Pink fizz. A phrase that promises celebration – though not always seriousness. Froth and frivolity, not fine mousse and complexity.
Which is rather unfair, if the wine in question is something like Gusbourne Rosé 2020. Yes, it is pink. Yes, it sparkles. But this is also a wine of structure and precision – layered, gastronomic and complex.
And yet, even serious rosé refuses to be just about its winemaking. It’s a cheerful decadence. A wine of integrity which also happens to be excellent at a party.
Head Winemaker Mary Bridges loves Gusbourne’s Rosé’s inherent contradiction. The cellar work that goes into it is the equal of any of its sparkling siblings, yet the wine itself can dazzle in more ways than one. It merits close scrutiny in the hands of a sommelier; it’s just as ready for good friends and good times.
Behind the bottle
It’s not just Gusbournes Rosé’s unexpected complexity that raises eyebrows. “It surprises people when I tell them that despite being pink, the wine is initially made like a white,” says Mary. “For our traditional method sparkling wines, everything, regardless of being Pinot or Chardonnay, is whole-bunch pressed and made in the same way for that first step,” Mary explains.
The juice is fermented in separate parcels and then assessed. “All the components for Rosé are graded as white wines,” she says, “apart from the small amount of colour base.” That colour base is where the character of the rosé begins to emerge.
The colour base
Rather than extracting colour from grape skins during fermentation, Gusbourne builds its rosé through blending. The colour comes from a small proportion of still Pinot Noir, produced separately and aged in oak. “We will look at some of those components and think, well, what can we blend in in a small percentage – maybe, you know, five, six, seven percent depending on the vintage.”
This small addition does more than simply tint the wine pink. “You’re not just getting colour from that still Pinot Noir, but you’re also getting something that’s been aged in oak. So you’re getting that spiciness, a bit of texture, a bit of depth and richness.”
Because the blending happens early in the process, the elements knit together naturally as the wine develops. “Getting it in at that early stage and having it ferment in bottle combined, it integrates really, really well.”
Why blending matters
There are several ways to make rosé wines. Some producers extract colour by leaving juice in contact with red grape skins. Others use the saignée method, bleeding juice from a red wine fermentation. Gusbourne has always taken a different route.
“We’ve never done any saignée or maceration for the sparkling rosé. We’ve always used the a thoughtful blending approach.” The reasoning is stylistic as much as practical. “I think it just helps keep that consistency in the style., whilst still allowing us to really celebrate the unique personality of the vintage So you’re reflecting the vintage and the base wines, but you keep a more consistent profile that way.”
The vintage
The character of Rosé 2020 is shaped by the warmth and generosity of the growing season. “It’s immediately generous and full and powerful,” Mary says. Compared with 2019 on release, the 2020 vintage is notably more open. Yet despite the ripeness of the fruit, the wine retains the brightness that defines English sparkling wine.
“There’s still an energy nice vibrancy,” says Mary. “There’s finesse and elegance alongside the generosity.” The blend The final composition reflects that balance between energy and depth. With 59% Chardonnay – a little higher than 2019 – a relatively high proportion compared with 2019 – the wine carries freshness and tension. “When you have more intensity coming from some of the Pinot components, it’s nice to temper that with something a bit more vibrant from the Chardonnay so that you’re not getting this overly red-fruited and floral, blousy rosé.”
Instead, the wine remains structured and refreshing. “You’re getting something that’s still got a bit of bite and something that can make it really suitable for food settings as well as just enjoying as a glass.”
Time in the cellar
Once blended and bottled, the wine begins the slow transformation that defines traditional-method sparkling wine. The bottles are laid down and left quietly to mature. For Rosé 2020, that patience has been considerable – around 56 months on lees. “This means it’s fantastic on release – but it’s exciting to know that this wine is only going to get more creamy, more integrated as it has more time on cork.”
Gusbourne Rosé 2020 captures that perfect contradiction of seriousness and joy – instantly approachable, yet formed by the quiet discipline of the cellar.
Or, as Mary neatly puts it, “It’s wonderfully in balance.”
