Pink Fizz For Summer

Last Updated on March 9, 2024

From Cava to Champagne – Four Favourites For Summer.

While Summer still seems to be slow in making an appearance this year, I’m all for checking out the perfect pink fizz right now so that I can spend my summer evenings chilling out in style.  My four picks provide a range of perfect pinks that will suit every pocket and occasion.  We tried them all out with a very normal Sunday roast chicken, with cheese, smoked salmon and ham platter to start and with chocolate mousse and raspberries to finish the meal. My goal was to come up with the best option for every occasion this summer.  Of course, the choice of any wine for most of us will be guided in part by price.  But, sometimes it’s worth spending a bit more in order to enjoy the perfect fizz.

Both still and sparkling wines are made ‘pink’ by different methods. Blending is just what it sounds like – a small amount of red wine is added to a white sparkling wine during the blending process (e.g. before the wine goes through a second fermentation.  Red wine is added to the white wine until the desired colour and flavour is achieved.  By comparison, the Saignée method takes a portion of the juice from red wine grapes during maceration when the juice is in contact with skin and seeds).  That juice is then used to make a pink sparkling wine, while the remaining juice is used to make a red wine. Saignée rosé wines are generally more intense – more flavour and a stronger aroma than the blended method. 

The priciest of the fizz I’m recommending is a rather special bottle of Champagne.  It’s Taittinger Prestige Rose, which will cost you around £55 but which we think is worth every penny.  The Taittinger Prestige Rosé that we enjoyed is made from the three best-known champagne grapes.  It’s a blend, with 15% of still red wine added from the Pinot Noirs of Montagne de Reims and Les Riceys.  And it has 30% Chardonnay to 45% Pinot Noir and 25% Pinot Meunier and the final result is elegant and delicate with a stunning bright pink colour and fine persistent mousse.  I’ve tried it before and although we opened it to taste with the cheeses, cold meats and olives, I somehow managed to hide half a bottle in the fridge until we were ready for dessert.  Everyone thought it was perfect with the chocolate mousse and liked pairing it with a really well-ripened brie.

RRP £55.65 | Stockists: Sainsburys , Majestic, Tesco, Ocado, John Lewis,  www.champagnedirect.co.uk; www.thechampagnecompany.com,

We are huge fans of Graham Beck Cap Classique sparkling wines from South Africa and I was very excited to have a bottle of  Graham Beck Pinot Noir Rosé 2017 to include in our tasting, our only vintage bottle but one with a price tag that makes it very affordable indeed.  The Pinot Noir Rosé is a unique wine – the pink colour comes from pressing both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes together. 

That gives it a really pretty pale salmon-pink colour.  It’s 89% Pinot Noir and 11% Chardonnay and spends 4 years on lees before being released – so the end result is rich and creamy.  We thought this worked well with the cheese and smoked salmon.  And, we could all imagine sitting and just sipping this one all evening once summer finally does kick in.

RRP £19.99 | Majestic, Frontier Wines, VINM

There are lots of options if you are looking for the perfect English sparkling rosé. We recommend trying Hambledon Classic Cuvée Rosé.  Hambledon Vineyard is in Hampshire and is set on the same chalk ridge that makes up the Champagne region in France.  And their Classic Cuvée Rosé is made in the same way as champagne, with a blend of 86% Chardonnay and 14% Pinot Noir red wines. 

It’s mostly from the 2017 harvest and is aged for almost four years on lees.  It’s a rather deeper pink than the Graham Beck, but not so intense as the Taittinger.  And, of course, it’s delicious.  Our tasters thought it went with everything (well, we did all start from the point of loving pink fizz!).  We thought it was clean and crisp with citrusy notes and worked particularly well with the fish and chicken.  Well-rounded and with a lovely mousse it was a real favourite.  You can buy direct from Hambledon or from a number of suppliers with an RRP of £37.

Our final pink fizz comes from our favourite all-round Cava producer, Codorniu.  We love Anna de Codorniu Brut Rosé which is based on a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay to produce a dry and refreshing wine with a crisp acidity, a subtle hint of sweetness and a fine and persistent mousse.  The grapes are grown in Codorniu’s own vineyards in Lleida and to produce the distinctive pink colour the Pinot Noir grapes are destemmed and macerated for 3-4 hours before the must is filtered and fermented – a classic Saignée method. 

After bottling, the second fermentation takes place in underground cellars and the Cava is then aged on lees for a further 12 months.  If you like the freshness of Cava, then this might just be your favourite, although it’s also one of the least expensive options. With peachy, citrus notes we thought this was perfect with our smoked salmon – and it’s another bottle that we could all see ourselves quaffing on a warm summer night.  You can buy Anna de Codorniu Brut Rose from good wine merchants online including the Champagne Company for around £18.75 a bottle.