Domaine Carneros Cuvee de la Pompadour Brut Rose

Cellar for up to 8 years. Serve chilled. This enchanting rosé sparkling wine is named after Madame de la Pompadour, the mistress of the French king Louis XV who famously introduced sparkling wine to the court at the palace of Versailles. Pompadour was so enamoured of the wine that she called it “the only wine that a woman can drink and remain beautiful”. It’s made from estate-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from the cool climate Carneros region of California using the traditional method that’s also used to make Champagne in France. To give the wine its characteristic tiny bubbles and enticing hints of toast, vanilla and spice, it is fermented inside the bottle and left to age on the lees for 18 months. This creates a complex, multi-layered sparkling wine that’s bursting with apricots, honeysuckle, and peaches as well as more savoury undertones. Domaine Carneros is located in California’s Napa Valley region and is considered one of America’s top producers of traditional method sparkling wine. The estate was actually founded by Claude Taittinger of the famous Taittinger Champagne house in 1987 after years of searching for the perfect terroir in Napa where he could make America’s answer to Champagne. Today the winemaking is headed up by Eileen Crane who’s considered America’s best sparkling winemaker. Eileen insists on using only the first pressings to produce the very best wines possible and the grapes are all harvested by hand at night.

Price: £45.82 from 8wines UK