Heather Dougherty, Lionel Periner and Daphne Teremetz tasted 111 wines, with 5 Outstanding and 37 Highly recommended.

Provence rosé: Panel tasting scores

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 5

Highly recommended 37

Recommended 59

Commended 10

Fair 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-release rosé wines from any of the APs Côtes de Provence, Coteaux Varois en Provence, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, Les Baux de Provence, Bandol, Bellet, Cassis, Palette or Pierrevert

'The Bandol region stood out to me'

Provence rosé is a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds, and this tasting treated us to wines ranging in hue from barely coloured, palest blanc de noir, through ‘onion skin’ colour to deep coral pink, reflecting the breadth of styles available.

Nevertheless, the classic Côtes de Provence rosé paradigm of wines that are pale in colour accounted for most of those in this tasting.

When done well, these delicate wines still deliver in terms of flavour. Daphne Teremetz encapsulated what she was looking for as ‘pure, wild strawberry fruit, a creamy-textured palate with a crisp, fresh finish, as well as some delicate fruit flavour on the finish’.

All three judges were expecting consistency, in a style that has come to define the rosé category.

‘Provence rosé has a remarkably consistent identity,’ said Lionel Periner. ‘When people imagine pale, dry rosé, they’re usually picturing Provence.’

A touch of age

Although most Provence rosés are generally destined to be drunk in the summer after they’re made, the fact that four out of five of the wines we rated Outstanding were older vintages shows that, at a certain quality level, there are fine wines being made that age beautifully.

Bandol excelled in this, accounting for two of those five wines scoring 95 or 96 points, flying the flag for often more deeply coloured, ageworthy, gastronomic styles.

Periner expressed his enthusiasm: ‘The Bandol region stood out to me as the most interesting: the wines we tasted showed great freshness in a medium-bodied style, and they would pair beautifully with food.’

The success of Château d’Esclans’ flagship blend Garrus also demonstrated that neither Mourvèdre nor deep colour is a requirement for Provence rosé to age well.

At the other end of the scale, too many wines from the appellations of Coteaux Varois and Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence underperformed, showing either a lack of flavour or tartness. In terms of value for money,

Teremetz summed it up: ‘The pricing is far above average – and the best wines absolutely merit that.’

See all notes and scores from the Provence rosé panel tasting

The judges

Provence rosé panel tasting results

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It's the time of year at Decanter’s London HQ when we are watching the skies for an opportunity to enjoy a glass of chilled rosé in the sunshine at the end of our working day! See how well you know your pink wines in our 12-question quiz, below.

The rosé boom continues apace, with wine lovers turning to pinks of all shades and from all corners of the wine world – and not just in summer.

Though Provence retains its reputation as the benchmark style for many estates, winemakers and wine lovers are getting the message that a paler hue doesn’t automatically equate to higher quality, leading to an explosion in new styles.

Whatever your preferred shade of pink, it pays to keep a keen eye on the rosé category at your favourite retailer.

Use our rosé quiz to help identify the gaps in your knowledge, and make it your resolution to experiment more widely this summer!

Take our rosé wine quiz

More quizzes

Roger Taylor has become the latest name to enter the celebrity wine game, with the launch of Queen Côtes de Provence Rosé.

The Queen drummer has taken an active part in the creation of Cuvée Rock n’ Roll 2025, a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Cinsault.

‘We’ve always believed in doing things properly, and that was the starting point here,’ said Taylor.

‘I’ve spent a lot of time around rosé over the years, and I wanted to create something that felt consistent, expressive and genuinely enjoyable in partnership with good friends. It needed to have that sense of joy to it – something that brings people together.’

He added: ‘This isn’t about putting a name on a bottle; it’s about creating something with real integrity.’

The new rosé is a collaborative project with investment from Sony Music, Watermill Wines, Rupert Clevely, former UK MD of Veuve Clicquot, and Provence winery Les Caves du Commandeur.

‘When we met the team at Les Caves du Commandeur, we knew straight away it was the right partnership. They’ve been making wine in Provence since 1913 bringing together 60 growers who live and breathe the craft. Their respect for the land, attention to detail and their integrity, all aligned perfectly with what we wanted to create,’ said Taylor.

The wine was made by head winemaker Valérie Courrèges (above). ​​’We tried to have elegance, structure and freshness. In Provence it’s not always so easy, because it’s very sunny,’ she said.

Courrèges worked directly with the various growers, visiting the vineyards and deciding the dates of picking to ensure good natural acidity and freshness.

‘I think wine is like music. It’s about emotional connection and balance,’ said Courrèges, who also makes her own wines in Cahors.

Taylor was closely involved in creating the blend, as well as the overall vision and style of the wine.

‘I wouldn’t claim to be an expert about wine, but I would claim to be a lifelong lover of it, having consumed quite a lot of it,’ quipped Taylor at the London launch, where he was in conversation with comedian Paul Whitehouse.

Les Caves du Commandeur is a cooperative based in Montfort-sur-Argens, whose members manage 650ha of vineyards there and in nine surrounding communes, including Carcès, Correns, Cotignac, Salernes and Villecroze. Over 90% of their vines are certified organic or High Environmental Value (HVE).

So how does it taste? Cuvée Rock n’ Roll 2025 is a classic pale pink Provence rosé, with red berry and citrus aromas. There’s plenty of juicy strawberry fruit on the creamy palate, which finishes crisp and fresh.

The elegant pyramid bottle is labelled with the Queen logo in pale blue. ‘The bottle is beautiful. I would use it as a water bottle afterwards with a nice glass stopper,’ said Taylor.

He added that there were currently no plans to make other Cuvées and create a Queen wine range.

The wine will retail for £18, with stockists due to be announced on the website queenwinesoffical.com on 5 May.

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Taittinger’s prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne, made from 100% Chardonnay, is one of the region’s most recognisable wines. Lesser spotted, though, is its pink cousin.

The newly released 2012, however, is one of its most impressive vintages.

Scroll down for Tom’s tasting note and score for Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2012

‘The story is a bit different from the white version,’ says Taittinger cellar master Alexandre Ponnavoy.

While the white cuvée debuted in 1952, prestige-level rosé Champagne was a later development, and Comtes Rosé didn’t appear until 1970.

Although initially Chardonnay dominant, the rosé has evolved over time to become Pinot Noir dominant, reflecting a ‘fashion throughout the 1990s and 2000s for fruitier, crisp rosés with lots of red fruit,’ says Ponnavoy.

The Comtes Rosé 2012, though, signals a slight change in direction from some of the deeper, fruitier rosés released over the last decade.

This is a release of beautiful expressive fruit but, in comparison to 2011 for example, an ultra-refined level of silky polish and restraint that, although still a very different wine from the white, seems to approach it in delicacy.

Why is Comtes Rosé 2012 so good?

Ponnavoy has begun a process of refinement in the winemaking – especially the production of the red wine used in the blend – but believes much of this apparent bump in quality in 2012, quite evident over the more unusual 2011, is simply down to the vintage.

‘Between the warmth of 2011 and the minerality and freshness of 2013, you have 2012,’ he says.

It was a year that promised disaster in Champagne, beset by frost, disease and low yields. It was saved by a clement run up to harvest that yielded grapes of phenomenal concentration of both ripeness and acidity.

‘You have to imagine the wonderful potential of aging here,’ he says.

Indeed, ageing is something that keen-eyed Champagne fans might remark on. Taittinger has started keeping hold of Comtes Rosé a little longer than the white Comtes before release. This extra ageing on lees is also a factor in the 2012’s immediate quality.

‘After several tastings we decided not to sell after eight or 10 years, but after 12, to achieve all the complexity of the cuvée,’ he says, ‘It’s a long piece of work!’

Unlike some other vintage and prestige rosés, this is not a wine made simply by adding red wine into a white blend destined for another cuvée – something Ponnavoy believes would be a ‘huge mistake’ for a wine with its own identity.

Instead, Comtes Rosé is blended from the bottom up each vintage. All the grapes are sourced from grand cru villages in the Montagne de Reims and Côte des Blancs.

It is a rosé d’assemblage, or a blended rosé, made by blending in a specially made red wine to the white base before bottling for the secondary fermentation.

It is the village of Bouzy, famous for its southern exposure, chalk soils and historical red wine production, that appears central to the blend. ‘We have done lots of trials, but if you don’t use Bouzy you lose the identity of the wine,’ says Ponnavoy.

In 2012 the rosé proves itself to be much more than a sideshow to the white release; this is an age-worthy, remarkable rosé worth buying.

Comtes Rosé 2012 tasted and rated

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Rosé has been the still wine success story of the last 15 years.

From being a drink that barely dared speak its name around the millennium it’s now become a staple of Friday night sofas, garden barbecues and sun-baked terraces the world over.

There are even signs that wine drinkers are beginning to accept that it’s not solely for summer.

Yet for all its progress one door remains stubbornly shut. Pinks can be good, they can be ambitious, they can be expensive.

But this is still a style that is not really considered a ‘fine wine’.

The fine wine question

The question is: Is this thinking justified? Or do we need to knock down the final barrier to entry, and think about top-end rosés the same way we do about the upper tier of reds and whites?

To begin with, it’s probably helpful to consider what actually constitutes a fine wine.

You might think – as some respected tasters do – that depth, concentration, balance and complexity in the liquid are sufficient.

Others, however, are looking for something beyond what’s simply good in the here and now.

Siobhan Turner MW spends a lot of time cataloguing and verifying fine wines in top-end investment cellars.

‘The ability to age is a fundamental characteristic of fine wine,’ she says. ‘Whether people are investing for future profit or pleasure, they need to know it will be as good or better in 10 years’ time.’

It’s a point that’s echoed by Nick Pegna, global head of wine and spirits at auction house Sotheby’s.

Tellingly, outside rosé Champagne he says there are no pink wines attracting big money at auction. Some experts cite Viña Tondonia’s Gran Reserva rosé but largely draw a blank thereafter.

So, if ageability is the key to fine wine and there are essentially few if any still fine wine pinks, does this mean that, ipso facto, rosé is inherently unable to age?

Ageing ambition

There are, perhaps, two separate questions here: firstly, do rosés that are designed to drink young fall over faster than their red or white equivalents; and secondly, what happens when wineries attempt to make more long-lived drinks?

Let’s start with the ‘young wines’ first. This, clearly, is where the vast majority of rosé sits: fresh, bright wines with purity favoured over complexity for speedy consumption.

This description, however, is not unique to rosé. Most red and white wines are also aged for no longer than it takes to drive them back from the supermarket.

The difference is that, while most of us are happy to sit on even fairly cheap red and white wines for a year or two without agonising too much about their drinkability, we tend to be much more wary of cutting pinks the same slack.

So, are we right? Not according to rosé guru Liz Gabay MW. For mid-priced pinks (say, £12+), she says that most tasters: ‘Will not be able to taste the difference between a rosé that is six months old and one that is three years old – and if they do (storage conditions notwithstanding), they will prefer the older one.’

That said, there is a big difference between your typical ‘swimming pool’ rosé which can age, and the small number of more ambitious pinks which are designed to.

Most commercial rosé is made with freshness and aroma in mind: cool fermentation, stainless steel and (often) aromatic yeasts.

Rosé designed for ageing is more about building breadth and texture: warmer fermentations, slightly longer maceration, controlled oxidation and time on lees. Time in oak, though rare, is becoming more common, too.

Château d’Esclans’ Garrus is perhaps the lodestar of the style and has helped make rosé a credible (if pricey) food-match option in top-end restaurants.

Rosé-nomics

The biggest mindset shift, however, when it comes to making top, ageable rosé might need to happen not in the winery, but in the vineyards.

Typically, rosés come from younger vines or less prestigious parcels. In the past, higher yielding vineyards were even seen as beneficial for rosé, since the lower levels of flavour helped to guarantee delicacy in the wine.

However, none of these factors work for creating top-end pinks, which will need fruit with deeper levels of flavour and structure if they are to last more than a few years.

As for reds and whites, top rosés will need top vineyards and, ideally, old vines.

This is where economics comes into play. Since it is picked, vinified, bottled and shipped out in not much more than six months, young rosé is good for wineries’ cash flow.

But reds and whites from top vineyards typically sell for a higher price than their pink equivalent would.

So it’s understandable that wineries are hesitant to use their best sites for making rosé.

Using your top vineyards for a wine that you can’t easily charge extra for is a tough sell to your bank manager.

In Les Riceys, Champagne’s most southerly area, yields for the still Rosé de Riceys wines are far lower than for sparkling rosé, but even very good bottles sell for less than the fizz.

The secret fine wine

And this, perhaps, is the real issue facing rosé when it comes to fine wine status.

A recent tasting in London showcased a range of serious pinks between five and 30 years to some of the wine world’s most prestigious palates.

There was complexity, nuance and evident longevity – the tasters were impressed.

But however wonderful the wines, until they attract the price tags and hype to go with their quality and ambition, numbers are likely to remain low.

Unlike for Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tuscany et al. there are no first growths, no en primeur campaign to help drive cashflow and pique interest, and not enough big names to generate critical mass.

There needs to be the same conversation about top rosé vineyards that there is for reds and whites.

These things may come in time – possibly in the relatively near future.

But until then, top-end rosé is a labour of love for the truly committed producer, and a secret worth exploring for wine drinkers in the know.

Four OLDER rosés for you to try

Garrus 2022, Château d’Esclans, Côtes de Provence, France

Pale it might be, but, coming as it does from a single vineyard of 100-year-old Grenache vines and Vermentino, this is a wine of concentration, breadth and complexity. Oak fermented and aged, it has flavours of creamy white peach and spicy – even slightly salty notes. A versatile food-matching wine for at least the next five years.

14.5% abv

Nuances 2016, Château de Pibarnon, Bandol, France

A wine that pulls you in with its shimmering coppery colour, and then beguiles with layers and nuance. Rich, powerful and spicy, with flavours of dried red fruit, warm stones, ginger, bayleaf and old furniture. Despite its evident development, it still has great freshness and will age further. Will work with fish, lamb, cassoulet, tagine, even curry.

14% abv

La Forêt 2012, Domaine Alexandre Bonnet, Rosé de Riceys, France

This 100% Pinot Noir is the burnished, dusky pink of a summer sunset. Despite its age it still holds evident hedgerow flavours – raspberries and blackcurrants – but softening and merging, with a poetic overlay of violets. The spritz of acidity acts like a cooling spray. Carries its complexity almost weightlessly.

12.5% abv

Classica Gran Reserva Rosado 2009, Lopez de Haro, Rioja, Spain

If the name is familiar to eagle-eyed readers, it’s because this won Best in Show at DWWA in 2022. With four years of oak ageing and more than a decade in bottle, it is about texture, character and breadth rather than fruit. So savour its subtle flavours of dried orange peel and savoury rancio, held together by a spider’s web of acidity.

12.5% abv

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Pink might not be the colour most associated with Portuguese wine, yet the country is a source of a perhaps surprising diversity of rosés, of very different hues and styles.

Produced in all of the country’s regions, from Vinho Verde in the north to Algarve in the south, by way of the Madeira and Azores archipelagos, the wealth of terroirs, mesoclimates, indigenous grape varieties and viticultural tradition is reflected in a particularly vibrant rosé category, setting it firmly apart from France’s arguably rather monotonal Provençal offering.

A blossoming category

The success of Provence no doubt played a key role in the resurgence of rosé as a whole, but Atlantic-cradled Portugal has a pink lineage very much of its own.

It’s along the parallel lines of international influence and traditional revival that Portuguese rosé has arrived at a newfound maturity in the last few years. While still enjoying, with some ambivalence, the ever-growing success of Mateus Rosé.

The unapologetically pink, softly sweet (15g/L of residual sugar), and relatively low-alcohol (11%) wine in its characteristic flask-shaped bottle, was, in many ways, a revolutionary product.

Now in its 80th year, it appealed to an expanding ‘global audience’ (owner Sogrape says it still sees yearly double-digit growth). This success, however, might lie at the root of the fact that many Portuguese producers still look suspiciously at the rosé category.

A broader palette

‘With the exception of Mateus Rosé, the category was somewhat dormant until the beginning of the 21st century,’ says Diogo Sepúlveda, who, as Sogrape’s head winemaker in charge of all but its Douro wines, oversees the production of the rosé colossus.

‘The success of Provence sparked a new interest. Now we are really looking at it from the point of view of our regions and varieties,’ explains Sepúlveda, referring to the other (premium) rosés he now produces at Sogrape’s estates.

A simultaneous reassessment of the appeal of traditional, rustic styles of lighter reds and palhetes (co-fermentions of red with up to 15% white grapes), opened new possibilities for Portuguese rosés with deeper colour, deeper fruit and more assertive tannic structure.

This explains why the beginning of the 21st century saw the category develop along two main axes: Provence doppelgangers; and natural-leaning oddities.

The category has since come a long way, recalibrating itself and finding its own identity at the crossroads of tradition and contemporary classicism.

The country’s wealth of grape varieties is a major factor driving the singularity of Portugal’s pinks. The multiple showings in this selection of Touriga Nacional – notably relevant in a wider, ongoing reassessment of the variety’s potential – are well worth exploring and comparing.

