Bubbles in Every Color

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

For my birthday Kevin decided to try out all different kinds of sparkling wines. And I think that you will agree this one is quite unique as it is a sparkling red. I know that my first thought was, “What?! Cold duck?” Which I haven’t seen or heard of in a 1000 years… Cold duck was a blend of red wine from California with a New York State sparkling wine.

The IGT Giol Raboso Frizzante is grown in the Veneto Region of Italy near Treviso. Raboso is the local grape in the area and produces a deep ruby red wine that is low in alcohol but high in tannins. Additionally, the grapes for this wine were grown organically.

The wine was dry and tasted of black cherries and plums. The bubbles died away fairly quickly but were great to look at with their ruby hue.

I had never seen an Italian wine like this (yes, I know, I need to get out more) but enjoyed it thoroughly. I was disappointed not to learn what method the winery used to create the carbonation as in the region both the traditional French method champagnoise and the charmat (the wine is prepared in stainless steel tanks under pressure) method. But for once my curiousity will have to go unsated.

I guess that works out so long as the wine was so tasty.

You have to admit this would be a delightful alternative to Champagne for Valentine’s Day!

This entry was posted on February 13, 2009 at 11:01 pm and is filed under charmat, frizzante, Italy, method champagnoise, Raboso, sparkling wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.