The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is 100% Pinot Noir produced from grapes grown in New Mexico, Washington, and California. The Sauvage is a French word meaning wild and free, outside of modern society, something in its natural state. This Bubbly is a no dosage Sparkling wine.
The dosage is typically the last production detail performed on Sparkling wine. After the second fermentation is complete and the spent yeast is removed from the bottle’s neck, the Bubbly is brought up to the chosen sugar level. That is the dosage; a little portion of sweet wine is added to the bottle to make the Bubbly a dry or extra dry wine.
All Sparkling wines are adjusted at the end of production, except for Nature, No Dosage, or Sauvage Bubbly; they are left in their natural state. These are bone-dry Sparkling wines. This is Bubbly that must be produced with care since there is no do-over.
The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is from Gruet Winery located in New Mexico. Gilbert Gruet started a winery in Champagne, France, in the early 1950s. He heard from other French winemakers about an area near Engle, New Mexico, that was very promising for the production of Champagne-style Sparkling wine.
He took a trip to NM as was convinced and purchased land for a winery that produced its first vintage in 1989. The wines were a huge success, and before long, the demand for Gruet Bubbly outgrew the New Mexico vineyards, and they needed to bring in grapes from Washington and California. On an interesting side note, one of the local New Mexico vineyards, the local native peoples own the very few Indigenously owned vineyards in the US.
All the winemaking tricks for Sparkling wine happen during the first fermentation, but The length of its second fermentation often measures bubbly. With the Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly, the time from when the second fermentation started till the time the winery removed the yeast and the permanent cork a cage was affixed was 24 months.
The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly lists for $20; toward the end of the year, during the Holidays, the prices of Sparkling wine typically go down. But now is the time to scout out new favorites. An entry-level Bubbly from Champagne sells for between $30 and $40; the Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is not competing with the “value-priced” Champagne.
No dosage Champagne tends to start at the mid-tier level and go up in price. Gruet is owned and operated by a family that makes French Champagne, and they bring that experience and knowledge to Gruet Bubbly. If you think that Champagne-style wines that are made in New Mexico are weird, you won’t after you taste them. This is serious, Bubbly. The alcohol content is 12.5%.
Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly Tasting Notes
The color is pink with a good dose of apricot. The nose is brisk and clean; there are scents of cherry, lemon/lime, soft spice, light caramel, and strawberry. The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is very, very dry, and the flavors evaporate on your tongue.
This Bubbly tastes different since the lack of sugar content does not offer ripe fruit and citrus flavors typically experienced in wine. This is crisp and clean, and the flavors are shadows of fruit flavors rather than real fruit. That is not to suggest that the Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is not delicious; it is. This is a wine that tastes elegant. If you need actual flavors, there are cherry, pear, lemon, tart grapefruit, melon, a touch of cream.
But the flavors are not the focus of the wine; the length, the crispness, the fleeting acidity, and the ghostly flavors. This is a Bubbly that drinks well above its price tag.
The Summary
- The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is one of the best wines I have tasted in 2021 and I have sampled some good wines.
- If you have not experienced No Sugar or No Dosage Bubbly this is a great place to start. Most No Dosage Bubbly sells for several times the price of the Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly.