But lesser-known grapes such as Padeiro in Vinho Verde, Alfrocheiro and Jaen in the Dão, Negra Mole in the Algarve, Tinta Negra in Madeira or Moreto and Castelão in Tejo, make for a characterful palette of pinks, each with particular aromatic nuances and structural framework.

Rosé with a different accent

With greater confidence (and a sense of fun!) among producers, Portuguese rosé has become more itself, but also more ambitious.

Stainless steel is now one fermentation vessel of choice, though not the default, with clay, concrete and wood also skilfully used to tease out varietal character and sense of place.

And firmly contradicting those who argue that rosé must be drunk simple and young, some wines are released having spent time in the bottle – such as the unexpected, and brave, 2017 from Quinta do Montalto (see recommendations); or in the cellar, as in Niepoort’s Redoma Reserva 2019, bottled in 2024 after four and a half years in barrel.

Simplistic is something that Portuguese rosé certainly isn’t. The selection that follows is full of delicious, unexpected and idiosyncratic examples that tell a bigger story of rediscovery and authenticity.

See notes and scores for 18 charming Portuguese rosés

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‘This wine is a lot of work,’ says Laurent-Perrier oenologist Constance Delaire as we taste the current release of the house’s Cuvée Rosé, one of Champagne’s best-known rosés.

Most rosé Champagne is made using the assemblage method, which sees red wine from Pinot Noir added to a white base wine before bottling for the second fermentation.

Laurent-Perrier’s Cuvée Rosé, on the other hand, is made using a different method, and it’s an approach that many Champagne houses would consider unthinkably complex for making a rosé at scale.

Scroll down for notes and scores for Laurent-Perrier’s rosé Champagne

Although commonly referred to as saignée in Champagne, the method used by Laurent Perrier is more accurately described as maceration.

Outside of Champagne, saignée technically refers to rosé wines made from bleeding off pale must from red wine ferments.

In Champagne, however, saignée is used, albeit inaccurately, to refer to rosés made from red grapes which are destemmed, macerated for a precise amount of time to extract colour and flavour, pressed, and then fermented.

It is usually the preserve of small Champagne producers and growers, due to how labour-intensive it can be.

Such are the demands of this method, in fact, that Laurent-Perrier has built an entire winery dedicated solely to this one cuvée.

True dedication

Olivier Vigneron, the new cellar master at Laurent-Perrier, joins our tasting late, having been checking in on his wines after a few weeks of travelling.

‘I’m a cellar master of the cellar, really,’ he says, as opposed to a public ambassador for the house, as many other cellar masters are today.

‘At harvest time, Olivier and Michel would pretty much sleep next to the tanks for Cuvée Rosé,’ Delaire says of Vigneron and longtime predecessor Michel Fauconnet, who still consults at the house.

The making of a rosé icon

‘You have to start in the vineyards with a very strict selection,’ says Delaire, ‘the whole harvest for the rosé goes through a sorting table’.

This in itself is fairly extraordinary in Champagne. Sorting tables are vibrating units where individual bunches, or indeed grapes, are picked over by hand. They are a rare sight, except for top prestige rosé production.

‘We keep only the berries, separated by village, in cold maceration for 48 to 72 hours,’ says Delaire.

Perhaps sleeping next to the tanks doesn’t seem so crazy after all: the timing for pressing off the juice before it becomes too extracted is crucial.

‘You can miss it, even by an hour,’ says Vigneron.

So what’s the point of this process? ‘The idea is to get perfect extraction of the fruit,’ says Delaire.

Laurent-Perrier’s rosé comes out a shade darker than many.

Thanks to its 100% Pinot Noir makeup (compared to most rosé Champagne which also includes some Chardonnay and Meunier), it is fragrant and rich in red fruit characters.

What’s more, thanks to long lees-ageing (unusual for a non-vintage Champagne), there’s none of the slightly raw youthfulness that saignée – maceration – styles can sometimes display.

The current releases are based on the excellent pair of vintages, 2019 and 2018.

A step further

As if Laurent-Perrier’s unique approach to non-vintage rosé production wasn’t enough, its Grande Cuvée Alexandra Rosé has an equally unusual conception.

‘We wait for the maturity of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at the same time’, says Delaire – meaning this cuvée can only be made when the two grape varieties ripen concurrently.

It’s a sort of hybrid winemaking, where a strict selection of Pinot Noir – all from grand cru villages on the Montagne de Reims – is macerated and added to freshly pressed grand cru Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs.

‘It’s a really complicated wine to make,’ she says.

Complicated it may be, but the grand cru Chardonnay brings excellent longevity, which means this exceptional bottling can age into one of Champagne’s greatest rosés.

As we taste a library edition of the 2007 release, its beautiful aromas of dried strawberries, preserved citrus, truffle honey and pastry cream fill the room.

The colour has started to turn a little copper, and the mousse settles into silky maturity.

It’s a fine reminder of something that the team at Laurent-Perrier knows extremely well: sometimes you have to do it the hard way to get the greatest result.

Laurent-Perrier rosé:

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As we wade through the sticky, sultry dog days of summer, the allure of cool and refreshing drinks becomes not just more tantalising, but necessary.

And perhaps you’re currently feeling a little jaded by just the one style of wine you’ve been drinking over the past few weeks, too hot and bothered to muster up the brain power to try anything else.

A long, hot summer can be an awfully long time to constantly drink just the one rosé after all.

So if you’re stuck in a summer rut, here are three top tips to find something else to shake up your summer evenings and languid days by the pool.

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1. Wines made by the sea

It sounds obvious or perhaps rather silly, but wines made from coastal regions really do seem to have the juice when it comes to the best styles of wines for summer sipping.

Is it the varieties’ intrinsic nature? Does proximity to the sea really give them a salty tang?

Are winemakers in these areas just more clued-in to the style of wines that work best with your feet in the sand and the roar of the surf in your ears?

Maybe a mix of it all?

Either way, there’s no doubt that if you want a great wine for the summer, think of places beside the sea as a good starting place.

There are loads of wines which just scream summer and beach holidays, accompanied by fresh seafood.

There’s Vinho Verde from northern Portugal, Txakoli from Spain’s Basque country, Muscadet from the Loire.

Heading into the Mediterranean we have the refreshing salty lick of Manzanilla Sherry, the herbal freshness of Xarel-lo in Catalonia, brisk Picpoul de Pinet and pale rosé from the southern French coast, stony Vermentino from Sardinia and Tuscany and the kaleidoscope of varieties from the Greek islands.

2. The faraway Mediterranean

And that’s just Europe we’ve been talking about. But don’t forget that much of the winemaking world operates on the same principals and proximity to the ocean in the warmer climes of the Americas, Africa and Antipodes is often essential to help moderate the temperature.

As such, a great many non-European regions are also seaside wines par excellence.

This is particularly true when many of these Mediterranean-esque regions are also producing wines made from grape varieties you’d expect to find in Europe, such as Albariño – which has seen an increase in worldwide plantings in recent years.

Large chunks of California, the Chilean littoral, the Cape in South Africa, Western and South Australia and the islands of New Zealand are great places for crisp and refreshing whites made from Sauvignon Blanc, Albariño, Semillon and so forth.

3. Beyond Provence

Finally, a word on rosé. Provence set the bar years ago with its brilliantly pale and limpid pinks.

These boosted rosé from being one of the has-been afterthoughts of global viticulture to a runaway hype-train of luxury labels and copycats.

But popularity comes at a price and Provence is now at a premium. However, you don’t have to look far to find wines that are essentially identical.

Both the nearby Languedoc and Roussillon produce extremely delicious rosés in much the same style as Provence and with the same grapes but for a fraction of the price.

Indeed, such has been the impact of pale Provence rosé, that around Europe and the world, you can now find your desire for chillable pink fulfilled by pretty much every country and region mentioned above.

Remember that Liz Gabay MW gives us a rundown each year not only of her pick of the latest Provence rosé releases, but her selection of the best rosés from around the world.

Below is a selection perfect summer white and rosé wines that have been tasted recently by the Decanter team or one of our esteemed experts.

With any luck it’ll give you some extra inspiration for something new to put in the fridge before the summer is through.

Decanter Cellar: 25 white and rosé wines for summer

Wines are listed white then rosé in score order

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In case you’ve been asleep since the millennium, the wine style that at one time dared not speak its name, has become cool (as well as cooling) over the last 20 years.

But how much do you really know about rosé? Time, perhaps, to take a look at some of the most popularly wheeled-out ‘facts’ around the summer tipple par excellence to see how true they actually are.

Rosé is just simple fruity wine

Well for starters, you could say the same thing about a lot of reds and whites as well, so anyone who tries this one as a means of doing-down the category might want to think again.

But while it’s true that the majority of pinks are designed to be pure, fruity and refreshing, there’s plenty happening besides this. Oak is perhaps the most obvious example. Some regions (like Rioja) have oaked their pinks for years. And rosé often used to be made in old foudres 40 years ago simply because producers couldn’t afford stainless steel. Some producers now are going back to those older style wines as a stylistic choice.

Others in Provence have started using newer oak vessels for some of their range, to add something different. Château d’Esclans’ Garrus is probably the most famous (and expensive) example, fermented in new (large) French oak barrels.

But building in complexity is increasingly not about oak at all. Producers are also working a lot more with lees ageing and ageing their wines in ceramic or concrete, all of which can subtly build in added layers of texture and depth that still allow the rosé to show off its character.

A bit of bottle-age can have a serious impact too (as we’ll see later). So while primary fruit is a big thing in rosé, there’s increasingly more to it than that.

Rosé is basically just Provence

On one level, this is true. Dave Green of the London restaurant/wine bar group Humble Grape told me that for most of his guests ‘if you say sparkling they say Prosecco, if you say rosé, they say Provence’.

And that shift to paler, zingier rosés has rippled across the wine world. Most wine regions are adapting their style and colour to move more into the Provence spectrum.

But while it’s true that Provence has kick-started the zippy, dry rosé renaissance that many other regions have imitated or been influenced by (and are now cashing in on), it’s not the only pink in town by any stretch of the imagination.

A Drink Pink Wednesday event in London over the summer showed 200 different rosés, with a wide range of colours and styles, from light-red to near-transparent, and gossamer ethereal to beetle-browed and brooding.

Exploring richer, older and deeper-coloured rosés is a wonderful opportunity to extend your wine education. Not least because pinks from these less fashionable areas are often really good value for money.

Rosé is ok on it’s own, but it’s no good with food

Let’s just dive in here and ask people who do this for a living, shall we?

‘People still have preconceptions of rosé as something to chug ice cold as an aperitif, not as a wine of serious gastronomic potential,’ says Stuart Skea at Michelin-one-star Lyla in Edinburgh. ‘But for me it is an essential tool in the sommelier’s arsenal.’

Skea reckons it’s a reliably excellent partner for sweeter shellfish (think prawns, scallops and lobster), while fuller-bodied pinks can do a fine turn with lamb and sauce vierge. Anything with tomatoes/tomato sauces, too, he says, can be ‘fabulously fun to pair rosés with’.

Other ‘100% matches’ include salade niçoise or grilled tuna (ideally with the muscularity of a Bandol or Tavel) and risotto Milanese with a Sangiovese rosé.

You should never put ice in your rosé

Purists might shudder, but it’s not the worst wine crime in existence. In fact, it’s pretty common on the beaches and terraces of the south of France – and let’s face it, they should know.

Three or four well-sized glaçons could be just the thing if you get served something unpleasantly tepid this summer – particularly if it’s at 13.5% or 14% abv. Just don’t take so long to drink it that it becomes completely diluted.

Rosé is just a summer wine

See points ‘simple and fruity’ and ‘basically just Provence’ above. There are loads of different styles of rosé out there. Some of them are the equivalent of a summer holiday book – easy to plough through without thinking too much – others are more thoughtful.

50km south of Vienna, Schandl makes some lovely deeper-coloured rosés that play with concrete, lees ageing and 600-litre old oak barrels. They’re multi-layered wines with flavours of truffles and damp earth, as autumnal as any Barolo and great matches for even quite powerful (cooler-weather) food.

Magnums of rosé are just for showing off

True up to a point – after all, big bottles always create something of a stir. But also, if you have a decent-sized gathering and everyone’s on the pink stuff, it’s a lot more convenient to open one large bottle and keep pouring from it than to go looking for a corkscrew every five minutes.

One strange-but-true fact. Rosé looks darker in a magnum (because there’s more liquid for the light to get through), so will look a lot paler once you pour it into a glass. If you do go for the 1.5-litre bottle, don’t be afraid of a slightly darker colour.

Oh, and make sure you keep it covered (see ‘show off the colour’ below).

The paler a rosé the better it is

This depends whether your definition of ‘good’ also equals ‘Provence-like’ – which by now I’m hoping you’ll realise it shouldn’t. There’s plenty of very average Provence-like pink out there, and plenty of good deeper-coloured rosé too. Go ahead and drink around a bit. What’s the worst that could happen?

While we’re batting for the less fashionable rosé styles, could we suggest that you don’t completely dismiss those sweeter frizzante styles like Mateus or Lambrusco. They can be a useful (and cheap) ally with spicy food!

Rosés should be drunk super young

The key word here is ‘should’ because as much as anything, this is a question of taste – there’s no particular reason why they need to be drunk before their first birthday. Young rosés tend to have more thiol-flavours (think grass, pink grapefruit) but after a year, these compounds start to die back and other, less-showy flavours start to come through. So if your white wine preference is more in the Chardonnay than Sauvignon Blanc spectrum, for instance, you might well prefer rosé with a little age on it.

Just like reds and whites, rosés change colour, structure and flavour over time. At Le Fraghe in Italy’s Bardolino DOC, Matilde Poggi’s wines are released three or four years after vintage and are poised and poetic. ‘Not every rosé can be drunk with age,’ she says. ‘But for roses of terroir, they do improve with some years in the bottle.’

Rosé is a great colour – so show it off

More than any other wine style, rosé is bought with the eyes. That pale pink colour is a sure-fire winner. However, there’s a big BUT… Rosé is a delicate wine, and it’s particularly susceptible to a phenomenon called light-strike; essentially, a fault that develops when the wines are exposed to direct light.

At low levels it can make the wine’s flavours rather muted; at its worst it can create really unpleasant off-notes in the cabbage/pond water spectrum. If you’ve ever had a really skunky rosé, that could be the reason why.

The best defence would be for wineries to use dark brown bottles (which Le Fraghe, for instance, does for older wine) – but then you can’t see the lovely colour, which is such a selling point! So assuming that isn’t going to change, what can we do to protect our precious pinks?

Basically, treat them like a pale-skinned guest, whose eyes are sensitive to light. If you have rosé at home, keep it away from direct sun (ideally somewhere dark) and once it’s out for pouring keep it in an ice-bucket and, if it’s outside cover it up with a tea towel. That way it should still taste as its creator intended.

Related articles

• Best rosé wines: 20 under £25 to try
• The 20 best rosés from beyond Provence this year
• Eliza Dumais: From rosé all day, to no way rosé. Has pink wine lost its lustre?

Although rosé can of course be sipped at any time of year, the shelves are currently groaning under pink bottles of varying styles.

There’s a time and a place for both the pale salmon and the deep fuschia, and everything in between.

Scroll down for 20 great rosé wines under £25

The wines below are all priced under £25, but if you have a bit more to spend, I was impressed by this Sancerre rosé from Domaine Claude Riffault and this Corsican rosé from Clos Canarelli.

If you’re looking for rosé to really impress, both are real showstoppers and nudge just over £30.

All the wines below are available from a range of independent merchants, as well as supermarkets such as M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Le Grappin’s rosé ‘bagnum’ (magnum in a bag) is hard to beat for quality, price and quantity. Easy to transport, great value, easy to chill and just delicious, this is quite literally the perfect product for a camping trip, a seaside jaunt, a picnic, a dinner with friends or a night in.

How is rosé wine made?

There are three main methods of making rosé wine: direct press, short maceration (including saignée), and blending.

With direct press, red grapes are picked, put into a press and crushed gently. The grape skins remain in contact with the juice until the desired level of pink is achieved.

Sometimes a small proportion of white grapes can be co-pressed and co-fermented with the red grapes, which can increase acidity and freshness. This is allowed in appellations such as Côtes de Provence.

Alternatively, red grape skins can be macerated in their juice for a short period before pressing and fermentation – the longer the maceration period, the darker the colour of the rosé.

The saignée method typically involves bleeding a proportion of pink-tinged juice out of a tank destined to make red wine. The juice has been in contact with the grape skins for a short amount of time, and is therefore pale pink in colour.

Often the remaining wine in the tank will go on to be made into red wine, but on other occasions the saignée method is used with the express intention of making rosé.

Decanter‘s rosé expert Elizabeth Gabay MW says: ‘Producers are now choosing to make these wines separately from the red wines, harvesting earlier to maintain freshness.’ As a result, these wines ‘have both full-bodied freshness and darker colour’.

Some basic rosés use a small amount of red wine blended into a white wine. Most EU appellations do not permit this method, with rosé Champagne being the notable exception.

