CELESTE ROSÉ (DO CIGALES)
The New Rosé from Pago del Cielo
Celeste presents its first rosé wine in the style of the Cigales claretes.
The Celeste range is rooted in Castilla y León’s most renowned appellations of origin, and this marks its debut in the rosé category: a wine from the DO Cigales inspired by and a tribute to the region’s traditional claretes.
With this new addition, the Pago del Cielo winery, a Familia Torres property, completes the Celeste range, now featuring three types of wine: red, rosé, and red.
Celeste Rosé, a rosé from Pago del Cielo, is the perfect choice to complete this moment
About Claretes
- Celeste Rosé 2023 draws on the winemaking traditions of Cigales, a region north of Valladolid famous for its traditional rosé wines, also known as claretes. A blend of red and white varieties, these wines are vibrant in colour and brimming with fruity flavours.
- Winemaker Juan Ramón García wanted to offer a new take on this tradition. To do so, he selected Tempranillo parcels with 40-year-old vines or older, also planted with some white varieties. Longer skin contact provides the wine with more depth of colour and body.
- After fermentation in stainless steel tanks, the wine spends one month ageing in old underground concrete vats, yet another nod to the region’s winemaking tradition.
- The resulting wine – Celeste Rosé – displays a lovely salmon colour and a complex, intensely aromatic nose reminiscent of white flowers and stone fruit with notes of aniseed. Silky as it unfolds across the palate, the rosé makes for a wonderful aperitif, as well as pairing well with pasta, salads, and fish in mild tomato sauces. These dishes are often difficult to pair, and rosé wines provide an excellent solution given their versatile nature.
Celeste Rosé a Pago del Cielo rosé, is the perfect choice to complete this moment.
When tasting rosés, it is interesting to pay attention to some of the wines’ inherent qualities, particularly the nuances in their colour and fruit profile, which tends to be more distinctive than in red wines.
Redeeming Rosé
- Popular misconceptions abound when it comes to rosé, but these wines are neither “failed reds” nor a simple summery refreshment, but deliberately made quality wines worthy of respect. These wines can be made from white or red varieties with one caveat: they cannot simply be blends of the base wines.
- The colour nuances derive from the must having less contact with anthocyanins, the compounds found in grapes and responsible for their pigment. Truly great rosé wines are exciting, versatile, endowed with exceptional acidity, light on the palate, with very refreshing aromas that connect us to nature.
About Pago del Cielo
Pago del Cielo is Familia Torres’s winemaking project in Castilla y León and encompasses the most celebrated wine regions in each wine category: reds from Ribera del Duero, whites from Rueda, and rosés from Cigales. The project fuses tradition with a commitment to quality and a passion for winegrowing. Helmed by winemaker Juan Ramón García, Pago del Cielo began with the purchase of a small winery in Fompedraza, in the county of Campo de Peñafiel (Valladolid), in 2004. It also includes the winery Familia Torres acquired in Villafranca del Duero (Rueda) in 2014.
Pago del Cielo produces the Tinto Fino varietals Celeste Reserva, Celeste Crianza, Celeste Roble, and 62 Millas al Cielo from DO Ribera del Duero; the white Celeste Verdejo (DO Rueda), and the newly launched Celeste Rosé (DO Cigales).
Celeste Rosé, a Pago del Cielo gem, is a distinctive rosé that heightens the beauty of every moment, a perfect match to round out unforgettable occasions
Celeste Rosé 2023 (DO Cigales) has a recommended price of €8.50. Available for purchase here: El Petit Celler