Blackcurrant Frizzante – Wine Cocktail

Raumland Cassis Secco with real blackcurrant juice

The Cassis Frizzante is a wine cocktail made from unpasteurized direct-pressed blackcurrant juice, red wine, and grape juice, with carbonation added in the cellar. It is therefore not a bottle-fermented sparkling wine, but rather the dark, fruity side of the Raumland sparkling wine estate.

Cassis Frizzante is the wine cocktail from the Raumland sparkling wine estate in Flörsheim-Dalsheim, Rheinhessen, and belongs to the Raumland Manufacture line. Those searching for the Raumland Cassis Secco are looking for this specific 0.75-liter bottle: dark red in the glass, and with 5.5 percent alcohol, it is significantly lighter than the estate's sparkling wines and the most uncomplicated way to get started with Volker Raumland.

Dark berries and a vibrant interplay of sweetness and acidity

It appears dark red and dense in the glass, and the scent immediately foreshadows the blackcurrant, smelling just as it does fresh from the bush.

On the palate, 77.7 grams of residual sugar per liter meet 9.9 grams of acidity, and this interplay keeps the Cassis Frizzante vibrant rather than letting it become cloying. Added to this are aromas of red gooseberry, wild apple, and blood orange, with a fine hint of rose blossom on the finish. It is fruity, dark, and juicy, with a perlage that turns out to be significantly finer than the word "cocktail" might suggest.

The bubbles rise slowly and carry the berry fruit upwards without overpowering the scent. This is precisely how you can tell that a master of sparkling wine was at work here, not a liqueur manufacturer.

For game, cheese, and as a Kir from Rheinhessen

With this bottle, Volker Raumland has created something like the Kir Royale of Rheinhessen, only already pre-mixed.

The original Kir is named after Felix Kir, the mayor of Dijon, who served white wine mixed with crème de cassis at receptions in the city hall. In the 1980s, the addition of champagne turned it into the Kir Royale, the drink of the jet set, long before Spritz and Hugo.

Cassis Frizzante pairs well with game dishes in dark sauces, as well as with aged hard cheese, and it doesn't need to fight against the sweetness when served with a dessert made of dark berries. Served well-chilled at 6 to 8 degrees Celsius, it belongs in a wide-bowled wine glass, not a narrow flute. A glass of this is just as perfect for opening the evening as it is for winding down after the main course.

Direct juice instead of liqueur

The difference from standard cassis liqueur lies in the juice. Raumland uses unpasteurized direct-pressed blackcurrant juice and combines it with red wine and the natural fruit sweetness of grape juice. The juice provides color, acidity, and depth, while the wine provides the necessary framework.

The Frizzante does not get its sparkle from a second fermentation in the bottle, but through added carbonation. This results in a noticeably lower pressure than in a traditional sparkling wine, and that is precisely what makes this wine cocktail light-footed and sociable. It is explicitly not a bottle-fermented sparkling wine, nor does it strive to be one.

Volker founded his sparkling wine estate in 1984, currently farms 14 hectares organically, and in 2020 became the first estate specializing exclusively in sparkling wine to be admitted to the VDP. The fact that a house of this caliber bottles a wine cocktail is not a sign of negligence, but of conviction. In addition, you can find our white Secco Frizzante, the Rosé Frizzante from red grapes, as well as other sparkling wines from Flörsheim-Dalsheim.