Best rosé wines with food: Pairing suggestions

20 of the best rosé wines under £25

Related articles

• Provence rosé: This summer’s best buys
• The 20 best rosés from beyond Provence this year
• Eliza Dumais: From rosé all day, to no way rosé. Has pink wine lost its lustre?

Far from being limited to just Provence, exciting rosé is found around the world.

This proved to be an extremely diverse tasting, both in terms of quality (from very ordinary to outstanding, with quite a few terribly-made along the way), and with colours and styles ranging from practically white to light reds.

This diversity begs the question: can we define rosé? There is no legal definition and accepting that almost anything can be a rosé (apart from blanc de blanc, red and orange wine) allows for an even greater panoply of styles.

It can be challenging to identify the good wines, especially as no one region is universally the best.

Scroll down for Liz’s choice of the best rosés from beyond Provence for this summer

Strong regions included northern Spain with wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero (better known for their red wines) and Navarra, with its strong rosé heritage, producing a wide range of styles and quality, ranging from fresh easy drinking to more serious ageworthy wines.

Examples from Italy showed that it is still more ‘know your producer than know your region’, with little consistency across a region.

Languedoc continues to offer good value for money and there were a number of very pretty fresh pinks. Greece, Mallorca and Georgia offered an interesting selection of unique grape varieties.

Colour wheel

The question of when is a rosé a rosé, was certainly raised in this tasting with colours ranging from white to red.

The palest rosés came from Reuilly. This central Loire appellation allows for 100% Pinot Gris which can be white or, with some skin contact, a pale blush.

The darkest came from Tavel and Navarra, famous for their maceration or saignée wines respectively.

It was also encouraging to see a growing number of rosés submitted with some age. 2023 may not seem old, but when taken into account that some retailers still panic if rosé is less than a year old, this is good news.

A considerable number of 2021 vintage rosés received high scores, making it interesting to see how different rosé have aged.

It felt like a struggle to fit so many wines from different regions and divergent styles into a 20 wine recommendation, not just because there are now too many good wines but because there is growing confidence in producing a wide diversity of styles, offering consumers the chance to discover a rosé which suits their taste.

A growing number of producers also submitted two or three different levels of rosé.

High altitude, oak, amphora or jars and old vines added an intriguing extra layer of complexity and it was good to see that oak was not the only method used to create a premium wine.

There were far fewer ‘Provence-Style’ rosés in the tasting, and it was good to see both a growing number of wines showing regional diversity and high quality wines.

Greater regionality

Navarra rosé is always made using the saignée method, traditionally bled off its red wines, and has suffered in recent years from the strongly held belief that direct press rosés are the best.

A growing number of stellar saignée rosés are showing that they have an important role in the range of rosé styles.

The use of white grapes in rosé also gives a distinctive style. While white grapes are often present in Provence rosés, it is often only in small percentages.

However both Tavel and Rioja can boast much higher proportions of white grapes which contribute to both colour and freshness.

Confidence in embracing these regional styles and traditions seemed to result in better and more interesting wines.

Diversity was certainly the key, which made this tasting challenging, but also exciting.

It is no longer possible to dismiss rosé as a single style and there is certainly a wine for all tastes, occasions and budgets.

Best rosés from beyond Provence

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• Waitrose – best buys for the season ahead
• Has pink wine lost its lustre?

Ahhh rosé, the favoured wine genre amongst Etsy T-shirt purveyors and the summer-specific contingency of Nantucket. While the stuff is, in theory, nothing more than a (pink!) wine made using red grapes with a shorter maceration than your standard red wine (less time on the skins), its reputation indisputably precedes it.

In short, it’s become something of a cultural punchline, a passé slogan on coffee mugs and athletic wear hawked at your local Marshalls, the primary subject of ‘rosé all day’ merch of all formats (and I mean ALL FORMATS).

But… has rosé lore gone so far as to render the stuff gauche and undrinkable among certain demographics?

Has it come full circle as an ironic order?

Is the Sag Harbor population’s devotion fervent enough to carry the country’s rosé consumption alone?

Well, for one thing – contrarian discourse aside, people are still drinking rosé.

‘As Trump’s Tariffs Hit, Hamptonites Stockpile the Essentials (Rosé, Rosé, and Rosé)’, reads a Vanity Fair headline from May. ‘Oh yes, Provence rosé is moving,’ says a friend who works as a seasonal sommelier at a high-end Italian restaurant on none other than the island of Nantucket. Rather, it seems that young people – those who have been uniquely inundated with rosé marketing – both on social media and in the flesh – seem to be the ones abstaining.

Now, if I’m being perfectly frank – and please don’t crucify me – I tend to forget about rosé.

In New York, rosatos and chilled reds have come to replace the rosé subheadings on many a bar or restaurant list. Regrettably, the proliferation of ‘But first, Rosé’ gym tank tops and coffee mugs out there has effectively wrung ‘rosé’ from my immediate consciousness. Then again, the aforementioned signifiers are arguably… rosé.

‘It’s hard for me to track when I stopped drinking rosé precisely, but I think it happened when I noticed that summer water wasn’t just a funny thing we said while cheers-ing but an actual wine brand on a shelf,’ a friend wrote me via Instagram DM in response to a ploy for takes on this summer’s state of the union re: rosé. ‘So yes, I think we all-day-roséd ourselves out.’

Then again, conflating the marketing with the product is a shallow predilection at best (one shouldn’t judge a wine by its corresponding bumper stickers, etc). So, as we perch on the precipice of summer, perhaps it’s time the pendulum swung back in the other direction.

There are, of course, a few factors to consider here. For one thing, it’s worth mentioning that bad rosé is bad rosé, just like bad wine is bad wine (not to yuck anyone’s yum).

Moreover, the spectrum of wines that fall under the broader umbrella of rosé is quite robust. ‘Oh, you mean the original chilled red?’ an industry friend wrote in response to my prompt for rosé stances. ‘Depends what you mean by rosé,’ several others commented. ‘I’m so over Provencal rosés,’ another handful offered, in one phrasing or another.

‘A few years ago, orange wine started gaining popularity. Especially in the natural wine world, it became the new cool thing, and rosé lost some ground,’ adds Marguerite Cheze, brand ambassador with Aix-en-Provence (rosé) producer, Château la Coste. ‘But now, we’re seeing rosé return with a new energy. Smaller, craft producers are reshaping the category, moving away from the mass-market image and bringing authenticity back in.’

That’s just the thing: The version of diluted, fleshy pink, script-labelled rosé embroidered onto many a trucker hat is not entirely representative of the category writ large.

Moreover, I’ll be the first to admit that a Provence rosé can be blissfully structured, balanced, and delicious paired with food – even if it’s not necessarily what captivates me most right now. Not all are mass-produced, sinfully sweet or utterly forgettable.

‘I personally feel the “rosé bubble” burst in 2021,’ says Matthew Dennie, chief operating officer at importing company, Cape Classics. ‘To us, the big shift and opportunity in rosé has been in speaking about it as actual wine. What are the production methods? What makes it unique from a terroir and stylistic standpoint?’

Right now, I’d like to talk about rosés from Tavel; dark, salty rosés and rosatos from Etna; more astringent rosés from Burgenland – these are all indisputably compelling to me, and not just seasonally.

Which is to say, I, myself, am guilty of the very phenomenon that seems to be plaguing folks with regard to rosé right now: I’ve developed an allergy to the signifier.

With that in mind, I can all but guarantee it: We are drinking rosé this summer – even if it’s rosé by any other name.

Even if it’s not exclusively Provence-derived.

Even if there’s no ‘ALL DAY’ clause tethered.

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The main challenges of this year’s rosé tasting appear to have been balancing climate change’s increasingly hotter and drier summers with consumer demand for lower alcohol and white wine.

2024 in Provence included a relatively wet spring, and a rather hot summer, but winemakers seem to agree that it was, overall, a good vintage.

Generally, the quality was good, with scores clumping around 88-89.

Provence seems to be a safe bet, with homogeneous style and consistent quality.

Scroll down for Elizabeth Gabay MW’s top Provence rosé picks

This seems to be the major strength of the region, especially the gap between mid-range and premium seems to be narrowing.

The famous names are good, but the gap is narrowing. There are now many newcomers or lesser-known producers making excellent rosé in similar styles, often at very competitive prices.

Holidaying in Provence? See our travel guide here

Paler than ever

More than ever before, the 2024 rosés were extremely pale, verging on the white with a tinge of pink.

A number of wines showed evidence that they were harvested early to retain fresh acidity, the pale colour, and achieve lower alcohol, but this unripe fruit often resulted in green, acidic wines lacking in charm or character.

The best embraced riper fruit, albeit with a touch more alcohol at around 13.5%, sometimes with a touch more colour, and increasingly including some older vintages.

Oak-aged rosés, once outliers, are now a staple in the range of many, if not most, Provence rosé producers.

But, what was once a singular category of ‘oaked rosé’ is now a range of styles and choices, ranging from almost imperceptible to deep, complex, and age-worthy.

Oak is no longer the main indicator of premium quality rosé, even if many of the very best did spend some time in barrel.

Adventurous styles emerging

Just being pale pink is no longer the prime consideration when buying rosé, particularly for younger, more adventurous consumers.

Even in Provence, there are plenty of wines for those happy to embrace darker colours and more adventurous styles.

It was exciting to see a growing amount of diversity in winemaking, ranging from reductive fresh and fruity wines to rosés in oak, amphora and eggs as well as different varieties, such as Viognier and Muscat, contributing further to the range of different styles.

These aromatic varieties worked best when carefully handled and not used as a substitute for fruit in more unripe wines.

Terroir conversation

With increased conversation recently about the different terroirs around Provence, the higher quality rosés often stood out for their use of local grape varieties and their regional expression, working with terroir rather than against it.

Bandol again stands out for its structured, concentrated Mourvèdre-heavy rosés, most of which do justify their slightly higher price tags.

The Côtes de Provence sub-appellations (La Londe, Sainte Victoire, Fréjus, Pierrefeu and Notre-Dame-des-Anges) are still good options for slightly higher quality rosé, with Notre-Dame-des-Anges standing out this year.

The Luberon is a good place to look in 2025 for some really excellent value-for-money, especially from slightly fuller-bodied, more concentrated wines than the pale delicacy found elsewhere in Provence this vintage.

With such a large region, the scope for a variety of styles is large. This also highlights a divide in the range of wines being produced.

The majority of rosés conformed to the classic Provence blueprint in various degrees of success: dry, mineral, delicate peach and redcurrant fruit and fresh acidity.

As ‘Provence-style’ is adopted ever more widely across the world, Provençal producers need to do more to emphasise local terroirs, and move away from the lowest common denominator of pale colour.

Elizabeth Gabay MW’s top Provence rosés to seek out:

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In the early 2000s, the French were drinking more white wine than rosé.

By 2008, however, mainstream media were reporting that sales of rosé had overtaken those of white for the first time. Since then rosé has swept the wine world.

The production and consumption of rosé has been increasing worldwide.

And styles are inevitably changing. Rosé is serious business and a serious wine. There are now rosés that can be cellared and aged.

Scroll down for notes and scores of five vintages of Garrus and Les Clans rosé from Château d’Esclans

Sea change

If there’s one man who can take the credit for this sea change, it’s Sacha Lichine.

In 2006, he created Whispering Angel, a Côtes de Provence rosé that he describes today as ‘closer to a spirits brand,’ as well as two pioneering oak-fermented rosés, Garrus and Les Clans, from his estate Château d’Esclans.

While he originally went on a property recce in search of the sun, his vision became to create the world’s most expensive rosé, a wine of elegance and precision, complexity and ageability, that could hold its own among other fine wines – whites, reds and not least Burgundy.

The estate’s vineyards are in the limestone-rich soils of the upper Esclans valley in the Var department, which he leased and then finally bought in 2005 after selling Château Prieuré-Lichine, in Margaux, in 1999.

Developing the style of a fine rosé

The technical director Lichine recruited to realise this vision was a Bordeaux winemaker, Patrick Léon, recently retired from Château Mouton Rothschild.

But the inspiration for the winemaking of Garrus and Les Clans was white Burgundy: fermentation and ageing in new oak with twice weekly batonnage.

There has been fine tuning over the years. Both fermentation and maturation are now in 600-litre demi-muids, instead of 500-litre barrels, and each is individually temperature controlled.

The wines are aged for 10 months and the oak is a mix of new, second and third use. Most of the barrels are from coopers Seguin Moreau and, critically, they’re only very lightly toasted.

Other fundamentals include picking in the cool early morning, a three-stage grape sorting process, cooling the grapes down to 7ºC-8ºC, and a closed-circuit ultra-light pressing process that results in very pale, basically free-run juice (85%-90% in the case of Les Clans).

The average vine age is 50-70 years for Les Clans and ‘a little bit older’ for Garrus, according to Lichine.

Where they diverge radically from Burgundy is of course in their grape varieties: 78%-80% Grenache ‘for elegance,’ says Lichine, and 18%-20% Rolle ‘for richness’.

There is a smidgen of Syrah and there could be a tad of Tibouren and Cinsault.

Making wine that sells

‘Everyone thought I was off my head to sell a fourth-growth Bordeaux to do this,’ says Lichine.

What they didn’t appreciate is that Sacha Lichine not only knows how to make wine and run an estate, he knows how to sell wine.

It may be the less romantic side of the wine business (although it can be glamorous at the upper echelons), but it was key to Esclans’ success and the subsequent global rise of rosé.

Has Lichine achieved what he set out to do? In my view, yes. The wines are rich and vinous yet elegant, and they become more complex with age.

Garrus, especially, starts out more like white Burgundy and can become more like red Burgundy with age, which surely can’t be bad.

Are they worth the money? Only you can decide what to spend your money on, but their quality compares with wines of equivalent price.

Notes and scores for five vintages of Garrus and Les Clans

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• Can rosé wines really age?
• Andrew Jefford: ‘Rosé, for the time being, is a pretty babble’
• Best rosé wines beyond Provence

Pink wine and sunshine? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But there are still plenty of reasons to enjoy a glass of great-value rosé this time of year. Whether you’re looking for a bottle for Valentine’s Day, something to pair with a particular dish or simply something to put you in mind of warmer climes, the selection below offers plenty of inspiration.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 14 great-value rosé wines

The choices are based on value and quality and while we couldn’t run this piece without the south of France playing a large role, we’ve cherry picked some delicious wines from further afield, and in a variety of styles.

Our selection of great-value rosé showcases 14 pours priced at £20 and under, all tasted and rated by the Decanter team.

Fans of Provence rosé are – predictably – well catered for here. The depth and concentration of Château des Sarrins’ Grand Cuvée 2023 makes it a great example of a more ‘serious rosé’. Mirabeau’s Haute Couture Rosé 2023 with its red berry, citrus and white flower profile would make a great pairing for richer fish dishes, while Marks & Spencer’s Collection Rosé 2023 offers up an abundance of peaches and cream.

Or how about something from Corsica? We’ve included two picks from l’île de beauté, including Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference 2023, pale in colour but with a great texture having spent up to six months on the lees.

Austria provides a treat in the form of Judith Beck’s Beck Pink 2023 – a biodynamic blend of Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch boasting wild strawberry and zesty orange rind.

Italy’s Antinori may be better known for its celebrated reds, but its Scalabrone Rosato 2023 is well-worth seeking out, with its bouquet of cherries, wild berries and a hint of rose petal.

Marks & Spencer presents a home-grown pick with its Bramble Hill 2023, made by Surrey producer Denbies from dry-farmed old vines. A beautiful balance of acidity, fruit and candied lemon.

Great-value rosé wine: 14 to try

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Tom Hewson, Eugenio Egorov and Victoria Mason MW tasted 82 wines, with 1 Outstanding and 41 Highly Recommended

Non-vintage rosé Champagne: Panel tasting scores

82 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 1

Highly recommended 41

Recommended 38

Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit their non-vintage rosé Champagnes in any dryness level, from zero dosage up to sweeter demi-sec.

In some ways, non-vintage rosé is the most creative, and perhaps also the most misunderstood, of Champagne styles. Our tasting was a riot of shades and flavours, seeing steely, dry and invigorating wines sitting next to explosive, dark, Pinot-dominant saignée styles (produced by allowing the colour to ‘bleed’ from the skins of red grapes), and everything in between.

‘This can be a confusing category for consumers to navigate,’ noted panellist Victoria Mason MW.

Not only did the judges show a general preference for rosés that included a good dash of Chardonnay in the blend, but the top three wines all came from dedicated Chardonnay specialists. What’s the story?

Scroll down to see notes and scores of the top-scoring wines from our non-vintage rosé Champagne tasting

With the majority of the rosés here likely based on the hot 2019 and 2020 vintages, Chardonnay’s freshening power and bright acidity seemed to provide a brilliant foil to the juicier, fruitier Pinot Noir. Among the wines that achieved scores of 90 points or above were a collection of well-known names that specialise in the Côte des Blancs, such as Delamotte, Barons de Rothschild, Gimonnet, André Jacquart, Fleur de Miraval and Legras & Haas.

