Cook Food & Wine

Your Next New Wine Obsession

First it was big and bold, then unoaked Chardonnay and natural wines, now rosé prosecco. Some winemakers in Italy have been producing this wine for some time now, releasing it as generic IGT – Indicazione Geografica Tipica – wines, but 2021 will be the year of prosecco rosé as Italy has now created a legal designation for this beautiful pink bubbly and it will officially hit the market New Year’s Day 2021! Rosé aperol spritz, anyone?

This prosecco rosé will be a blend of Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) and Glera – the native grape responsible for the wonderful Italian bubbly wine we all know and love. These wines will be dry or off-dry and vintage-dated, with all of the floral aromas that define prosecco.

While we wait for these exciting new wines to be released, let’s celebrate with some of our other favorite sparkling rosés! As we dive into Champagne we see rolling hills of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier, and a few other varieties growing with old châteaux storing hundreds of years of history and preparing many wines for release. From here I recommend picking up a bottle of Billecart Salmon Brut Rosé for a night you want a real treat.

Franciacorta may be very familiar to those Italian wine-lovers, yet still unknown to many. Here we see winemakers producing high quality sparkling wines in the way of Champagne, what we call the méthode champenoise, creating those tiny, uniform bubbles that hit the palate just right. With extended lees aging these wines are complex, with toasted nut and brioche flavors on the palate! You can never go wrong with a Franciacorta and I recommend Ricci Curbastro Franciacorta Brut Rosé.

There’s so many amazing sparkling wines out there, but I cannot end this without mentioning Australia! Australian winemakers have worked so hard to make a name for themselves. The country has been known for mass-produced, cheap wines, but there are many incredible producers all around the country today and the one I’d like to highlight is Lambert Estate in Barossa. I came across this producer as I was browsing the grocery store looking for an affordable wine to enjoy that night after I heard the wonderful words from my husband, “I’m making dinner tonight, go out and get a bottle of wine you’d enjoy”, music to my ears! I saw this bottle sitting there and thought, “huh, I’ve never had a sparkling wine from Barossa, I may as well try it” and boy was I happy that night – as soon as that cork was out the room was filled with strawberry, brioche, almond, and cherry aroma-galore!

Keep enjoying and trying new wines and as we anticipate the release of prosecco rosé be sure to check out the One Life Wine Club – December will feature sparkling wines from around the world!

Cheers!

– Miranda