T

he Jepun Sparkling Rosé produced by Bali'€™s Hatten Wines winery was awarded on Friday the argent (silver medal) during the Le Mondial du Rosé annual contest for rosé wines in Cannes, France.

The results were published online on May 5, confirming that the Balinese winemaker had surpassed all expectations in the French competition, Hatten said in a press statement made available to Bali Daily on Wednesday.

'€œThis is great news for Hatten Wines. This means we have applied the méthode champenoise [French traditional winemaking method] with accuracy and care,'€ said IB Rai Budarsa, owner of Hatten Wines.

'€œOur wine is made in Bali, by Balinese people, by hand. Not many wineries still use the traditional method by hand. Yet, we have won a fantastic accolade from the Union of French Winemakers.'€

Le Mondial du Rosé is an international competition specifically for rosé wines, organized by the Union des Oenologues de France (Union of French Winemakers) in March or April each year in Cannes.

Hatten expressed its pride over the award, saying that '€œJepun would soon wear the medal alongside other recognized rosé wines in the world and its own Alexandria rosé wine'€ '€” which was awarded the gold medal in the China Wine and Spirits Awards (CWSA) in Hong Kong in 2013.'€

Confined for many years to the image of a summer drink, the committee said the competition was held due to the fact that rosé wines had now joined the big league of wines. The international wine critics even agreed that in some regions, they were the finest expression there was of the flavors of their territory.

The union cited that rosé wines owed this acknowledgement to the ambition and determination of winegrowers and producers to master the highly complex technical and winemaking specifics these wines required.

Hatten said that it had entered the Jepun wine into the competition in April on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. It attributed the fine Jepun production to its Balinese winemakers applying the traditional method of champagne, méthode champeniose.

The méthode champenoise is a method used in the Champagne area of France to produce a sparkling wine with its effervescence produced by a secondary fermentation in the bottle. The yeasts are then expelled from the bottle after a long ridding process and the disgorging of the bottle, bottling only the clear and delicate sparkling wine.

Defying the popular notion that growing grapes and producing quality wine in the Asian tropics is near impossible, Hatten said it had managed to establish a successful wine trade, while gathering some international recognition.