The judges were certainly open to different approaches, however, with panellist Eugenio Egorov commenting that it was ‘astonishing to see how drastically styles can vary’. There was a great deal of appreciation for Geoffroy’s terrific, dark and vibrant Rosé de Saignée from sunny Cumières, as well as vinous Pinot Noir styles from Henri Giraud and Bollinger.

These are all wines that feature fruit from the Pinot Noir heartlands that run from Mareuil-sur-Aÿ to Cumières next to the Marne river. These villages are sources also for the red wines that are blended, usually in proportions of 5%-15%, into the assemblage (‘blended’) rosés that made up the majority of this tasting.

Overall, there were plenty of well-made, solid NV rosés from the major houses, although perhaps fewer standouts than expected. It was a pleasant surprise to see houses (and some co-ops) with a slightly lower UK profile, such as Pommery, Canard-Duchêne, Thiénot, Joseph Perrier and Devaux, score well with fruit-led, approachable styles among the familiar names.

See all the wines from the NV rosé Champagne tasting

What to eat with rosé Champagne, by Fiona Beckett

The very fact that we’re talking about Champagne rather than any other sparkling wine immediately raises expectations about the food, not least because it tends to fetch a higher price.

You can of course serve it as an aperitif with canapés, and that suits lighter styles. (The rosé colour may tempt you to pair it with smoked salmon, but I’m not sure the delicate red berry fruit works – shrimp is better.) But the rosé is often seen, by the French at least, as a more serious gastronomic wine that goes particularly well with rare and even raw meat such as rare roast beef, carpaccio or steak tartare. It works well, too, with fresh and white-rinded cheeses such as Brie and Chaource.

In my view, most rosé Champagnes are too dry for dessert, particularly nowadays, though there is the odd exception. Creamy but not oversweet desserts, like pannacotta, provide the best counterpoint. And if you want to have a bit of fun with rosé Champagne, take it on a picnic and drink it with a good pork pie.

NV rosé Champagne panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Tom Hewson is Champagne correspondent for Decanter and Decanter Premium online, and a DWWA judge. A jazz musician, he writes on sparkling wine more broadly on the Six Atmospheres Substack

Eugenio Egorov is head sommelier at AA five-star The Stafford in London. Born in Ukraine, he began his hospitality career in restaurants in Italy and Florida, USA, before moving to London, where he rose through the ranks as a sommelier at the likes of 45 Park Lane and The Dorchester

Victoria Mason MW is a wine buyer for The Wine Society, covering Champagne as well as Italy and the US. Formerly senior fine wine buyer at Bordeaux Index, she previously worked in retailer Waitrose’s wine buying team

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New release: Cristal 2016

‘2016 reminds me of 2002,’ says Louis Roederer cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, comparing the latest release to the ‘packed structure and concentration’ that characterised one of Champagne’s most lauded vintages of the last three decades.

In fact, 2016 was a rather more difficult growing season, with mildew and frost leading to low yields. But the end result is one Lécaillon believes will be, ‘one of the best vintages of the decade. It’s bright and beautiful – a largely underestimated vintage’.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for recent Roederer releases

Cristal is produced entirely from Louis Roederer’s biodynamically-farmed Cristal estate of 45 parcels, spread across the chalky grand cru and premier cru villages of the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims.

The 2016 features a little more Chardonnay than usual thanks to the ‘saline, very salivating nature of the vintage – we wanted to push this identity,’ explains Lécaillon.

‘There was a heatwave in August which really made the Pinot Noir texture very charming,’ he adds, pointing to the intriguing combination of ‘velvety’ ripeness, striking inner tension and length.

After the broad-shouldered 2015 and forward 2014 vintages, 2016 represents a return to classicism – and perhaps typicity – for Cristal.

While other 2016s released to date reflect the warmer elements of the year, Cristal 2016 has a core of buzzing, elongating energy that shows the work done in the vineyard to harness the freshness of the chalky soils.

Lécaillon believes that the changing climate can deliver Pinot Noir that is, ‘more juicy, textured and concentrated – but, thanks to our viticulture, we are still very low pH, and we are not losing the feeling of freshness’.

Late Release Vintage Rosé

This autumn, the spotlight is also on Roederer’s Vintage Rosé, with consecutive vintages of 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 re-released together after extended ageing.

‘The culture of Champagne is to come back to gastronomy. What can we do to make our wines more gastronomic?’ says Lécaillon. ‘I’m looking for umami flavours. Here we keep them on lees for 10 years (instead of five) and then another 10 years after disgorgement.

‘The lees ageing gives more texture and the post-disgorgement ageing means more oxygen impact and CO2 release, creating a creamier texture,’ he says.

Lécaillon describes the 1999 vintage as ‘generously balanced,’ the 1998 as notable for its ‘tannic structure’ and the 1997 for ‘acid and and iodine’. Of the 1996, he is speechless; ‘96 – I cannot find the words!’ He describes the 1995 as ‘perfection’.

Tasted together, these five wines illustrate that extended ageing can elevate fine vintage rosé, producing wines of dynamic, layered depth and complexity.

Cristal Rosé: Back in time 1976-2013

As the rare and highly sought-after Cristal Rosé reaches its 50th anniversary, a remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime retrospective was presented in September this year, with vintages back to 1976.

This was a look at what it has taken, not only in Lécaillon’s tenure but in that of his predecessor, to conceive and then perfect a wine that today hails from just three parcels in Aÿ, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Avize.

Lécaillon describes the aesthetic as ‘effortlessly perfect’.

The wines, not least the 2013 and 1989 vintages, come as close as it may be possible to get to perfection.

Recent Roederer releases:

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In my new book Romy Gill’s India, I invite you to journey with me back to my roots, travelling through my ancestral kitchens to discover the true essence of home-cooked Indian cuisine. Growing up as the daughter of Punjabis in West Bengal, I was immersed in two vibrant cultures that celebrate food in unique and meaningful ways. India’s diverse cultures influence so many aspects of daily life, in particular the rituals and ceremonies that vary from region to region, and even from village to village. Whether it’s religious festivals, weddings, birthdays or any other traditional gathering, food is always at the heart of every celebration, the unifying factor that binds everybody together. With this book I wanted to evoke the comforting flavours of home and show the beautiful simplicity of Indian cooking.

Kekada Masala

My childhood friend Simi and I share a bond rooted in New Town in Burnpur, West Bengal, where I grew up. Our common passions, particularly our love for culinary adventures, have bonded us forever. Countless college escapades involved outings to watch movies, then occasionally getting caught. It was during one of these movie escapades that I stumbled upon a scene portraying the joy of savouring crabs. Intrigued and captivated, the desire to taste the delicacy lingered in my mind. The opportunity finally presented itself when I tasted crab in England and then with Simi’s roots from Kerala I crafted the recipe, infusing it with flavours that complement the crab meat. This dish became the most loved starter in my restaurant. The creamy coconut milk, the pungent mustard seeds, the moreish curry leaves and the sourness of the tamarind elevates the dish.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 5 tsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 8 fresh curry leaves
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 100g white onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 25g fresh grated (shredded) coconut (desiccated coconut is fine, too)
• 1-2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1⁄2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp tamarind paste
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 100ml coconut milk
• 200g ready-to-eat cooked white crab meat (if you can’t find fresh you can use canned white crab meat instead)
• Toasted sourdough, rice or flatbreads, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan over a high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.

2. As soon as the mustard seeds start to pop, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat to medium then add the coconut and cook for 1 minute. Add the chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander, salt, tamarind, sugar and coconut milk and cook, stirring, for a further 2 minutes.

4. Add the crab meat, mix well and cook for 3 minutes, then serve immediately. I enjoy it on crispy toasted sourdough bread, but you can also serve it with rice or any Indian flatbreads of your choice.

Romy Gill MBE is an Indian chef, food/travel writer and broadcaster based in southwest England. A regular chef on BBC1’s Ready Steady Cook, she has appeared on several other TV shows, and regularly contributes to national and international publications including BBC Good Food, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times and The New York Times.

Romy Gill’s India: Recipes from Home was published by Quadrille (£28) in September 2024.

The wines to drink with Kekada Masala

By Fiona Beckett

Aromatic rather than hot, this spicy crab dish isn’t quite the challenge to wine it might appear, but I’d still be thinking white or maybe rosé rather than red. Coconut has a particular affinity with Viognier, so that – or a Viognier blend – would be my starting point, but Riesling could equally well be a great pairing. I’d be inclined to go for the slightly more floral style you find in the Pacific Northwest – I remember drinking Charles Smith’s Kung Fu Girl Riesling at Romy’s restaurant in Thornbury just outside Bristol and it was perfect with her food (Ch Ste Michelle’s Eroica Riesling would also be perfect). German or Austrian Riesling would work well, too, though – as would ever-flexible Grüner Veltliner or Hungary’s versatile Furmint. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is bold enough to power through spicy flavours, too, so don’t rule that out if you’re a fan. Or a dark, off-dry rosé – the kind you often find in Portugal – is a good match with Indian food. Even a fruity sparkling rosé: South Africa has some good examples.

Wines selected by our Decanter experts

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With the autumn equinox on the horizon on 22 September, days are getting shorter and late summer nostalgia weaves into the appeal of longer evenings and richer meals. Darker rosés are some of the best transitional wines for this period.

As we enjoy the last of the season’s barbecues and garden parties, these deep-hued pours are best enjoyed alongside some nibbles and served slightly less chilled than their paler counterparts.

Regions and appellations producing dark rosé wines:

Cerasuolo d’Abbruzzo – Abruzzo, Italy

Chiaretto di Bardolino – Verona, Italy

Cigales and Ribera del Duero – Spain (namely Clarete styles)

Nemea – Peloponnese, Greece

Tavel – Rhône, France

What makes the colour of a rosé more or less intense?

Two main factors contribute to the colour of a rosé wine: winemaking method and grape variety.

Wine gets its colour from the grape skins. The longer the grape juice is in contact (or macerated) with the skins, the more colour, aroma, flavour and tannin will be extracted.

Pale Provence-style rosés are mostly produced using the direct press method without extended maceration.

Whereas Tavel winemakers typically macerate for up to 48 hours, for wines comparatively more intense and deeper-hued. For context, in red wine production the juice macerates on the grape skins for anything from a week to over a month.

Grapes with thicker skins will produce more colour in the wine than thin-skinned varieties. Hence why a rosé made from Garnacha is generally more intense than one produced from Pinot Noir, if macerated for a similar number of hours.

A traditional style, revived

Pale rosé wines are in fact a relatively modern trend, dating back to the 1980s, only made possible by technological advancements in refrigeration, cold stabilisation and sterile filtration.

Previously, rosé wines were more akin to light reds in both colour and structure. They were either a product of short, but not insignificant, macerations or co-fermentation of red and white grapes. Generally produced as a cheaper wine for local consumption, they were often seen as ‘farmer’s wines’ which in turn led to the perception of light rosés as a more sophisticated alternative.

There is, however, renewed interest in these more traditional styles of rosé, fuelled by a growing movement towards terroir specificity, historical research, varietal expression and low-intervention winemaking.

The revival of Clarete in Spain and Palhete in Portugal is an example of this new trend.

Perfect food companions

It’s not by chance that the French call these deeper hued wines ‘rosés d’assiette’ – in other words, rosés to eat with. Dark rosés are ideal food companions and versatile when it comes to pairings.

Whether you are planning the season’s last barbecues or looking for a dry alternative to serve alongside fruit-based desserts, an intense rosé will not let you down. Their textural richness, aromatic intensity and subtle tannins are the ideal combination to handle a wide range of foods, and therefore often favoured by sommeliers.

Dark rosé wines for late summer drinking:

Wines shown in score order

Related content:

Welcome to the dark side: Champagne’s Rosé de Saignée

Best rosé wines beyond Provence

Best rosé wines: 30 to try this summer

For inimitable style, consistent quality and impressive value, rosé wine from Greece has the potential to become a category leader. Strange then to discover that, officially at least, Greek rosé doesn’t exist. Sete, the Greek Wine Federation, whose members produce 75% of the total volume of wine produced in Greece and export 95% of bottled Greek wine, has until now been counting rosé in with red wine, so it’s impossible to say exactly how much rosé is flowing from one of my favourite wine nations.

Scroll down for Olly Smith’s 10 Greek rosé wines to try

For certain, Greek wine is on the rise in the UK. For a second consecutive year, the Federation reports, exports to the UK exceeded €7 million, up by 57% on the five-year average. And the rise of rosé may prove a significant jewel in their crown.

Heart & soul

Scrubby Grecian hillsides fringed with herbs, pines and sea are perfectly suited to the production of everybody’s favourite poolside glass. On my annual pilgrimage to the Greek wine fair Oenorama in Athens earlier this year (next edition, 7-10 March 2025), rosé was unquestionably the major buzz. I tasted plenty of varietal rosés from local grapes such as Xinomavro, which tends towards summer fruit with a hint of sundried tomato, or Fokiano with its salty strawberry thrill. Blends commonly fuse a splash of red with fragrant whites such as Malagousia or Moschofilero, which lifts Greek rosé to the headiest refreshment.

There’s also heritage to consider. Take, for instance, Iliana Malíhin’s sublimely rich, lees-aged Liatiko Rosé 2022, harvested from Cretan bush vines. In 2019, at just 26 years of age, Iliana established her own winery on Vouvala mountain working with local organic producers around the village of Melambes. In 2022, wildfires tragically ripped through vineyards with some vines more than 140 years old and 95% pre-phylloxera. She tells me she made her Liatiko Rosé 2022 ‘because of the fire – it has the colour of the fire and it is my passion to bring every small plot of old vines back to life’.

Similarly, three and a half hours north of Athens in Meteora, I was awestruck by Theopetra’s vineyard, surrounded by ancient pinnacles of rock in a landscape created when a vast inland lake emptied into the Aegean. Monasteries and nunneries, built over centuries, are perched on the lofty peaks in a ring shape that shelters the vines, providing protection from the extremeties of weather – almost like a giant version of the kouloura vines woven at ground level across the vineyards of Santorini. Theopetra’s resulting rosé guards a lush fragrance with grip and zest that I still find as thrilling as the memory of this ancient, sculpted terrain.

Seriously appealing

Yiannis Paraskevopoulos of Gaia, based in Santorini and Nemea, insists that Greek love for rosé is nothing new. In fact, he says, ‘rosé is in our genes; Greeks always think of rosé when they think of wine’. And while most modern Greek rosé tends to be bottled in clear glass, showing off the colour and suggesting drinking rather than keeping, respected growers such as Apostolos Thymiopoulos are treating rosé with real reverence. ‘Rosé to me is a wine not a marketing tool, thus I respect it and bottle in a dark bottle,’ he says. Without question, Thymiopoulos’ remarkable Greek rosé has the capacity to age and if you’re already a fan of Bandol rosé, from Provence in southeast France, look no further than his Rosé de Xinomavro 2022, which will happily evolve with careful cellaring for a decade or more.

Street cred

While cult wine-growers impress wine fans with serious rosé via restaurants and independent merchants, thanks to the persistence of UK-based buyers such as Steve Daniel of Hallgarten Wines and Mary Pateras of Eclectic Wines, the presence of Greek rosé is also growing on the high street. Majestic’s Agapi by Kintonis, Greek Rosé 2023 is £9.99 at the retailer’s Mix Six price (£12.99 per bottle). It’s a joyfully summery blend of Roditis and Malagousia, with a dash of red Agiorgitiko, sourced from low-yielding, high-altitude vineyards in the Peloponnese. At £10, Marks & Spencer’s Myrtia Moschofilero-Assyrtiko Dry Rosé 2022 makes for a gently aromatic aperitif.

But my current top high street pick is Aldi’s superb Athlon Assyrtiko-Syrah Rosé 2023 (£9.99). I recommended it on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen alongside a Mediterranean chicken cooked by Philli Armitage-Mattin, catapulting sales of the rosé by 124%. For the price, it’s a fresh and noteworthy champion of new-wave Greek rosé.

And perhaps it’s with food that the diversity of Greek rosé is at its most irresistible. Yannos Hadjiioannou, co-founder of London merchant Maltby & Greek, agrees that ‘most are fantastic as an aperitif but also have the body and structure to accompany a meal from start to finish’. In Athens wine bar Oinoscent I paired Gerovassiliou’s delicious Xinomavro Rosé 2023 (£25.34 Epinoia) with a dish of raw scallops laced with kumquats and citrus zest, which was one of the most invigorating combinations I can remember.

And over lunch at Skotadis on the island of Aegina, beside the harbour’s bobbing boats, I was struck by the simplicity and splendour of fresh prawns, lightly crisped and paired with the zing of Muses Estate’s A.Muse Rosé 2023. This smart blend of local red Mouhtaro with mostly Sauvignon Blanc is such a gem that I’ve listed it in my six Glass House wine bars across P&O Cruises.

Greece, albeit unofficially for now, is offering everyday drinkers as well as serious collectors a whole new realm of rosé to explore.

