The New Year's Eve celebrations helped pink champagne sales rise this year.

Rose champagne seems to have overcome the image problems faced by some pink wines, boosting global champagne sales over the New Year, said Darrin Siegfried, a wine instructor and former president of the Sommelier Society of America.

"The prejudice is that if it's pink, it's for girls," said Mr Siegfried. "If the wine is pink, they think it's sweet."

Mr Siegfried, who also operates a New York wine store, said about seven per cent of his champagne sales are rose, in line with a growth trend since 2000, while rose historically accounts for about three per cent of the champagne market.

"Rose is the fastest growing champagne segment," said Charles Curtis, director of wine and spirit for Moet Hennessey USA, part of luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Observing this surge in demand in rose, LVMH's Veuve Clicquot launched a non-vintage rose champagne under its popular Yellow Label last year.

In the first six months of 2006, about 833,271 bottles of rose champagne were shipped to the United States, the world's No. 2 importer of champagne, surpassing the amount during the same span in 2005.