Photo: Roberto Luna

By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS

In a surprise celebration of spring and all things bubbly, Palacio de Hierro glimmered last week with a one-night-only pink champagne and sparkling rosé pop-up stand inside its Santa Fe store in Mexico City.

The exclusive “Le Champagné Rose” pop-up stand offered three different pink cuvées from some of France’s most venerated champagne houses: Lanson, Louis Roederer and Billecart Salmon.

Unlike rosé wines, which are made from red grapes that have been crushed with their skins being allowed to be in contact with the juice for a limited time (producing the rosy color), pink champagnes are made by adding small amounts of red wine to a white wine base.

As a consequence, pink champagne is generally sweeter and more fruity than rosé wine, with a more aromatic bouquet.

And of course, it is known for its elegant tiny bubbles that hasten the scent to the nose.

The Lanson Le Rosé Brut, produced by one of the earliest wineries in France to explore rosé champagnes, had a light, salmon hue with a balanced nose of tea roses and sweet red berries and a persistent flair of pomegranates and strawberry jam.

It was composed of 53 percent pinot noir, 32 percent chardonnay and 15 percent meunier.

The Louis Roederer 2016 Rosé, a brilliant blend of 62 percent pinot noir and 38 percent chardonnay, was both vivid and crystalline in the glass, with a robust body of ripe red berries and fresh peaches, accented by a subtle undertone of blanched almonds.

And the Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé, exquisitely crafted from 30 percent pinot noir, 40 chardonnay and 30 percent meunier, had a soft pink blush with tints of gold and a zesty taste of cranberries, raspberries and citrus.