ROSEY ROSÉ

Rosé wines

With the weather we are having at the moment (long may it last!) I feel I have to chat about one of my favourite wine styles – Rosé wines.
Now before you tune out & dismiss the notion that Rosé wines are but wines that ‘are neither here nor there’ I feel you should give them another try.

If you're invited to a trendy summer party, chances are you'll find some lovely pink choices at the wine table. Don't assume your connoisseur host has suddenly developed a taste for "sweet White Zin in a box." Dry Rosé wines are officially back in vogue (& not just in Woodberrys) and there is much to enjoy in these mouth-watering wines.

Rosé's chequered Past in Europe, dry Rosé wines are a must on hot summer days in the southern regions, where locals call for a refreshing dry wine that still bears some resemblance to its red counterpart, but without the weight. Some of the finest High quality Rosé is produced in France, Spain, Australia & New Zealand and is served throughout the summer months.

In the US, dry Rosé were enjoyed well into the '70s. But in the '80s, wine marketers began to call inexpensive, sweet Rosé "white," introducing the hugely popular "White Zinfandel." Since the advent of White Zin, this misunderstood wine style has battled a dubious reputation at best, and left many wine drinkers wary of anything pink in the glass.

Pink is the New White we are happy to report that the tide has officially turned. With the release of a number of excellent dry Rosé wines from around the world, Rosé is a stylish summer choice.

I was recently reading that ‘The New York Times.’ ran an article on Rosé titled "The Summer Drink to be seen with," claiming that Rosé has replaced the cosmopolitan as the "chick drink" in NYC bars. Do you think Carrie Bradshaw will be drinking Rosé in the upcoming film? – remember you heard it here first!

Creating the Perfect Pink

To put it simply, Rosé is crushed like a red wine, and then fermented like a white wine. Rosé can be made from a variety of red grapes - Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, and are often blends of several varietals. Rosé provides all the typical fruit flavours that are found in the red version of a varietal, but with a really juicy, fresh expression. Like a red wine, after the grapes are pressed, the juice is left in contact with the skins for a day or two, extracting flavour, structure and, above all, colour.

Now the process described above is where the recent Rosé wine controversy springs into play, it seems many commercial wine companies decided the above process was too time consuming & probably too costly, therefore they decided to make Rosé wine by simply adding a bit of red wine to a white wine, now this is where cheap wine gets a bad name, the quality is obviously a disaster & the flavours are a mixed jumble of mixed up wine which does not know if it is supposed to be a red or a white wine! Hopefully the new regulations – which will hopefully be enforced soon - will prevent this cowboy method of Rosé wine making from continuing.

While Rosé styles vary dramatically, the best are bone-dry and elegant, fresh and crisp, and unusually juicy on the palate. Rosé wines tend to have has a lovely, bright wild strawberry colour and bursts with flavours of peach, strawberry, watermelon and red cherry in the mouth. (Obviously depending upon the grapes used)Rosés are refreshing spring or summer aperitifs - always served well chilled. While many enjoy Rosé with light food & fruits, particularly the new world Rosé wines – as they tend to be punchier & fruit forward.

Old world rosé wines should probably be served without food, as they tend to be more delicate in flavour, but look, that is the beauty of wine it is a personal choice, just give it a try............