Rosé brilliance: Smith’s 10 beyond the high street

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With so much rosé around the world trying to emulate the Provence-style, by which most producers mean a pale pink dry wine, it can be difficult to evaluate what makes a rosé ‘not from Provence’ a good wine.

Should they be given a pat on the back for achieving a wine which is identical to those of Provence? Or should praise be given to rosés which achieve a sense of individual terroir and varietal identity?

The vast majority of rosés are made in much the same way: harvested a little earlier than the red wines, chilled, gently pressed and steel tank-fermented.

Cooler fermentation temperatures and a particular choice of yeasts determine a fruitier character, while more complexity can arise from warmer fermentation temperatures (18°C and over).

Bottling is often immediate, but a few months on the lees with varying amounts of batonnage will impart a soft roundness to the wine.

Scroll down to see 20 top rosés from around the world

A wealth of choice and style

A rise in quality in rosé production globally has given rise to more confident winemaking and greater exploration of their own individual style.

Cooler sites, higher altitudes (the Tibetan rosé is produced at 2,000m) and old vines (northern Spain in particular) are all important points of difference.

And while Grenache still dominates the statistics, producing rosés across southern France, northern Spain and parts of Italy, many more varieties, with their own taste profile, can be found.

Small-scale producers, their wines often found in smaller independent wine merchants, are liberated from the high volume commercial constraints of producing Provence-style, and are often highly imaginative in their interpretation of pink wine.

Is Portuguese rosé the next big thing?

Market demands are still dictating how many rosés are made, resulting in many producers making several, totally different, styles of rosé: one for the local market often made in a more traditional, fuller bodied, darker style; one for export – usually paler Provence-style – fresh, fruity and gastronomic, and some styles often oaked or with some age.

Increasingly, retailers are looking at moving all rosés from one shelf to displaying by region or separating styles.

Elevation and diversity

Raising the glass ceiling as far as pricing goes has certainly benefited the quality and diversity of rosé. With Sacha Lichine at Château d’Esclans in Provence and Gérard Bertrand at Clos du Temple both breaking the price barrier, the race is no longer confined to who can produce the best and cheapest pale pink wine.

Varieties once reserved for premium red wines are now being reconsidered for rosé. This has been helped by the market move towards lighter and fresher reds and darker, more robust rosé, with dark glass bottles increasingly being used as an indicator of serious rosés.

Expect a greater number of diverse and interesting rosés to increasingly appearing on the scene (there are large numbers of small volume experimental wines being produced such as the Agthoto from Kir Yiannis).

New generations of winemakers are also coming on the scene, eager to try out new ideas. Even in the rosé bastion of Provence there are young producers trying out different styles and methods.

Classics still exist. Longer macerated rosés from Tavel with their blend of numerous southern Rhône varieties, Grenache-based Navarre rosés and the Pinot Noir rosés from Rosé de Riceys.

Local varieties with the ability to deal well with hotter, drier summers are becoming increasingly attractive to winemakers. Corsica’s mineral-laden fresh rosés made with Niellucciu (Sangiovese) and Sciaccarellu varieties.

Negroamaro and Gropello in Puglia, Nerello Mascalese in Sicily, Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko in Greece, Tinta Cão and Rufete in the Douro (in fact Portugal has an over-abundance of interesting varieties), Teran in Istria, Wildbacher in Styria…

Rise of the barrel

More oxidative winemaking can make for richer and more complex rosé. Oak-aged rosé is not limited to Provence, although the use of oak does not guarantee a premium wine if it otherwise lacks extraction, ripeness and body.

When done well, oak-aged rosés are worth looking out for (and acacia barrels are also growing in popularity). Famous examples include high-altitude Reserva and Gran Reserva Rioja rosés (perhaps most famously the Viña Tondonia rosé from R López de Heredia), and Gerard Bertrand’s Clos du Temple in the Languedoc.

The use of amphora and cement is also increasing, giving texture without losing the fruit freshness.

The good news is that despite the growth in Provence-style rosés, there is also a growing number of exciting and different approaches to rosé just waiting to be discovered from around the world. The biggest obstacle, however, can be finding these wines…

Top tips for buying rosé

When it comes to drier rosés, be careful of suspiciously low-alcohol levels. This can indicate unripeness. The wines may have crunchy acidity, but the silky ripeness, like that present in Provence rosé, is rarely found under 13% alcohol in warm climates.

Don’t be afraid of dark rosés. They can indicate a wine with great character which can double up as a light summer red.

With so many different styles to choose from, rosé wines can make excellent matches for a range of dishes. For example, the sweet Loire rosés pair well with melon and Parma ham, goat’s cheese salad, and it’s one of the few wines that goes well with tomatoes.

Elizabeth Gabay MW’s 20 top rosés from around the world:

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Among the big stories to emerge from the results of the 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) was the rise of rosé. Wine drinkers are ‘drinking pink’, encouraged by the marketing clout and celebrity stardust of plush-pocketed rosé producers – and an uptick in quality.

‘It won’t surprise readers to know that our rosé wine entries grow with every year that passes (we judged almost 800 dry and medium-dry still pink wines this year),’ the DWWA judging panel commented.

There is more rosé around and it’s of better quality; the term ‘premium’ is now an apt descriptor for top-class rosé, not just red, white and sparkling wines.

This year two rosé wines – one still, one sparkling – were awarded Best in Show. There were just 50 wines out of the 18,143 evaluated to receive this plaudit in 2024, accounting for just 0.28% of the total wines tasted.

Scroll down to explore the top five rosé wines of DWWA 2024

Sparkling performances

This year witnessed an important first in the history of the awards – a Best in Show award for an English sparkling wine. Chapel Down, Rosé Brut, Kent NV (97 points) was deemed ‘hard to resist’, by the DWWA Co-Chairs. ‘It’s petal-pink colour couldn’t look prettier in the glass, while the aromatic fruits are satisfyingly restrained and subtle, and the palate clean and emphatic,’ they said.

The non-vintage blend is not new, but its style has evolved over time. Chapel Down’s head winemaker Josh Donaghay-Spire said: ‘Over the last 15 years the vineyards we have planted have been on better sites and have benefitted from our increased knowledge on how to get the maximum potential from our Kentish terroir.

‘These better sites have made higher quality wines and led to greater confidence and investment, which has allowed us to plant even better sites with the best equipment and people – and so the virtuous circle continues.

‘This wine is now benefitting from Kent Downs sites we planted prior to 2018, which have a high proportion of Chardonnay – 57% of our vineyard acreage is planted to Chardonnay.’

The award-winning blend is predominantly (61%) Chardonnay with 23% Pinot Noir and 9% Pinot Meunier. The remainder? Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir Précoce (also called Early Pinot Noir or Frühburgunder).

‘Early Pinot Noir is a variety I have been interested in for around 10 years,’ said Donaghay-Spire. ‘Once initial experiments were complete, we planted a beautiful site at Little Bokes Farm in Hawkhurst with the variety and it has been used in our wines since 2020.

‘By using this variety, which can’t be grown in Champagne, we have reduced the tannin concentration of our sparkling rosés, which means less sugar is required to balance the wine and the natural fruit flavours come through even more clearly.’

Of winning the Best in Show Award, Donaghay-Spire said, ‘This award is a landmark on our journey of the exploration of the terroir of Kent and a great moment to reflect on how far we have come in creating a brand-new wine region here.’

Other English counties claimed Gold medals for their rosé wines too. Roebuck Estates, Rosé de Noirs Brut, West Sussex 2018 scooped a Gold with 96 points (the wine also has 17 per cent Pinot Noir Précoce).

In Hampshire, Louis Pommery, England Rosé Brut, Hampshire NV won Gold with 95 points. Louis Pommery was the first Champagne house to launch an English sparkling wine (others have followed suit), a move that seems to be bearing fruit, in more ways than one.

And, on the topic of Champagne, Laurent-Perrier, Alexandra Grande Cuvée Rosé Brut 2012 won a Platinum (97 points) for its 80/20 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend.

Still rosé: Provence and (way) beyond

In the still-wine categories, rosé strongholds such as Provence dominated the Awards: the second Best in Show award in the rosé category went to Château d’Esclans, Les Clans, Côtes de Provence 2022 (97 points). No great shock there – but there were also notable ‘strange and wonderful’ wins from such off-the-beaten-track areas as Menorca, Pennsylvania and Moldova.

As the judging panel so aptly put it: ‘The Côtes de Provence archetype still tends to set the rosé benchmark for style desiderata’ – and Château d’Esclans, the internationally famous Var property piloted by Alexis Lichine, has been a huge driving force behind the rosé renaissance.

‘Predominantly Grenache blended with Rolle and a dash of Tibouren, Les Clans has a classic delicate peach-pink colour and a haunting aromatic profile that mixes cream, white almond, peach and gardenia notes.’

On the palate it is ‘deeper than many of its peers to the point where you could almost say ‘concentrated’, said the panel, ‘and perhaps shows brighter acidity than some of our previous winners. That cream, though, naps and envelops all, and the white almond depth fuses admirably with the wine’s vinosity to provide the dominant structural frame, rather than relying on acidity.’

Another wine from the southern French region, Robert De Salvo, Bastide de La Ciselette, Bandol 2023 was awarded a Platinum (97 points).

Bandol is the largest of Provence’s micro-appellations, and about 80% of the wine produced there is rosé. This worthy wine combines 70% Mourvèdre with Grenache and Cinsault.

Moving beyond the pink heartland of Provence across the border to Spain, Rioja claimed a Platinum for Hacienda López de Haro, Classica Gran Reserva, Rioja Rosado 2012, a blend of Garnacha Tintorera and Viura that scored 97 points.

It was Spain’s first-ever Platinum for a rosé in the DWWA (although it did receive a Best in Show in 2022 for the same wine (2009 vintage)).

Things got really interesting in the Gold category where, among the 21 winners, was a pink from the US state of Pennsylvania: Mazza, The Perfect Rosé, Pennsylvania 2022, made from 100% Chambourcin (95 points).

Other Golds from the wilder fringes included Bodegas Torralbenc, Isla de Menorca 2023, a blend of Monastrell with Merlot and Syrah (95 points).

From Eastern Europe, Vinaria Purcari, 1827, Stefan Voda, Moldova 2023 (95 points), which blends Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with the local Rara Neagră, was another notable Gold, from a forward-looking producer who won a Best in Show with a white-wine blend in the 2020 DWWA.

Also notable was a Gold for Camel Valley’s Pinot Noir rosé 2023 from Cornwall, UK, with more rosé wines featuring from Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania.

Still or sparkling, from classic territories or new ground, admirers of the pink stuff have never had it so good.

DWWA 2024: Top-scoring rosé wines to try

Chapel Down, Rosé Brut, Kent, United Kingdom NV

97 Best in Show

Its petal pink couldn’t look prettier in the glass, while the aromatic fruits are satisfyingly restrained and subtle, and the palate clean and emphatic. The English-season acidity – always prominent, but satisfyingly ripe here — is lent interest by a mineral-salt undertow as well as a soft sherbet charm. Alcohol 12%

Laurent-Perrier, Alexandra Grande Cuvée Rosé Brut, Champagne, France 2012

97 Platinum

Glistening red cherries and macerated strawberries meet creamed vanilla biscuits and pastry. Deeply gastronomic with a lush crunchy texture, vivacious mousse and an engaging flow of acidity which sails through to the long savoury finish. Alc 12%

Château d’Esclans, Les Clans, Côtes de Provence, France 2022

97 Best in Show

Delicate peach-pink in colour, with a haunting aromatic profile that mixes cream, white almond, peach and gardenia notes with pastel finesse. On the palate, it is deeper than many of its peers to the point where you could almost say ‘concentrated’, and perhaps shows brighter acidity than some of our previous winners. That cream, though, naps and envelops all, and the white almond depth fuses admirably with the wine’s vinosity to provide the dominant structural frame, rather than relying on acidity. Is there even a hint of green olive? Maybe; maybe not; it’s Provence rosé, after all. Hints and whispers are all. Alc 14%

Hacienda López de Haro, Classica Gran Reserva, Rioja Rosado, Spain 2012

97 Platinum

A unique and compelling proposition, with alluring orange peel, dried fig and baked strawberry aromas which combine superbly with the honeyed walnut and vanilla charm on the palate. Weighty and opulent with a lush, toasty length. Alc 13%

Robert De Salvo, Bastide de La Ciselette, Bandol, Provence, France 2023

97 Platinum

Sensational perfumed red berries, citrus blossom and dried herbs cascade over the sumptuous core of lush orchard fruits. Inviting and creamy with a grapefruit pith acidity and a ribbon of saline minerals holding everything together. Alc 13.5%

Search all award-winning rosé wines from DWWA 2024

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It wasn’t all that long ago that judging the rosé class in a New Zealand wine show was a bit like receiving a competition booby prize. Quality was as variable as the colours, but alas, not nearly as enticing.

New Zealand’s rosés may still come in a veritable rainbow of pink hues, but the quality has taken a huge leap forward as winemakers, following the global trend in rosé appreciation, have stepped up their game.

Hawke’s Bay consultant winemaker Damian Fischer observes: ‘The industry is clearly taking the category seriously and putting more effort into crafting these wines. The trend for paler colours and drier styles is continuing and I’ve noticed more freshness, purity and delicacy in the wines without sacrificing flavour.’

Rosé wines are produced the length and breadth of the country, though as expected, the output from industry engine room Marlborough surpasses all other regions.

Grapes and regions

Pinot Noir is the country’s most common red grape variety and accordingly produces the majority of rosés, be they still or sparkling. But there is a decent range of Merlot and Syrah-based wines to be found, alongside a few of the less usual suspects. These include Malbec, Pinotage, Cabernet Franc and even Tempranillo. Occasionally, white varieties such as Pinot Gris or Chardonnay are also slipped in, though generally only in small blending fractions.

Regional variation tends to reflect the respective climatic and varietal makeups. So you can expect to find more robust, spicy Merlot or Syrah-based wines from Hawke’s Bay. Meanwhile Marlborough and Central Otago’s focus is generally bright, aromatic berry fruit-rich Pinot Noir-based wines. The latter’s cooler climes add crisper acidity as well as cherries and fresh herbs.

Most wines showcase New Zealand’s signature fruit purity; vibrant and refreshing, they’re intended to be consumed nicely chilled within a year or so of harvest, and are generally dry or just off-dry, though a few have a crowd-pleasing hint of residual sugar for that lusher mouthfeel. There is also a small diverse faction of winemakers experimenting with degrees of skin contact, oxidative winemaking, oak or amphorae.

Unfortunately many rosés don’t leave New Zealand’s shores. Export figures have climbed from 0.7 million litres in 2014 to 4.3 million litres in 2023, according to the New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2023. However producers either have a strong enough domestic sales base, or instead struggle to find a place in the hyper-competitive global rosé market. So should you happen to spot one of the following wines on the shelves in your own market, best snap it up quick.

Top New Zealand rosé: 20 to try

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Elizabeth Gabay MW, Beatrice Bessi and Poppy de Courcy-Wheeler tasted 77 wines, with 4 Outstanding and 26 Highly recommended.

Bandol: Panel tasting scores

77 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 4

Highly recommended 26

Recommended 42

Commended 5

Fair 0

Poor 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-vintage AP Bandol wines in white, rosé or red, and preferably all three if possible

Bandol is an appellation with a dual image – part of Provence proper, but not part of its marketing activities. This tasting offered an opportunity to ascertain whether any distinctive Bandol characters shone through, especially in the rosés.

Overall, the quality of the wines excelled, with really good examples in all three colours (30 rosé, 29 red and 18 white) in a distinctly Bandol style, especially evident in the big, structured reds and rosés.

There is a growing interest in the whites from this region, so it was good to see a decent representation. Despite the high volume of rosé produced in the region (74% in 2023, according to Vins de Bandol), the true stars of this tasting were the reds, representing 71% of the wines scoring 91-points and above.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Bandol panel tasting

Greater accessibility

Though the one 2016 wine (Domaine Maubernard) did have the biggest tannic structure of all, reflecting the traditional vision of Bandol reds as being ageworthy, most of the reds were showing much greater youthful accessibility than Bandols of decades past.

The windows for ageing potential were judged to be lower than usually estimated – although it’s worth noting that these wines are yet to go through the common closed, ‘moody teenager’ phase that occurs at around five to six years.

We queried how well these wines would age with such fruit-forward friendliness when young, and wondered whether some producers keep some cuvées back to release with more age.

Fruit profiles varied from deep, dark, opulent berries to blue fruit and elegant minerality. Others, namely Château Canadel and Peyraud’s Domaine Tempier, have a more traditional, intense tannic structure.

Beatrice Bessi was expecting more alcohol, so was surprised to find only a few had high levels. The least successful wines were tasting faded or too lightweight. Oak use was homogenous and not overwhelming.

See all the wines from the Bandol panel tasting

White and rosé

While the reds may have attracted the high scores, the rosés were probably the most interesting category – compared to Provence rosés, most were distinctly darker, yet there were certainly some with a paler, salmon-pink tone, albeit with a bigger structure. Poppy de Courcy-Wheeler said that some reminded her of light-red clairets.

