N.V. Bernard Rondeau Vin du Bugey-Cerdon, Methode Ancestrale Rose, Savoie, France (750ml)   

This is a delightful, slightly sweet sparkling rose wine from the tiny Cerdon de Bugey appellation in the Savoie region of France. It is made by a gentle, earnest hardworking husband and wife team who are raising their sweet children in their winery/home.

Per the rules of the AOC, this sparkling rosé Cerdon de Bugey is 100% Gamay Noir (Poulsard is also allowed to be blended with Gamay.) It is light in body and low in alcohol (7%) making it ideal to drink as an aperitif or with fruity desserts or beignets with powdered sugar (which we got to taste right out of the oven when we visited them). As Charles Neal says, "this is literally like a strawberry parfait in a glass. At about 40 grams of residual sugar, the wine does have some perceptible sweetness; however, with the very delicate tannin of Gamay and the supporting acidity, the wine comes across as being less sweet than it actually is."