Luc Belaire is a brand of premium French sparkling wine that has known an great deal of success since the launch of this Rare Rosé in 2011.
The Luc Belaire range also includes a white wine that we’ve also reviewed. See the tasting for Luc Belaire Rare Brut Blanc de Blancs.
The brand was created by New York-based Sovereign Brands, whose CEO Brett Berish also created the Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades Champagne. The latter was made famous by the recurring appearance of its distinctive gold bottle in Jay-Z videos and nightlife extravaganzas.
While Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades brand was sold to Jay-Z himself in November 2014, Luc Belaire found another rapper to endorse the brand: Rick Ross.
The support of Maybach record label’s founder, combined with a distinctive black and gold bottle design, propelled the Luc Belaire Rare Rosé within the Top 100 most searched for wines in the US, as reported by Wine-Searcher.
The grapes for this Rare Rosé come from southeastern France’s Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region, home of the famous Côte d’Azur also called French Riviera.
The wine is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah from the picturesque Provence region, between the Italian border, Marseille and the French alps. This how the producer describes the input of each grape varieties:
- “Grenache gives body, warmth and hints of blackberry and blackcurrant
- Cinsault adds aromatic cherry blossom on the nose, finesse, and a supple texture to the finish
- Syrah accounts for BELAIRE ROSÉ’s beautiful color and provides roundness“
But as know, fame does not always come with taste. So how good this famous wine really is?
The answer is in the tasting notes:
The bottle comes in its classic black apparel. It’s dark and intriguing. Rather classy really.
The label lights up in a bright purpleish pink color. It’s fun! How does that work? The deep punt of the sparkling wine bottle is fitted with a little plastic capsule that hosts a switch. Turn it on, and the label lights up in a nice looking glow. Check our YouTube video below, or on Poppin and Pourin Luc Belaire Rare Rosé – French Sparkling wine with a Cool Purple Glowing Label.
One understand how this would be very popular and attract attention in a night club!
Overall tasting experience: An enjoyable, intensely fruity rosé sparkling wine, with loads of strawberry aromas rounded up by creamy notes. It’s quite sweet accentuating the lolly-like feel about it. But surprisingly, the wine adds a ‘Champagne method’ layer and depth to it, with spices, buttery notes !
You understand why this wine appeals to most palates. It’s easy to understand, fruity and quite sweet. But there is some complexity, length and depth in it as well, making the whole experience rather surprising, quite unlike anything I’ve tasted before. Like drinking a rosé de Provence (which it is really) that has a certain Vintage Champagne-like complexity about it. Different, but well made!
Purely from a formal wine tasting perspective, I have to admit that I was (much) more impressed by the White Luc Belaire (see tasting notes for Luc Belaire Rare White). On the other hand, one has to admit this will appeal to much broader palates.
Drinks very well if you like a bit of sweetness in a sparkling wine, and does have some complex characters to it.
Watch our fun and unpretentious video, discover the fun blowing label and the genuine color of the wine:
More seriously, you might want to watch Ricky Rozay video about his favorite sparkling wine:
Found out more about Luc Blaire wines on LucBelaire.com
Find the wines to buy online on Wine-Searcher.
Please let me know your thoughts