The last of the summer wine…. is it that time of year already? My bikini has yet to see the light of day & my consumption of rosé hasn’t peaked since Christmas, yet the *crunch* of pink screwcaps opening, which has long signalled the sound of the summer wine, has been unusually quiet this season. Surprisingly though I’ve realised I’ve not actually missed it.
Amongst the wine trends I’ve been enjoying over the last few weeks – including a renewed interest in chilling red wine (hands up those that heard me on the radio talking about that one?!) and the rise and rise of the delicious wines of Portugal (more on that next time) – a general nonchalance towards the nations favourite summer wine had passed me by. That was until I noticed on My Wine Friend iphone app that I’d not drunk a single rosé since downloading it in June.
The mystery of course is that on this occasion I’m not sure we can really blame the weather!
I’ve always been a fan of rosé wine, it has an unspoken ‘sit-back-and-relax’ tone to it that in my Busman’s holiday of a wine-world I sometimes long for. It’s not the sort of wine you spend agonising over what to serve it with, how long to let it breath for or whether your neighbours will be facebook-ing about your lack of taste after your BBQ next Sunday. But maybe that’s where rosé has lost its way. It’s become an all encompassing category that is defined by its colour and not by its taste. Personally I prefer the dry Rosé de Provence styles recognisable by their salmon orange hue and steer clear of the E1234 florescent raspberry coloured ones. But it’s still difficult to be sure what style of rosé you’re going to get before you actually taste it. And even if we opt to use the rule of thumb colour guide of ‘light pink = dry’ and ‘dark pink = fruitier and possibly sweeter’, then where do we get our style indicator from when choosing what rosé to have a glass of from a wine list?
All Bar One is a great example of how to help us choose a rosé at the bar. Their back walls of wine not only get our thirst on but helpfully display the name of the wines under the bottles so we can choose with our eyes before our taste buds. When you next pop in try their Rioja Rosado Monte Clavijo from Spain at £4.50 a glass. It’s a quaffable half way house of strawberry fruity goodness with a refreshingly dry finish and a reassuringly mid-pink hue. And if you’re weaning yourself off the wouldn’t-be-seen-dead-drinking Pinot Grigio blush at Carluccio’s then you can spend less and enjoy more by opting for a bottle of their Silvium rosé made from the Montepulciano grape. Its intense fushia pink would normally have put me off but its fresh summer fruit salad character makes it the perfect Saturday lunchtime time pick me up.
To find out more about the different styles of rosé wines out there visit www.rosewinerevolution.com these guys are spreading the word about “serious Rosés for grown ups – but they’re not to be taken too seriously!” If their campaign hits the mainstream, which I hope it does, then I’ll be anticpating the sound of the summer wine long before the summer comes next year!
