Few days on the calendar call for a bit of sparkle to the same extent as Valentine’s Day. However diamonds and fine jewellery are far from the only way to add that sparkle. In fact, few things can be as romantic as a glass of champagne, whether as part of a dinner for two or a sunset toast to time spent together.
When it comes to true champagne, it is difficult to go wrong, but for something special on Valentine’s Day, a rose champagne may be just the thing, with Lanson Rose fitting the bill perfectly.
According to Barnaby Richardson of Tortuga, the rose has many unique attributes beyond the very fetching light pink colour.
“I love the rose because it is a very different style of rose, much more fruit forward, much more zesty and fresh – perfect for this kind of weather,” he says.
Central to retaining the fruit forward character of the champagne is avoiding malolactic fermentation, which would give the champagne a buttery taste and prevent it from being as fresh and refreshing as it is.
Although the Lanson brand may be new to Tortuga, it is a very well established brand in Europe and is even the official champagne of the championships at Wimbledon.
The champagne house is over 250 years old and is based in Reims, which is in the heart of champagne country.
The champagne house owns its own vineyards, which not only ensures that Lanson has full control of the quality of their champagnes, but also allows them to have the right balance of their vineyards under different varietals to provide the grapes they need to produce an exquisite rose.
“We’ve never really taken on a brand and pushed the rose side of it. Rose should be successful here, it is successful in most other developed wine markets and this is a pretty developed wine market,” says Barnaby.
“For me it is more fruit forward and more approachable so we are focussing on the rose more than on the brut because we feel it has a real point of difference.”
Lanson is the fourth champagne house for Tortuga, which already represents Nicolas Feuillatte, Piper-Heidsieck and Armand de Brignac, the famous Ace of Spades.
According to Barnaby, Tortuga will be running a special on its champagne brands over Valentine’s Day in celebration of the launch of Lanson in the Cayman Islands, offering 20 per cent off on its champagne brands.
“We will be celebrating these amazing champagnes that represent the expansion of Tortuga’s portfolio away from just rum and rum cakes to different label wines and champagnes,” he says.