Celebrate Valentine's Day with Black Elephant Vintners

Coco Chanel once wisely said, “I only drink champagne on two occasions, when I am in love
and when I am not.”

As we eagerly anticipate Valentine’s Day and celebrate this love-filled occasion with optimism and a renewed passion, what better way to toast the special moment than with a homemade sparkling rosé strawberry cocktail featuring your CAP Classique Extra Brut Rosé 2019 from Black Elephant Vintners?

Why choose this delightful concoction? Because it's the epitome of romance in a glass, it’s fun with bubbles, and it’s bursting with love. So, don your best shades of pink and let the love festivities commence!

The 2019 Pinot Noir Rose MCC originates from a single vineyard nestled in the Franschhoek valley. The Pinot Noir grapes undergo meticulous hand-harvesting and are chilled overnight in a cold room to maintain their fruit integrity.

Employing a reductive handling process, the fruit is carefully picked in the early morning, followed by two days of cold settling and a gentle whole bunch pressing using the traditional champagne method to clarify the juice.

A maximum of 500l/ton is recovered at this stage. The juice is then inoculated with selected Champagne yeast to enhance freshness and elegance during fermentation in old French oak barrels, lasting 14 days at 16°C.

Post-fermentation, the wine enjoys six months of full lees contact with regular battonage for added richness and texture. After stabilising, the base wine spends six months in the barrel before bottling for the second fermentation under a crown cap. The final touch includes 12 months of bottle ageing before disgorging.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? So, let’s get straight into cocktail-making.

Ingredients

• 4 parts CAP Classique Extra Brut Rose 2019
• 1 part strawberry vodka
• 1 part lemon-lime soda / Sprite
• Strawberries, hulled and halved
• Optional: edible glitter, rock candy sticks, and fun straws for the show.

Instructions

• Mix together the CAP Classique Extra Brut Rose, vodka, lemon-lime soda and serve with sliced strawberries.
• For enhanced flavour, muddle the strawberries together with the cocktail to serve, or blend with ice!
• Here's to embracing the essence of summer, toasting to love and sipping on the sparkle of optimism with your homemade CAP Classique Extra Brut Rosé Strawberry cocktail; because every moment is worth celebrating!

Cheers to you and cheers to the rest of the year ahead!

Supplied by:  Black Elephant Vintners

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