By Gil Kulers

For the AJC

Graham Beck Brut Rosé,

Western Cape,

South Africa

$17

Two thumbs way up

Intense effervescence with aromas of yeasty, earthy strawberry. Flavors of light red cherry, preserved lemon with Champagne-like chalky mineral notes. It has a creamy, cappuccinolike foam texture.

Note: Wines are rated on a rising scale of thumbs down, one thumb mostly up, one thumb up, two thumbs up, two thumbs way up and golden thumb award. Prices are suggested retail prices as provided by the winery, one of its agents, a local distributor or retailer.

As much as I enjoy dry still pink wines for the fun of it, I enjoy pink sparkling wines in a more serious manner. These salmon-colored sparklers are some of the most food-friendly wines. They go with everything from fried chicken to seared tuna to rich, slightly spicy black bean soup, which I enjoyed with the two sparklers in question.

The first pink bubbly is from South Africa, not a bastion of sparkling wine. But it’s an honest sparkler made in the méthode cap classique style, which is South African for the Champagne-style process of making bubbly. It contains 58 percent chardonnay and 42 percent pinot noir, which gives it its light salmon color. I’m sure there will be more than one bottle of cap classique uncorked during the World Cup soccer tournament.

The second wine is real Champagne from Champagne, France. Nicolas Feuillatte makes fine, affordable sparklers, and its new entry is a cute little “split” or quarter bottle called “one fo(u)r.” Apparently, these tiny bottles of Champagne are popular in the clubs and are sipped through a straw. Feuillatte’s innovation is a wristband that turns the bottle into a large charm bracelet, but it’s really supposed to prevent warming of the wine between sips because you don’t have to hold it in your 98-degree hands.

Gil Kulers is a certified wine educator with the Society of Wine Educators and teaches in-home wine classes. You can reach him at Gil.Kulers@WineKulers.com.