Rosé des Riceys is a still wine AOC for rosé wines made exclusively from Pinot Noir - an anomaly in their home region of Champagne. The wines are produced in and around the commune of Riceys in the Aube department, in the extreme South of Champagne. The wines are quite well coloured and have the characteristic Pinot Noir Aroma of red cherries and Dried herbs. The grapes are pressed as whole bunches after being vinified by "semi-carbonic" Maceration (a more famous Vinification technique associated with the Bright, chewing gum-scented Beaujolais Nouveau wines).
Maceration times are generally Short, with the colour of the resulting wine falling somewhere between salmon and madder. The wines must have a vintage and are usually released in the summer following the harvest (wines cannot be sent for bottling until July of the year following the harvest). Documented evidence of viticulture in the area dates back to the 8th century, although viticulture was probably established in antiquity. Legend has it that workers from Riceys gave a bottle of their rosé to King Louis XIV during the construction of the Château de Versailles.
