Miss Bouquet - …nose good wine!

I’m fresh back from Milan, the city of fashion, food, and fabulous weather. Have you been? It’s a place where brands rule and paupers drool. Prada, Missoni, Ferrari…. there’s temptation at every corner!

I was amazed at how quickly we acclimatised to the local way of life. Fresh pasta, authentic pizzas, and gelato felt like second nature after our first lunch and our afternoons quickly became structured around the Milanese institution that is aperitivo hour as soon as the clock strikes 6pm.

Yes, everything to do with London became a distant memory the minute Milan’s summer sun hit our shoulders. Everything that is except for the rosé. In London when the sun comes out sales of rosé wine peak along with burger buns and BBQ sauce. Not so in Milan, it’s red, white or limoncello it seems. We hunted high and low, from traditional trattorias to curb side cafés, from pizzerias to fancy Milanese bars, hell we even ventured to the Bulgari Hotel, all in the name of research you understand!

To my relief however rosé wine in Milan turned out to be less elusive than George Clooney did on our trip to Lake Como and our hard work was finally rewarded in a way that only an Italian wine could. Yes it was at the HClub, Milan’s fashionista hotspot that the fashion pack proved that they’re always one step ahead of the rest as we were presented with a bottle of Ferrari sparkling rosé from Trento. I kid you not. Bellissimo.

Ferrari Brut Rosé NV, traditional method sparkling wine, Trento DOC, Italy, is available at www.imbibros.co.uk for £23.95. Prego.

Miss Bouquet’s top tip:
To get your hands on a more widely available alternative to this fast lane sparkler try Champagne Lanson Brut Rosé NV. Fresh fruit strawberries and ripe peach skin aromas meet a smorgasbord of summer fruit flavours and a light creamy texture on the finish. Available widely at Tesco stores, £32.99.

This article has been published in the July 2010 issue of The Notebook, Kensington & Chelsea