The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today!
If I could only drink one type of alcohol for the rest of my life it would be Champagne. It’s light enough for brunch, its effervescence makes any cocktail hour more festive, and its acidity pairs well with a wide range of dinner entrées. Even better: Champagne comes in rosé, which I start to crave once the weather warms.
If you are new to sparkling rosé, the style runs from slightly sweet to bone dry, and Corridor 44 on Larimer Square is the ideal place to sample the spectrum. Recently, I enjoyed the rosé flight, which consisted of three slender flutes of different French sparklers. (Technically, it’s only called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region.) The three pours were a crisp Bouvet Brut Rosé, a 100 percent sparkling Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley; a lively Simonnet-Febvre Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé, a 100 percent Pinot Noir from Burgundy; and a lightly sweet Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brute Rosé, a 100 percent Pinot Noir from Alsace.
Pair the flight with Corridor 44’s cheese plate. The selections change frequently but I enjoyed a hard-aged Gouda, a soft Port Salut, and a rich blue, all served with a collection of dried fruits, candied nuts, figs with a pear-and-apple compote, and an organic fig jam with crackers.
1433 Larimer St., 303-893-0044
—Image via Shutterstock