An Affair to Remember, when Cary Grant drinks it with Deborah Kerr as they first meet aboard an ocean liner. They proceed to drink nothing but the stuff as their love affair unfolds. Sales in the U.S. ballooned that year. President Reagan was particularly fond of it—and famously used to pair a bottle or two of Louis Roederer Crystal Brut Rose 1974 with a bowl of jelly beans. …
Rose champagne is rare. Only three percent of the 350 million bottles produced annually in the Champagne region of France are pink, perhaps because giving it its tint while maintaining its quality is hard. It’s basically a matter of either adding still red Pinot Noir just before the second fermentation, or leaving the red Pinot grape skins in contact with the wine for a while—both of which are risky and complex. A small mistake can turn the champagne into an unwanted, unsalable red, blue or brown.
(Photo by Gaetan Lee via Wikimedia Commons)
The Dish 
