The Noble Art of Sabrage and a hockey skate?

Dear Wine Ladies,

Sabering a bottle of sparkling wine with a hockey skate; how perfect for the winter Olympics this month! I enjoyed seeing that on your show last week with Daniel Speck. My question is about the Cuvee Catherine sparkling rose, or roses in general. How and when is the red wine added to the sparkling wine to give it the colour?

Dear Wine Ladies,

Sabering a bottle of sparkling wine with a hockey skate; how perfect for the winter Olympics this month! I enjoyed seeing that on your show last week with Daniel Speck. My question is about the Cuvee Catherine sparkling rose, or roses in general. How and when is the red wine added to the sparkling wine to give it the colour?

Barbara

Barrie, Ontario

Dear Barbara,

When making a sparkling rose, the colour is achieved in one of two ways; most often, it is made by adding a small proportion of red wine to the white or, much less frequently by allowing the skins of the dark grapes to stay in contact with the juice for a brief time. If the rose is made this way it is called “rose de saignee” which means to bleed, in French, the colour of the dark grapes “bleeds” into the juice.

In the case of Henry of Pelham’s Cuvee Catherine, grape skin contact with the juice is avoided. Mr. Speck explained ” we only want the best juice from the middle of the berry, we whole cluster press and press fraction from there. Ninety-nine percent of all sparkling rose wines are made by adding an oz. of red wine to the cuvee.” Cuvee Catherine is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, two of the three grape varieties legally permitted to produce Champagne. (pinot meunier is the third). A greater percentage of Pinot Noir is used giving the wine a roundness, it has good fruit and leans more to the fresher side than the toastier.

Rose de saignee sparkling wines, usually with a deeper hue, tend to be richer in red fruit flavours such as raspberries and cherries; they also tend to pair well with foods such as pigeon, duck or lamb

To watch Daniel Speck try to open the Cuvee Catherine with a hockey skate check out www.thatchannel.com/thewineladies

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