Pink champagne is to the alcoholic beverages industry as Crystal Pepsi is to the soda industry (barring the fact that people didn't stop drinking pink champagne in 1993). It really doesn't taste any different than the regular stuff (to an untrained palate anyway), but it's fun to drink. Whether you're a cheesy romantic or an Eagles fan, this stuff is sure to yield a steamy good time. So what makes it pink? It's not an artificial dye, like the food coloring you'd make cake frosting with.
It's actually an extra step adding, or left in rather, during the champagne making process. In nearly all cases, the grapes used to make this fine beverage are either Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Meuneur, or Pinot Noir. To make to give beverage its rose hue, grapes with the Pinot prefix from the aforementioned list are used.
A lot of folks are under the false impression that Pinot Noir, for instance is red on the inside. It's not. All grapes used for producing these drinks are white on the inside. The difference between white champagne and pink, however, is that while the red grape skins are removed during the process, pink champagne makers leave them in. The rosier you wish to have the color, the longer you keep the skins in. As mentioned before, it's claimed that blacker grape skins can leave a fuller taste, but the difference is minimal, regardless of the sharpness of the tongue tasting it.
The just like any other alcoholic beverage on the market, the measure of quality and class in this drink is only measured by the amount of money you want to spend on it. You can get a bottle of Andre pink bubbly for less than $5, or on the other end of the spectrum, spend $500 on a bottle of Krug Rose. If you want to split the difference, however, some of the best pink champagne for the money is Moet and Chandon Brut Rose. It will run you around $50 a bottle, but its incredible balance of body and flavor and classic presentation makes it worth trying at least once. After you polish off the bottle of Moet, you can switch to Andre - I doubt you'll know the difference. There's a real popular drink that you see in a lot of rap videos in a pink bottle called Nuvo, that a lot of people think is champagne. Once sip, and you'll find out otherwise - it's pretty good, but it's actually sparking vodka...I know that wasn't terribly relevant, but I wanted to put it to rest.
To sum it up, pink, or rose champagne, is made differently for its distinctive presentation and unique aesthetic qualities. It can be just as sweet, dry, bold, full-bodied, cheap or expensive as the white stuff - the simple difference is - they just let the skins soak longer.
