More than 250 years ago, Louis XV’s great paramour, Madame de la Pompadour, famously introduced sparkling wine to the court at Versailles. She declared it “the only wine that a woman can drink and remain beautiful,” and today Domaine Carneros’ Pompadour Brut Rose is named in her honor. Domaine Carneros harvests estate-grown, certified organic Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from its vineyards in Carneros to craft small quantities of this beautifully balanced Brut Rose. The Pinot Noir juice spends several days in contact with the grape skins in order to extract the lovely color and flavor components. In some years a small amount of estate Pinot Noir wine is added to adjust the color when needed.

Rating

Ultimate Beverage Challenge 91 points (May 2011) Ultimate Wine Challenge 2011 Finalist. Bright pink/strawberry color. Savory, firm acidity in nose. Grip in flavor, slightly sweet by midpalate, with background tastes of mushroom, yeast, plum preserves. Moderate dosage.

Wine maker notes

Rosé wines are often believed to be made only from pinot noir, but many including ours have some chardonnay added. In creating our Rosé, we worked to create a wine of great balance using pinot noir and chardonnay, but at the same time, emphasizing fruity and floral characteristics to a greater extent than is evident in the Brut or Le Rêve. The special fruitiness of the Rosé is obtained in two ways. The first way is to allow part of the pinot juice to spend several days in contact with the grape skins. (This is never allowed to happen with the other sparkling wines.) This extracts both the lovely color and flavor components that enhance the Rosé. The second way is to add back a small amount of red pinot noir wine. This is done to adjust both color and flavor. We do this red wine addition as a way to fine-tune the early skin contact, for example, if the color is a little too light. Our Rosé is meant to be enjoyed at a fairly young age, around two years, when the fruity character is still predominant yet there is enough age to make the wine round and balanced. At about two years, the wine’s aroma has hints of wild strawberries and roses with notes of peach. Although it is pink in color, our Brut Rosé is not sweeter than our other wines. It is a true Brut.

Technical notes

ALCOHOL: 12.7% pH 3.21 TOTAL ACIDITY 0.87 g/100ml SUGAR: (dosage) 1.28%

Food pairing

Foods that pair exceedingly well with the Rosé are duck and salmon, and it is the only one of our wines that goes really well with dessert. It is a beautiful wine for a wedding, brunch, Valentine’s Day or any romantic dinner for two.