Both Bessi and de Courcy-Wheeler felt that these are rosés with ageing potential and that consumers can be confident in seeking out older vintages, although both were cautious about recommending more than a year of ageing.

De Courcy-Wheeler wondered if aged rosés would have a better chance in the market if they were sold as a different category with their own shelf space, in order to give consumers confidence in the style.

With global demand for white wines growing, it wasn’t surprising that there were a good number of whites in the tasting. Although lack of acidity is often considered a problem in Bandol, especially with Clairette as a majority component (50% minimum), the 2023 vintage showed very fresh acidity.

An oily texture was also observed and de Courcy-Wheeler noticed that for the whites and rosés, the word ‘tangy’ came up a lot. The Clairette character of soft honeyed pears and white flowers gave the wines an attractive, distinctive character and Bessi highlighted that the intense ripeness of fruit often gave the impression of some oak ageing.

With prices ranging from about £15 to more than £50, the ageing potential of all three colours helps justify the investment in Bandol.

Bandol panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Elizabeth Gabay MW is a wine writer, educator, speaker and consultant, with a focus on rosé and the wines of southern France, where she has lived since 2002. Her second book Rosés of Southern France, co-authored with son Ben Bernheim, was published in July 2022 (£22 Zalabim Conseil).

Beatrice Bessi is head sommelier at Chiltern Firehouse luxury hotel and restaurant in central London. A DWWA judge, Bessi is a CMS Advanced Sommelier and WSET educator. She moved to the UK from Italy in 2016 and began her sommelier career at 67 Pall Mall.

Poppy de Courcy-Wheeler is a wine buyer for Waitrose, focusing on rosé, Burgundy and regional France, having previously worked for more than five years in roles including wine buying and head of trade sales at importer Charles Taylor Wines.

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In 2023 global Champagne shipments fell by around 8% to 299 million bottles but Champagne remains a firm favourite with UK customers and is particularly popular as a celebration wine.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, rosé Champagne is in sharp focus right now. This is a category which has been on the rise for a while, but how is rosé Champagne made and what should it be paired with?

See the results of the Decanter vintage rosé Champagne panel tasting

Rosé on the rise

While non-vintage rosé Champagne is still a popular choice with consumers, sommelier Jan Konetzki notes that vintage and prestige cuvée rosé Champagnes are gaining traction, particularly in restaurants.

It’s easy to see why, as many of the best examples can work brilliantly at the dinner table – whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not.

The list below features rosé Champagnes reviewed by our experts and available at a range of prices, with some great value options to more expensive choices over £300 a bottle.

How rosé Champagne is made

There are two ways to achieve the pink hue of rosé Champagne: rosé d’assemblage or saignée.

Rosé d’assemblage

Champagne is the only region where the blending of red and white wine is permitted for the production of rosé wines, and it is common across quality levels.

A small amount of red wine made from Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier is added to the white base wine prior to its second fermentation. The percentage of red wine added at this stage depends on the producer’s preference and can vary from 5% to more than 15%.

The aim is to ensure that the freshness and tension of the Champagne is maintained. Carine Bailleul, chef de cave at Champagne Castelnau, says her goal is ‘to have a fine balance between fruitiness, sweetness, colour and acidity’.

It goes without saying, therefore, that the red wine added should be of high quality. It not only contributes colour to the finished Champagne, but also flavour and texture.

Saignée

The saignée method involves bleeding off the pink-tinged juice from macerating red grapes.

Louis Roederer uses a version of this technique alongside cold maceration to make Cristal rosé, for instance.

The Fleur de Miraval variant uses the saignée method, blended with top Chardonnay, according to winemaker Rodolphe Péters, who worked on the project alongside Brad Pitt and the Perrin family.

How rosé Champagne tastes

It is difficult to generalise about what rosé Champagne tastes like because styles can vary, yet many will have noticeable red berry characters alongside citrus such as grapefruit and orange. In more complex styles, such as vintage rosé, you might find this balanced with the traditional autolytic flavours of Champagne, such as brioche or bread-like aromas, associated with ageing on lees.

Rosé Champagne and food pairing

Pink Champagne is versatile when it comes to food pairing. Richer styles can stand up to bigger flavours and richer foods, while the more delicate, fruit-driven wines make for a stylish aperitif. Sweeter styles such as demi-sec are a great match for fruit-forward desserts.

Konetzki recommends ‘a colossal, Pinot Noir-heavy prestige cuvée like Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé with Peking duck’. The plum sauce in the dish matches the sweet plummy flavours in the wine.

He suggests a beetroot Wellington with something like the Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé. The pastry-rich, fruity, earthy flavours in the wine pair perfectly with the sweet, earthy beetroot.

For extra glamour, add some preserved black truffles into the dish and try it with a 20-year-old vintage rosé Champagne for a superb – yet fairly pricey – match.

Rosé Champagnes to try for Valentine’s Day

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‘It wasn’t really a conscious choice to be part of a Champagne brand. Champagne Sanger invited me to come out to see its Champagne school. This was seven years ago. The students wanted to meet me, and the students are the story really. And I thought, what a lovely invite, to go to one of the oldest winemaking schools in Champagne.

‘I said to my wife – who I was dating at the time – do you want to come to Champagne? It sounded very romantic. We had this incredible, full, rich day of history, skill, sharing, and the students were really happy to see me. I learnt how to twist the bottles [riddling], and all about the cuvées and the vineyards. And we topped it off in one of the vineyards eating cheese and drinking Champagne. At the end of the day, they said “we want you to own your own cuvée”. At first I thought, you mean take a few home? I had a big trunk. And they said “no, you’ll have your own, we produce it, we have these lovely batches of grand cru, and you can name it and do what you want with it”.

‘My personal favourite is the Porte Noire vintage grand cru. Bad Champagne gives me a residual effect the next day. Finely produced Champagne doesn’t. When you realise that alcohol suppresses your nervous system, you don’t want to put any old liquid in your body! Beyond Champagne, I like a Syrah, heavy and bold.

‘We haven’t really marketed ourselves around me and celebrity wines. It’s got my name on it, but we haven’t pushed that element. Celebrity wines tend to have a more transactional approach… the thinking is volume, volume, volume. With our grand cru, there is a volume capacity we can reach, and that’s it. So we are a little bit more in tune with people finding it, discovering it and liking it, rather than the hard sell.

‘Perhaps I could have a cabinet of Porte Noire drinks that tell interesting stories from interesting winemakers and regions. Often I get to be in different parts of the world where there are always interesting stories behind the wines there. I went to South Africa, and I was really blown away by the selection there and the history of winemaking.

‘The unexpected stories are really interesting to me, and in wine there seems to be quite a few, because it’s attached to the land and where people live, usually. Shockingly, English producers of sparkling wine have great stories. And from a taste profile, it’s getting much better. I’m just saying, I come from England. It would feel odd to have a [Porte Noire] cabinet and not have English sparkling!

‘For me, growing up in a modest background, Champagne was something to aspire towards, popping a bottle if you reached a milestone. Typically these are big moments, marriage, engagements, birthdays, but with Porte Noire, it’s a really good liquid at a very affordable price. So the idea is that it doesn’t have to be as much of a milestone to celebrate, it can be, “I got through my day”. I want people to redesign where and how Champagne is appropriate. Of course it’s nice for celebration moments too.’

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Wine drinkers are increasingly turning to whites and rosés, which together now account for more than half of consumption, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

White wine consumption has been growing ‘at a relatively fast pace’ since 2010, driven by demand for sparkling wine, the OIV said in a report on colour trends since the start of the century. The rosé market resumed growing at a slower pace after taking a hit from the 2008 global financial crisis. Red wine consumption didn’t show a similar recovery, falling from a peak in 2007, according to the intergovernmental organisation.

Rising popularity of white wine in the past 20 years is mostly driven by the sparkling wine markets of the US, Germany and the UK, making up for traditional consumers such as France and Spain, where overall wine drinking has declined. The situation is different for reds, where no country was able to compensate for the falling consumption in the major European wine countries.

‘Over the past decades, the world wine sector has seen an overall positive trend of production and consumption of white and rosé wines, while red wines have decreased,’ the OIV said. ‘This structural shift can be mainly attributed to overall changes in consumer preferences.’

White wine accounted for 43% of global wine consumption in 2021, up 3 percentage points from the start of the century, the OIV data shows. The share of reds stands at 47%, from just over half two decades earlier.

Global consumption of white wine and rosé has risen by 10% and 17% since 2000, respectively, according to the OIV. Red wine has declined 15% from a peak in 2007.

‘The boom of rosé and then of sparkling wines, together with a crisis of red wines, are mainly caused by a change in the composition of consumers,’ said Giorgio Delgrosso, head of statistics at the OIV, by email. ‘Also, the evolution of consumption habits has certainly played in favour of lighter and fresher beverages.’

The US is the biggest consumer of white wine, with consumption rising 65% in the 2000-2021 period. Russia, Australia and the UK were other countries where white wine did well, while consumption was stable in Italy, the second-biggest market for the colour.

France is the biggest destination for rosé wine, accounting for more than a third of the market. However, the UK was where consumption rose fastest in the past two decades.

The US, China and Germany are the biggest red-wine drinkers, followed by France and Italy. Both China and the US recorded rising consumption in the past two decades, though the OIV data show Chinese wine drinking has slumped from a peak in 2017. Consumption in France, once the world’s biggest red-wine consumer, has fallen by almost half since the start of the century.

The mix of production by colour has followed the consumption patterns in the past 20 years, with a ‘remarkable’ decrease in global red wine supply, according to the OIV.

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While different wine styles and market shares seem to have waxed and waned over the last few tumultuous years, no wine save sparkling has shown the resilience of rosé. From New York State to California, there are pink wines for every palate. While often cast as ‘porch pounders’, the level of rosé’s sophistication has risen over the last few years to make it well-suited for more refined meals and summer barbecues and, in a few cases, even worthy of ageing.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 20 US rosé wines

A decade in pink

Rosé has had quite the decade. A global trend, not merely confined to Provence or the Instagram-savvy influencers of Brooklyn or Portland, Oregon, rosé has ruled and for quite some time. The high watermark for rosé tends to be seasonal, with sales increasing in the warmer months, and as a planet, we’re nothing if not warmer. Celebrities have launched their own rosé brands, from John Bon Jovi to Sarah Jessica Parker, and perhaps most famously, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Miraval brand.

Pink wines have never been cooler, particularly as temperatures rise, and their market share and production growth have both been astronomical. No one makes or sells more rosé than the French of course. In a report from beverage industry data company Provi, the presence of Provence rosé in the US market increased by 7,100% (that is not a typo) from 2001 to 2016.

The sales of rosé have bucked all the wine trends in both still and sparkling categories. While younger generations may be turned off by some wines and are choosing alcoholic seltzer, they have not turned their backs on rosé. According to Provi, three of the top five wine growth categories are comprised of rosé.

Myriad styles

Stylistically, Americans have settled on dry rosé in the style of the wines of Provence after a long love affair with the sickly sweet White Zinfandel. However, style can vary within that range. Depending on how the wines are produced, they can appeal to a variety of drinkers. How a particular rosé is made will affect the texture, colour and the finished wine.

The three main methods of producing rosé wine are to make it via direct press, saignée, and – in a few cases – blending of red and white wines.

When rosé is made in the direct press method, red grapes are picked and crushed. The grape skins remain in contact with the juice until the desired level of colour is achieved. The grapes are typically harvested specifically to make rosé when made in this way.

The saignée method is a type of short maceration and the wine is actually a bi-product of red wine production. This involves bleeding a portion of pink-coloured juice out of a tank destined to make red wine. The juice has not been in contact with the grape skins for very long. It is typically very lightly coloured, depending on the grape variety and the desired hue of the finished rosé. In many cases, the remaining wine will go on to be made into red wine, though not necessarily always.

Sometimes rosés may use a small amount of red wine blended into a white wine. This approach is seen as non-traditional and more of a shortcut than a winemaking technique. Note that this method is not allowed in the majority of EU appellations (rosé Champagne is an important exception).

Below, find an array of rosés to choose from for all budgets.

20 US rosés to beat the heat

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Rosé is liquid Abba. Classic, yet enduringly entertaining with wide appeal and capable of endless reinterpretations to the delight of fans old and new. While summer is without question rosé’s greatest hit, from fizz to fortified, it seems to be on tour year-round these days – but sipping in a sunbeam is tough to beat.

More than any other wine style, rosé’s approachability and informality is peerless, and paired with foods it can tackle everything from curries to a simple salad. While pale, dry, powerful rosé is fantastic to partner with intensely flavoured dishes such as those heavily laden with garlic or reduced tomato sauces and pungent salads, rosés that have an even deeper colour can give a more faithful iteration of the local grapes they’re made from, and offer the chance to pursue even more specific food pairings.

Scroll down to see Olly Smith’s selection of rosés to celebrate summer

A good example is the lesser-known Greek grape of Mouhtaro, which I recently tasted for the first time on a visit to the Valley of the Muses about 90 minutes’ drive north of Athens in central Greece. The deeply coloured rosé I tasted from Samartzis with its pomegranate-strawberry tension and silken texture was nothing short of a revelation – sipped alongside pink, charred local lamb chops cooked over charcoal it was a pinpoint-perfect pairing with a salad of locally sourced wild leaves.

If you’re already a fan of Tavel or Bandol rosé, pink Greek Mouhtaro should be at the top of your list.

Rosé can even handle a good whack of spice in cooking – curries are well handled by bold, deeply coloured rosé from warmer climates, and I’ve also found Rioja rosado from northern Spain to be a fantastic all-rounder to match dishes laced with a kick of pimentón, such as a hearty seafood paella.

Taste spectrum

As the latest vintage of rosé breaks like a welcome summery wave across wine shops and restaurant and bar lists, I’m recommending a fair old spread of styles here, including the odd sparkler and even a non-alcoholic sparkling tea to cover all bases for every shade of weather the season brings.

Technique has a marked impact on style. Rosés from Provence deserve their place here as a key region with a clearly defined specialism in pale, crisp, scented blends, and I’ve found a number to recommend thanks to their specialised short maceration, which extracts just enough colour to evoke that classic poolside mood.

Elsewhere, red winemakers can bleed off a little juice from their tanks, using the saignée method to produce a handy pink wine that’s quickly ready to bottle for sale, while also lending concentration to the remaining red as it begins its more leisurely journey to bottling. In Champagne, producers famously blend white with a small percentage of red grapes, giving a lacing of structure which, for a summertime treat, is absolutely sublime with simply prepared lobster or a fresh prawn salad. And these are also bottles to consider ageing, in order to draw out a more ethereal uncoiling of savoury complexity – great fun to experiment with mild gamey flavours or cheeses with moderate intensity and evolution.

Liquid creativity

Ageing still rosé is also well worth considering. The tiny, lesser-known French appellation of Palette is one to seek out; Château Simone, which is stocked by Yapp Bros [at about £48 per bottle], is an occasional treat I pluck from my cellar. Blended from Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and obscure varieties such as Manoscan, it’s powerful stuff, unlike any other. My wish is for this adventurous example of unique blends to flourish across the world of rosés – more creativity and invention, with blends delivering every shade of colour, flavour and design, from vineyards that perhaps wouldn’t be obvious candidates for rosé. Whistler’s Dry as a Bone from Barossa in South Australia, is one of these, a Mataro-Grenache fusion with fruit purity and a nimble 11.8% alcohol – I love its drinkability.

Considering the success of pink wine from Provence, a hot place which has made rosé its emblematic style, I’d love to see further warm areas such as Barossa having even more fun with developing fresh takes on rosé.

From elsewhere in Australia, perhaps the most adventurous rosé in this line-up is also the most playful. Tim Wildman MW’s Piggy Pop Pét-Nat is as bonkers as it is brilliant. Blended from white and red from different regions (Mataro and Nero d’Avola from McLaren Vale, Lagrein and Arneis from Adelaide Hills with Zibibbo from the Riverland), it is sustainably sourced and bottled under a crown cap while undergoing its first fermentation with wild yeast. I found it entertaining and wild in the very best sense of the word. Liquid creativity – more of this level of playfulness and experimentation in the world of rosé would be a dramatic as well as delicious development to the canon.

Fads and fashions

From choosing the saignée method to using a light or heavy maceration of grape skins, to blending single varietal wines, blends of different grapes, or even mixing red and white grapes together, technique’s role in rosé is only part of the story. What consumers actually want to drink can often deliver a surge in popularity for styles which can come and go as rosé’s appeal continues to rise and widen.

White Zinfandel from California, with its candy floss-like confectionery sweetness, has historically been dominant. Rosé d’Anjou from the Loire, once a hit, is often overlooked these days. I’m a fan of its fruity style harnessing Grolleau Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pineau d’Aunis, Grolleau Gris, Gamay and Côt – an underrated style for those who enjoy the flavour of a sun-ripened strawberry, lovely for a picnic and a triumph paired with a bacon roll. Cabernet d’Anjou, blending Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon, is similarly fruit-fuelled.

