Fizz for Valentine’s Day (From York Press)

Fizz for Valentine’s Day

11:35am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Tipping's Tipples By Mike Tipping

In this week’s Tipping’s Tipples, MIKE TIPPING suggests fizz for Valentine’s Day and points you to the right glass.

BUBBLE boffins recently proved what fizz fans have always known. Sparkling wine tastes better out of long, narrow, fluted glasses.

This classic shape promotes the flavour-enhancing bubbles, according to scientists at France’s University of Reims.

They found a much higher concentration of gases, from the bubbles, above the flute surface than in wider glasses. So lads, don’t try to impress your girlfriend by serving Champagne in pint glasses this Valentine’s Day!

Quite why rosé bubbles have become synonymous with Valentine’s Day I can only guess. I suppose it is because we associate sparkling wine with celebration and because pink is considered a romantic colour.

I’ve picked three reasonably priced pink sparklers that would be ideal to share with your other half on Tuesday. The reasonably priced aspect rules out Champagne but I don’t believe the wines listed here are in any way poor relations.

Codorniu Vintage Rosado Cava Brut 2009 is bright, fruity and in an easy drinking style, dry but not too dry, which makes it a good aperitif.

Made from traditional cava grapes, monastrell, macabeo, xarel.lo and parellada but with pinot noir too, it suggests strawberry and red cherry, with a hint of toast. Conveniently this one is on offer at Tesco until later in the month.

Yorkshire-based online fizz specialists Champagne Warehouse has something deliciously different from Italy. Vignarosa Amorino Rosato Brut is a blend of cabernet, merlot and raboso grapes from the 2009 harvest.

It’s a vivid pink colour and great fun, with pronounced strawberry aromas and flavours, hints of cherry, cream soda and a fine stream of bubbles. You may well have tasted this wine at the York Festival of Food and Drink, back in September.

Or Morrisons list a Champagne-esque pink fizz from South Africa’s Western Cape. Pongrácz Brut Rosé, made with pinot noir and chardonnay, which impresses with upfront flavours of cherry, strawberry and cassis, a subtle toastiness and fine bubbles.

• Codorniu Vintage Rosado Cava Brut 2009, £6.99 at Tesco 16/20.

• Vignarosa Amorino Rosato Brut, £10.75 from Champagne Warehouse (champagnewarehouse.com) 17/20.

• Pongrácz Brut Rosé, £14.99 at Morrisons 17/20.