Bye-Bye, rules; hello, Gypsy rosé
It’s the kind of wine you serve at breakfast to that last bit of the night,” co-founder Celine Lopez says of Gypsy Rosé, which she and Monette Bata-Garcia created together. “It’s a crémant from Bordeaux that carries with it an intense variant of berry flavors. It’s an incredibly light and refreshing demi-sec meant for every occasion and every day.” For those who are fuzzy on the intricacies of vino, a few things: a crémant is a sparkling wine made outside of Champagne. Champagne is not actually a generic name for bubbly, as is a common misconception, but is actually the French region where the grapes for a specific sparkling are sourced. There are all sorts of legalities and specificities in its label, for instance, a champagne’s fermentation process is exclusively called méthode champenoise. Other sparkling wines crafted outside Champagne, though created by similar means, are legally obligated to use the term méthode traditionnelle.
Likewise, the term demi-sec simply demonstrates where the wine would fall on the sweetness scale. The scale goes from brut nature to doux, and demi-sec falls along the spectrum as a medium-sweet blend. This is one of the reasons why Gypsy Rosé is so adaptable to every palate and affair, in that it isn’t too dry but is far from cloying. Not to mention the fact that being a rosé — which in the words of Jeff Morgan, author of Rosé: A Guide to the World’s Most Versatile Wine, is “brighter and more refreshing than many red wines and shares some characteristics with white wine” — makes it a drink that literally sits in the middle of everything.
The reason why Gypsy Rosé exists in the first place is because it’s meant to cut through the bull and pretense that tends to envelop the world of food and drink. It’s a refreshing drink both physically and conceptually, as it desires to be so easy on the palate that it becomes a no-brainer. Lopez says, “We wanted to create a wine that is very easy to serve and pairs well with practically anything edible.” They’ve even made a point to showcase its versatility on their Instagram account starting with a recipe for rosé gummies, to be followed up by other ideas for fun cocktails (apart, of course, from the popular frosé).
“It’s surprising that with our tropical weather, Rosé is still on the bench in a lot of wine lists or selections. We’re hoping to bridge that gap,” says Lopez. “We took everything from flavor, texture to price into consideration to create this perfect rosé for the Southeast Asian market.” She says that the creation of the product took almost a year, and they took great pains to find the perfect vitner. On the brand’s social media, they detail deliberations on the very minutia of the rosé, citing the color of the final label as the winner among “fifty shades of gold.”
And with all that painstaking care, what the women behind Gypsy Rosé hope to do is to set the customer free: to be inclusive of those who might not know much about wine but who do enjoy it, to invite those who’ve never had a sip of a rosy-colored bubbly to give it a swig, to pair their drink with whatever food they so desire, to infuse a celebratory vibe into the everyday by enjoying a breezy little crémant. Lopez wants people to throw out the rulebook and broaden their horizons. She communicates this cheekily, ever the saleswoman, saying, “Bye-bye, rules; hello, Gypsy Rosé.”
* ** Gypsy Rosé can be purchased through their Instagram account @gypsyrosediamant and retails for P995 a bottle.
‘It’s surprising that with our tropical weather, Rosé is still on the bench in a lot of wine lists. We’re hoping to bridge that gap,’ says Celine Lopez, who created Gypsy Rosé with her co-founder Monette Bata-Garcia.