I’ll even give a shout-out to the impact Mateus rosé has had on the world of wine. An enduring brand and characterful bottle; last time I was in Portugal, I was served a glass with some peri-peri chicken and, for an informal lunchtime sip, it did the job. Six quid in Asda, Morrisons or Tesco if you’re in need of a trip down memory lane. Hit the spice on the peri-peri and mind how you go.

Recipe for success

Limiting my choices to these wines – and trying to balance classical rosés with some more affordable options, a fizz or two and some new discoveries – was a challenging, if fascinating, exercise. I’m proud of the diverse line-up, though in truth, I’ve realised I could have written a book on rosé. I’m sticking to my guns on the Abba analogy. While rosé has a distinctive style, it also has real breadth – and while some are more frivolous than others, there’s plenty of seriousness for devoted wine fans to explore more deeply.

One of the most exciting categories and one I believe we’ll see a lot more of is English sparkling rosé. There are specialists such as Coolhurst already devoted to the cause, as well as plenty of excellent producers of pink such as Busi Jacobsohn, Chapel Down, Greyfriars, Gusbourne, Harrow & Hope, Langham, Roebuck and Wyfold all worth following. My one caveat: avoid drinking the English sparkling rosés too young. With their frisky acidity, such gems are built for the long haul and experience with my own cellar has taught me that a decade will transform these wines into more mature and intriguing iterations. As trends evolve in rosé, there will be reinvention, reinterpretation and reappraisal as the years go by. Just like Abba.

An alcohol-free option

Real Drinks Co. Peony Blush Alcohol Free Rosé, Naturally Fermented Sparkling Tea, England

89 points

Hold the phone! This is terrific, and a welcome grown-up addition to the ranks of booze-free bubbly. There’s a peachy marmalade aroma with a hint of fresh strawberry scent that feels proportionate and classy rather than over the top. Impressive finesse – think raspberry sorbet with a whisper of sharp appley bite. Crisp and sherbet-like. A peachiness weaves through the finish; it’s got a dazzling and defined sense of flair as the flavours recede. Intriguingly good with decent complexity.

£13 realdrinks.co

Drink 2023 Alc 0.0%

Olly Smith’s pick: Rosés to celebrate summer

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‘For me, Champagne is the best wine for ageing,’ said Gosset cellar master Odilon de Varine earlier this year at the ProWein trade fair in Düsseldorf where the wine, now released in the UK, was first presented. The new cuvée is a rosé Champagne aged for 12 years on lees.

Demonstrating the future

The wine is part of the house’s Compte d’Age series, which, it says, ‘pays tribute to wines with long ageing potential; an experience hitherto only available to the cellar master.’

Scroll down to see Anne Krebiehl MW’s tasting note and score for the new Gosset rosé cuvée

De Varine explains that the idea behind the project was to prove the point of ageing, ‘even for rosé, even for non-vintage. I knew his wine would take years to evolve and I wanted to have a Champagne to show to my successors, to taste it over several years.’

With his successor Gabrielle Bouby-Malagu in place, who has worked alongside him since 2017, it was now time to release this exceptional cuvée.

This is the first release of a rosé wine in this series, following two previous white releases: 15 Ans de Cave a Minima in 2016 and 12 Ans de Cave a Minima in 2020.

A love of rosé

Admitting that he loves rosé, de Varine says: ‘A friend once brought Gosset rosé from 1971 and 1973, and they were just wonderful. Rosé probably ages better than white, I do not know why, possibly because of phenolics – it certainly keeps its freshness.’ Thus the idea of the long-aged and late released non-vintage rosé was born.

The base year for the wine was 2009 with some reserve wines, put on tirage in 2010 and disgorged with a dosage of 4.5g/L in summer 2022.

The wine unites immense, creamy richness with Gosset’s customary briskness. The grapes were sourced from parcels with deep chalk and very little topsoil in the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs.

The villages of Cumières, Louvois, Verzy, Ambonnay and Bouzy were namechecked. It is a blend of 65% Chardonnay and 35% Pinot Noir – of which 8% is vinified as red wine to lend the pink colour.

Just 7,000 bottles were made, and the wine will retail in the UK for £125-£130.

Planning a trip to Champagne? See the best Champagne houses to visit here

Gosset’s new long-aged rosé tasted and rated:

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All prestige Champagnes worth their salt need more than a story; they need a philosophy. Dom Pérignon has long been master of this art and it’s not hard to understand why, given the scale of the blending task facing the winemaking team: ‘At the start of the year I had 100 wines to assess from 1,000 plots – the largest quality vineyard area in France, maybe the world,’ Chaperon points out, referencing the 600ha of vineyard available to Champagne’s most prominent prestige cuvée. The ‘matter’ is certainly complex.

Scroll down to see the tasting note and score for Dom Pérignon Rosé 2009

Dom Pérignon is ‘not a property that is bottled,’ says Chaperon. ‘Our vineyard is a potentiality – what we bottle is a choice each year.’

Dom Pérignon is always a vintage wine, although the size and flexibility of the vineyards available increasingly means both the white and even the rosé can be made most years. Of the rosé he says: ‘I am not obliged to make it every year…but that is the aim. It is the most challenging wine to make, because of the challenge of blending the power of the red wine with the harmony of Dom Pérignon blanc.’

Dom Pérignon rosé is a rosé d’assemblage, meaning that a still red wine from Pinot Noir, here from the villages of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Bouzy, is added to a white Chardonnay blend composed almost exclusively from vineyards located in grand cru villages before the bottle fermentation.

The rosé is always released later than the white, with this edition seeing at least 12 years on lees.

Chaperon offered a window into the blending process via an improvisation cuvée from the hot, dry 2022 vintage. ‘The feeling I got, as I tasted the grapes in the vineyard on 17 August last year, was that it took me back to 2003,’ days Chaperon, referencing the heatwave summer when small grapes and baking July temperatures pushed harvest into August for the first time in Champagne’s history. ‘Everybody was still on the beach!’ he jokes. ‘We realised we had to harvest in three days…we were there shouting, “come back! Come back!”’

The 2009 harvest was not as early as either 2003 or 2022, beginning on the 12 September for Dom Pérignon after a slow start and a warm, dry August. The vintage is ‘embracing, generous and soft’ according to Chaperon, who explains that the rosé allows him to stretch his blending, playing on the ‘chiaroscuro’ – light and shade – between the acidity of the white wine and the tannin from the red wine addition.

Hot years do seem to suit what Chaperon admits is the ‘lesser known’ Dom Pérignon rosé over the widely known white cuvée, playing into the natural generosity and food-friendliness of the style – something that Chaperon calls a ‘frontier’ wine.

‘It’s Champagne, but it’s beyond Champagne. It’s a rosé, but it’s beyond rosé,’ he says, referencing the cuvee’s typically dark, copper-to-orange colour that comes from a significant red wine addition and long ageing.

Just as the 2006 rosé was a step up from the white, the 2009 dials up the drama and interest from the standard 2009 white release. Another example, then, of how rosé is nothing to be made light of in the hands of Champagne’s most ambitious producers.

Dom Pérignon Rosé 2009 will be available in the UK from 23 August 2023 and will retail at £350 per bottle from Clos 19.

See the tasting note and score for Dom Pérignon Rosé 2009

Related content

First taste: Charles Heidsieck Brut Millésimé 2013First Taste: Billecart-Salmon Nicolas François 2008First Taste: Champagne Rare 2013

Inside the July 2023 issue of Decanter magazine:

FEATURES

• Summer rosé ultimate guide For your party season choice, it has to be pink. Olly Smith whittles it down to 20, in a plethora of styles
• Bordeaux 2022 en primeur A hot, dry, yet successful vintage unlike any other. Full insight and 60 top wines, selected by Georgie Hindle
• Wine heists Chris Mercer tells the stories of recent audacious thefts
• Extreme wine projects Crazy or brave? Amanda Barnes in south Patagonia, Anna Lee C Iljima in the South Pacific, Åsa Johansson on Persian wine made in Sweden

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• Distilled Spirits, cocktails, insight – plus five excellent gins for summer
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GOOD LIVING

• Perfect pairing Spaghetti al limone with southern Italian white or red
• Travel: Tours & Touraine The sights and flavours of the beautiful Loire region, with Alicia Miller

BUYING GUIDE

• Editors’ picks Recent tasting highlights from Decanter staff
• Panel tasting: Sancerre & Pouilly-Fumé Seven Outstanding and 31 Highly recommended from the 72 tasted of these Loire white classics
• Panel tasting: Prosecco The big sparkle – 198 wines that showed consistent quality at all prices
• Expert’s choice: Terra Alta Beth Willard’s pick of 18 bright Mediterranean whites and reds
• Weekday wines 25 top wines under £20 chosen by the Decanter team
• Weekend wines Priced £20-£50, seven standout buys to impress

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• Marketwatch investment news Auction updates; what’s on the radar; Champagne market cools

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• Andrew Jefford’s column On the trials, tribulations and sheer commitment required to be a producer of quality wine in Syria
• Guest column: Arthur Coggill Why that €4 claret you enjoyed on holiday can’t be found in the UK
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In recent years, Canada has emerged as a dynamic player in the wine world. First, establishing a global reputation for icewine in the 1980s, progressing to stellar white and red still wines, and most recently traditional-method sparkling wines that sit comfortably alongside international greats.

The country’s wine production is many things: a square-peg-round-hole market, with producers continuously experimenting. Canadian rosé is no exception.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 31 Canadian rosé wines

With an ever-expanding focus on terroir-driven winemaking, Canadian wineries are crafting delightful still rosés to rival international counterparts. ‘Increasing the level of commitment to farming specifically for rosé is where the rise in quality is starting,’ explains Amy Paynter, winemaker for the Okanagan Valley’s Liquidity Wines.

While the burgeoning quality and quaffable ease of Canadian rosé is not in doubt, that doesn’t mean there’s a flagship style – far from it. Across 7,300ha in Ontario, 4,500ha in British Columbia, Quebec’s nearly 810ha and Nova Scotia’s 255ha, no single grape variety, hue of pink, or winemaking process stands out as a national representation of rosé.

And nor should it, considering the nation’s vast size and climatic differences. At its widest point east to west, Canada spans 5,514km (3,426 miles). That’s the same distance as from London (in England, not Ontario!) to eastern Kazakhstan, or between New York City and Dublin. Similarities between wines from opposite sides of the world’s second largest country are few and far between.

See notes and scores for all 53 wines from the Canadian rosé tasting

From the sun-drenched vineyards of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to the prestigious wineries of Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula and the maritime magic of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, each region brings a distinct charm to the world of rosé.

Variety of varieties

More than 20 grape varieties featured in a tasting of almost 100 Canadian rosé wines across Canada over three weeks in April and May – from the familiar Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Merlot to Ortega, Dornfelder and Marquette.

‘The best rosés are the ones that are an authentic reflection of the producer’s style and ethos – perhaps as an extension of what’s already offered [in the portfolio],’ says Debbie Shing, founder of Quvé Group in Toronto, Ontario.

The Annapolis Valley, a region known for its cool coastal influences, is the most likely to feature hybrid varieties in its rosé. ‘Leon Millot and Marquette feature a lot because they can give a lot of colour with minimal pressing,’ explains Lesley Quinn, owner and operator of Stellar Somm Wine Experts in Eastern Canada’s Maritime provinces.

Although, she says, that’s starting to change, as consumers are seeking out more dry, paler-hued rosés with a crisp red fruit profile. ‘I am seeing more and more Pinot Noir being the grape of choice,’ adds Quinn.

In Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula and across British Columbia (BC), Pinot Noir is the grape of choice for rosé. ‘Pinot’s crisp acidity and bright fruit profile make compelling wines in BC,’ says the province’s top sommelier of 2023, Kelcie Jones.

Many BC producers, particularly those in the south Okanagan, utilise the climate’s desert-like heat to ripen grapes such as Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Malbec. At the same time, cooler areas in the province have had success with Pinot Meunier and Zweigelt.

Ontario and BC: the different styles

Of the almost 100 wines sent in for this tasting, most were from BC and Ontario – unsurprising considering the two provinces make up 90% of Canada’s wine production.

The BC entries covered four GIs (Geographical Indications), including Lillooet, Similkameen Valley and Vancouver Island and, within the Okanagan Valley, eight of its 11 sub-GIs. The rosés from Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula spanned eight sub-appellations.

The extensive sampling from each province allowed for a couple of generalisations.

First, BC expressions lean towards pale colouring – ‘lots of direct-press styles’, says Jones, with minimal residual sugar and modest alcohol, averaging 12.75%abv. A few were above 14% though still showing decent balance. Stainless steel was the dominant fermentation and maturation vessel, ‘which makes sense for accentuating the fresh, floral, delicate aromas’, adds Paynter.

Second, Ontario producers like to play with oak. Nearly a dozen bottles saw anywhere from four to eight months of oak ageing, prompting older vintage submissions that were still mostly dry, with an average alcohol level of 12%.

Overall, the standard of entries was generally high. There was one faulty wine but the other few dozen scoring 88 points and below that did not make this list delivered a relatively enjoyable drinking experience.

There were three main criticisms. First, many producers seeking a popular light and dry Provence-style rosé went too far, resulting in wines with a one-dimensional character. Second, those going the opposite direction and striving for a bold showstopper, ended up with disjointed aromas and flavours. Finally, while producers mostly managed residual sugar levels and acidity well, many wines were overly cloying, flabby or sharp, and lacking in finesse.

Patriotically pink

Despite its sprawling identity, one thing is clear, Canadian winemakers are taking rosé seriously. ‘We put as much hard work and passion into our still rosés as any of our other wines,’ explains Paynter.

‘Growing the fruit with the intention of picking it specifically for rosé is the best way to honour that seriousness. Creating a rosé from grapes grown with the intent of making a red wine means you’re going to miss out on so many of the delicate nuances and prettiness that make rosé wines shine.’

Canada’s vast size and climatic differences contribute to an exciting variety of rosés, each with regional style and individual charm. Canada Day and the summer months ahead are obvious times to raise a glass of patriotic pink, but they are deserving of a toast at any time of year.

Smoke taint and the rosé solution

Despite Canada’s cool-climate reputation, there’s growing uncertainty with climate change, specifically, the impact of forest fires and resulting smoke-tainted grapes.

‘Rosé production is a valuable tool in the kit for British Columbia’s winemakers,’ says top sommelier Kelcie Jones. ‘It offers them a wine from otherwise challenging vintages – making lemonade out of lemons.’

Rajen Toor, owner and winemaker at Ursa Major Wines in south Okanagan, made his first rosé from smoke-tainted grapes in 2021 after a devastating summer season. Almost 500 wildfires were burning across the province on 1 July that year, prompting the provincial government to declare a state of emergency by 20 July, which did not end until mid-September.

‘It comes down to dollars and cents,’ explains Toor. ‘If there are grapes on the vine affected by smoke or anything else for that matter, you bet we’re getting creative and turning them into something.’

Ways to make rosé

While some rosés are made by the saignée method – making a red wine but bleeding some of the juice from the tank to ferment separately as rosé – for lighter-hued, less rich wines, winemakers usually choose to skin macerate or direct press.

For the former method, grapes are crushed and the juice is left on the skins for several hours up to a few days to achieve the desired colour. In direct pressing, the grapes are pressed right away – as most white wines are – to avoid the juice having any time to absorb colour from the skins.

Direct pressing smoke-affected red grapes is the only way to mitigate smoke-tainted aromas and flavours such as ashtray, campfire or matchstick, says Toor. Smoke-taint can override the rest of the grape’s natural varietal characters ‘and, in rosé, the idea is always freshness and subtlety’.

‘It’s a risky choice,’ says Jones, ‘and not necessarily a financially easy decision to make.’ As rosés are usually consumed young and not kept, as red wines may be, they often don’t show the effects of any residual smoke taint which may be accentuated with bottle age.

Canadian rosé: 31 wines to try

The following wines all scored 90 points or above. For others scoring 89 points, click here

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An often asked question is: where is the next big rosé region? There are many fabulous individual producers and stellar rosés outside of Provence. But their greatness is more often down to the hand of an imaginative, visionary winemaker than to a specific terroir or variety.

It is very rare to find a united region with a shared vision for quality rosé – and even more so where the producers gather to discuss their wine styles, quality and marketing.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 20 Portuguese rosés to try

Quality Douro rosé took off around 2015 when winemaker Jorge Alves produced his first high-end rosé with Quinta Nova.

In a mere eight years, a large range of exciting wines has appeared. At the same time Justina Teixeira took over her family estate Quinta da Barca. Teixeira, a scientist by training, is a team player with a passion for the wines of her region. She had already gathered a group of producers to discuss and taste together.

With that in mind, Teixeira had a vision for a bigger conference, which took place at the end of November 2022, supported by her local town Mesão Frio, the western gateway to the Douro. The aim was to demonstrate the quality of Douro rosés.

The three day conference included tastings with producers discussing in detail their winemaking, philosophy and current issues. There was a presentation by Alves on rosé winemaking and vineyard visits and I also gave a presentation on the international market and regional styles.

Challenges for rosé production

At the second event in May this year, the theme was climate change. Acclaimed Portuguese viticulturist, Ana Mota, discussed how she was adapting her work in the field. Producers noted that maintaining freshness was a big challenge, making grapes from the highest plots, furthest from the Douro River, increasingly attractive. Wineries also talked about a move towards organic production.

Alves talked of his work on a project making rosé in the Azores. Paulo Russell-Pinto of the Instituto dos Vinhos DO Douro e DO Porto (IVDP) presented papers on the market for Douro wines, the decline in Port sales and the rise in sales of table wines. He also demonstrated the marketing potential for pink Port as a cocktail ingredient.

I talked about the impact of climate change on rosé styles and the importance of preserving local identity. Producers commented that there was increasing consumer pressure to create paler rosés. Issues such as the cost of grapes and shortage of workers were also raised. A third event is already being planned for 2024.

Tasting Douro rosés

The rosés tasted at both conferences were a reflection of the Douro Valley’s varied terroir. The soil here is made up of many different schists offering diverse qualities and profiles. Vineyards are planted on slopes facing in all four directions and at altitudes ranging from close to the river to over 650m.

There is also significant temperature variation between the cooler, damper western vineyards in the Baixo Corgo to the hotter, drier vineyards to the east towards Spain in Douro Superior. Baixo Corgo rosés showed great freshness, fine minerality and mouthwatering acidity. While the vineyards in Douro Superior produced rosés with a fuller body and weight.

What stood out was a consistency in style and an almost universal high quality for all of the wines. The enthusiasm of the producers was also notable. Many were making several styles of rosé – including barrel-aged reservas and aiming at gran reserva.

The majority of rosés tasted were made with the same local grape varieties that are used to produce Port, including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz and Tinto Cão.

The exceptions were Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – which are allowed for the DOC sparkling wines – with some winemakers using Pinot Noir in their vinho regional (IGP) rosés. One producer also had some Cabernet Sauvignon planted in the 1980s.

Portuguese rosé wines: 20 to try

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Can the colour of a wine start a revolution? It happened on the eastern shore of Lake Garda. Here, the rosé version of the local red wine, Bardolino, became in just a few years the most produced rosé wine in Italy, a ‘colossus’ of 10 million bottles a year that captured the hearts of thousands of fans – especially younger wine drinkers – with a captivating and fresh image. This is the unexpected story of Chiaretto di Bardolino.

Bardolino and its pink alter-ego, Chiaretto di Bardolino, are produced from the same grapes as the more famous Valpolicella and Amarone: Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara. Techniques for making Chiaretto di Bardolino haven’t changed much since Roman times – the same pressing technique was used in Garda and in Provence, producing clarum, meaning ‘clear’ or ‘pale’. But while Provence has preserved its fame for rosé wines over the centuries, in the Bardolino district the red type took hold, even becoming one of the most plagiarised Italian wines in the mid-20th century.

The ‘Rosé Revolution’

In 2014, Franco Cristoforetti, co-owner of Vigneti Villabella winery and in his first year as president of the Consorzio di Tutela Chiaretto e Bardolino*, launched the ‘Rosé Revolution’ in order to enhance the pink side of Bardolino. ‘The lack of anthocyanins in Corvina grapes, naturally lacking in colour, and its palette of citrus scents when it is softly pressed, could no longer be ignored,’ he says.

Almost overnight, 85% of Chiaretto production became pale pink in colour thanks to softer pressing and a brief period of skin contact. This was in contrast to the traditional darker hue derived from the saignée method, a by-product of red wine production where Chiaretto was obtained by bleeding off a portion of juice after a longer period of skin contact, thus concentrating the red wine and giving a darkly coloured, tannic rosé. Today, the work also begins long before the grapes arrive in the cellar. ‘The Chiaretto has now its own dedicated vineyards, real crus,’ reflects Cristoforetti.

Success was immediate, and after increasing year after year, today production of Chiaretto di Bardolino sits at 10 million bottles. A modification to the disciplinary in 2021 recognised its growing importance, and Bardolino Chiaretto, produced within the historic DOC since 1968, was changed to ‘Chiaretto di Bardolino,’ underlining its strong territorial identity, just as with Amarone della Valpolicella. The percentage of Corvina permitted was at the same time increased from 80% to 95%, with Rondinella being the only other compulsory grape.

‘For the modern Chiaretto, the soil, the microclimate and the vintages are important, just like for any ambitious wine,’ remarks Matilde Poggi, owner of Le Fraghe winery and president of the Confédération Européenne des Vignerons Indépendants.

The land of Chiaretto

The largest Italian lake, Lake Garda, benefits vines grown nearby, thanks to its mild climate and its mineral-rich soils. The ‘moraines’ – circles of hills spreading out for kilometres from the lake’s shores – are formed by the sediments raised by the ancient glacier, which formed the lake.

The result is a wine with a pale pink colour tending towards orange, with aromas of citrus fruits, apricots, wild berries and aromatic herbs. Bardolino di Chiaretto is mineral on the palate, actually salty, thanks to the tons of sodium dissolved in the soils.

Sapidity, combined with the typical tannins of Corvina, is the distinctive feature of Chiaretto compared to French or Spanish rosés. The 12-13% alcohol gives body and balance, making the wine very versatile at the table. The quality-price ratio is generally favourable.

Like every revolution, Chiaretto too has to overcome the challenge of time. ‘It is a wine that the market does not allow to age, even if it would give its best after a period of refinement,’ says Cristoforetti. He’s a believer in Chiaretto’s ability to age, and proposes a glass of his Villa Cordevigo Gaudenzia, Chiaretto di Bardolino Classico 2019. Now four years old, it’s an unsettling explosion of candied orange and smoky notes.

The winemakers of Bardolino, having created a territorial awareness based on the colour, are now looking far ahead. In the meantime, the market has expanded, like the morainic circles, from local to national, lastly international. The ‘pink revolution’ carries on…

*Franco Cristoforetti was succeeded as president by Fabio Dei Micheli in March 2023. 

Tiziano’s top 10 Chiaretto di Bardolino wines to try

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While the export market is flooded with pale pink Pinot Grigio and Chiaretto, and more recently with pink Prosecco, the trends in planting paint a confusing picture for Italian rosé.

Italy appears to be one of the few countries where the production of rosé is declining, even if there are more and more producers adding rosé to their portfolios.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 18 of the finest Italian rosé wines

Italy’s rosé (rosato) is still widely regarded as a ‘lesser’ wine lacking historical antecedents, made of varieties seen as having failed as a red wine – a cheap wine for the beach and export.

To counter this widespread negative image, president of the Chiaretto di Bardolino DOC Angelo Peretti, who spearheaded its rosé revolution in 2014, launched a charter in 2018 validating the historic and traditional character of Italian rosé, focusing on DOCs based on traditional varieties: Chiaretto di Bardolino (Corvina), Chiaretto di Valtènesi (Gropello), Castel del Monte (Bombino Nero, the only DOCG rosato), Salice Salentino (Negroamaro) and Cirò (Gaglioppo).

There are many more traditional Italian rosés made with indigenous varieties, however: Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo in Abruzzo; Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo and Alicante (a genetic match with Spain’s Garnacha) in Tuscany; Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto in Piedmont; Primitivo and Susumaniello in Puglia; Aglianico in Campania and Basilicata; and Nerello Mascalese and Nero d’Avola in Sicily.

As demonstrated in other countries, many indigenous varieties of the Mediterranean have developed the ability to retain freshness and acidity, even during the hottest of summers (although Aglianico, Nero d’Avola and Primitivo, while great for big reds, often lack the freshness essential for rosé).

Couple this natural freshness with altitude, as in Abruzzo or Etna (where vineyards can go up to 1,000m and more), or proximity to the sea (Puglia, the heel of Italy, is only 50km wide), and the range of appealing and mouthwatering rosés becomes even more exciting.

Profusion of pink

Scratch a little deeper and the wealth of variety is enormous. One estimate calculated that there are more than 400 appellations (DOC and IGP) for rosé and probably more than 200 grape varieties, which makes choosing the right Italian rosé a veritable minefield; exploring what’s on offer reveals a vast range of styles.

But while the potential for a unique and diverse range of Italian rosés offers unbound richness in terms of style, it can also be confusing for producers and consumers. Which style to make, or to pick off the heaving shelf?

On the export market, wine buyers often play it safe, selecting rosés from the portfolios of the more successful red and white wine producers, usually in more international styles – or simply the palest Pinot Grigios and Chiarettos.

The darker, more ‘individual’ styles are too often overlooked as they demand an introduction by specialist merchants or sommeliers; the preconceived notion of rosé style being tied to southern French typicity is one that consumers should be encouraged to abandon.

Note too that, in the list of 18 wines below, many of the best have some age, offering complexity and often a deeper colour and weightier structure. Although only rarely oaked, these make great gastronomic wines.

Italian rosé: 18 of the finest wines to try

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Hot on the heels of the release of the 2008, the sister house of Piper-Heidsieck has declared a new vintage rosé cuvée, ‘the third of a series that started with the 2007 vintage,’ announced Maud Rabin, Global Director of Rare Champagne, during our video tasting.

Although Piper-Heidsieck and Rare Champagne share the same cellar master, ‘since 2008, Rare Champagne has evolved to become a separate entity with its own production,’ stressed Rabin.

The 2012 is paler in colour than the 2008 iteration, and Emilien Boutillat, chef de cave for Rare Champagne since the recent retirement of Régis Camus, whose stellar reputation and award-winning track record can be rather intimidating, confirms that this is the style they want for Rare Champagne. It has a tenser and more crystalline style than the 2007 rosé, the first opus of this cuvée.

Scroll down see the Rare Champagne Rosé 2012 tasting note and score

This third opus of Rare Rosé is composed of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir from 12 crus, of which eight are classified as premier and grand cru. The Chardonnay grapes were sourced from Villers-Marmery, Vertus, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Chouilly and Avize, and the Pinot Noir from Verzy, Aÿ, Verzenay, Ville-Dommange and Ambonnay.

The Pinot Noir part of the blend includes 8% vinified as red wine, whose grapes came from Les Riceys, in the Aube department, instead of Bouzy, in the Marne, which was the case for the previous vintage (2008). ‘Les Riceys grapes have more acidity, and with a vintage like 2012, which is dense and powerful, they are more suitable,’ says Boutillat.

Broadly speaking, the 2012 vintage started badly but ended well. ‘Fortunately, the end of the season was hot and sunny,’ says Boutillat. This allowed the grapes to reach ideal ripeness.

For me, the Rare Rosé has a singular style: smoky and concentrated, with an endless finish.

There is a distinctive aromatic signature, showing notes of pastry, nuts, smoke and guava that really sets it apart from the classic white Rare Champagne. They share, however, the house’s fidelity to full malolactic fermentation, which imparts a deep, fleshy texture that will offer greater ageing capacity and will gratify consumers who enjoy Champagnes with bottle age.

Art de vivre

This Champagne house is a keen promoter of the arts, and in 2022 commissioned the artist William Amor to create a label for the six-litre Methuselah format of this newly released cuvée.

Amor’s idea for the design draws on the house’s recent B Corp certification, which recognises those making strides towards an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. Amor states: ‘Everything is beautiful. Nothing is discarded, everything can be transformed. Each of us has to work on bringing beauty to it.’

Only 5,000 bottles of this Champagne are to be released. It was disgorged in 2021, with a dosage of 7g/L (the lowest in the short history of Rare Champagne rosé).

Yohan Castaing’s Rare Champagne Rosé 2012 tasting note and score:

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Champagne Day: 96+ point wines to try

Peter Liem, Alan Bednarski and Claire Thevenot MS tasted 28 wines, with 3 Outstanding and 20 Highly recommended.

Vintage rosé Champagne panel tasting scores

28 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 20

Recommended 5

Commended 0

Fair 0

Poor 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release, single-vintage rosé Champagnes, allowing for any style from zéro dosage through brut to demi-sec

Rosé Champagne is a difficult category to generalise about, and vintage rosé perhaps even more so. Most in this tasting were of excellent quality, showing that there are multiple ways to achieve success. One conspicuous element was a relatively restrained dosage, even for those wines not labelled as extra brut or non-dosé.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the vintage rosé Champagne panel tasting

Historically there has been a tendency to dose rosés slightly higher than their blanc counterparts, often due to an archaic stereotype about rosé being sweeter to suit the female palate – but some winemakers also believe that the tannins of red wine need more sugar to balance.

Today, the trend is to reduce dosage in rosés. There is greater sophistication in production techniques, too. Many rosés that we tasted felt notably ripe in fruit flavour, whether from warmer weather or more conscientious viticulture, or likely a combination of both. ‘There are more vintages that are riper, so they need to adjust to that,’ said Claire Thevenot MS. ‘It’s a lot of work, and sometimes it’s difficult to hit the right notes.’ For the most part, though, that increased ripeness resulted in better and more interesting wines, and a balanced dosage helped to enliven the wines and allow them to express themselves fully.

Historically, there has also been a contrast of philosophies in making rosé Champagne, with some producers releasing wines young to maximise the freshness and flavour of primary fruit, and others building wines to develop complexity and character with long ageing. As vintage-dated rosé is required to age for a minimum of three years before release, most examples fall into the latter category, although we did taste a few that I felt were intended to showcase primary fruit, with much success. In general, though, even those that were aged for a decade or more appeared remarkably lively and youthful, promising to continue to gain with more time in the cellar. ‘I was amazed at how fresh some of these wines were with so much lees ageing,’ said Thevenot.

Overall, the tasting was impressive for the quality, expression and finesse of the wines, all of which seemed increased in comparison with their counterparts a decade or two ago. Alan Bednarski noted: ‘The average quality of vintage rosé is maybe higher than that of the whites, but possibly it’s more difficult to reach the top quality that you get with the whites. But they are getting better and better. Maybe it’s a result of global warming.’ In many cases, too, the wines felt highly indicative of place – whether as an overall articulation of Champagne chalk, as in the case of region-wide blends, or as a narrower focus on specific terroirs – doing so with clarity and poise.

‘The maceration feels better in greater [warmer] terroirs than colder ones, helping to lift the wine,’ said Thevenot. ‘It becomes really interesting with very refined terroirs.’ This is undoubtedly also a reflection of improved viticulture and more consistent ripening, and it provides a showcase for the nobility of Pinot Noir. ‘The rosé category of Champagne is growing,’ said Bednarski, ‘and because of the ripeness, it’s revealing more of the seriousness of Pinot Noir. Even in extreme styles, it’s showing the character of the grape variety.’

Vintage rosé Champagne panel tasting scores

The judges

Peter Liem is an awarded wine writer and author specialising in Champagne. Resident in Epernay, he publishes his website champagneguide.net and co-hosts the annual La Fête du Champagne event in the US. His book Champagne was published in 2017 (Mitchell Beazley).

Alan Bednarski is a sommelier, wine consultant and a DWWA judge. He is co-owner of a new ‘comfort European food’ restaurant due to open in Katowice, Poland in spring 2023, and is soon to launch his Cool Climate Wine Guide initially online.

Claire Thevenot MS is owner of UK-based importer Vins-Clairs. She moved from eastern France in 2002, rising to be head sommelier at Hotel du Vin in Winchester, then in 2006 she became the first French female Master Sommelier, winning the UK Sommelier of the Year competition in the same year.

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The world of wine is full of knowledge and misconceptions.

Knowledge can lead you down a rabbit warren of geeky detail which, while absorbing and fascinating, can make wine increasingly inaccessible to most wine drinkers. Cue rosé.

Rosé has always promoted itself as the wine which doesn’t need knowledge. Anyone can drink rosé and enjoy it – no vintage charts, no winemaking information, no complicated maps of terroir. The wine for everyman. But it does mean that misconceptions can spread like wildfire. Repeated and copied, they become cast in stone.

Scroll down to discover the 10 myths of southern French rosé

Provence is regarded as the cradle of the current rosé revolution with the Mediterranean lifestyle of the south of France contributing to the marketing image.

So much so that all of the rosés from the south are often grouped together. Being based around Grenache they must be all the same, right?

In fact, the south of France offers a vast diversity of styles, and this oversimplifcation is just one of the many falsehoods attached to rosé, along with the below:

1. Rosé is just for summer

That is probably true for any light, crisp wine – tannins do not shine in a chilled wine. A glass of cold pink or white with chilling condensation is perfect for summer.

Rosés with longer maceration and some tannins (think Tavel, right-bank Rhône and Roussillon) can not only act as great summer reds but are also perfect for autumn and winter, accompanying game, fish and cheese.

Much of Rasteau’s Vin Doux Naturel is also rosé, giving you a sweet wine to be enjoyed with cheese and dessert at any time of year.

2. It is best with summer foods

These include salads, goats cheese, fish and sushi – not exactly a myth but only half the truth.

Oaked rosés were originally created to complete the gastronomic range of food pairings, and those with more evident oak flavours can take on more robust savoury flavours such as roast meats.

Older rosés with their richer dried fruit notes go well with stronger cheeses and richer gratins.

3. Pale means good

No! Pale is created by a number of causes which can be done either singly, partly or altogether: using lighter-coloured varieties such as Cinsault; earlier harvesting while the colour is more subtle; the addition of white grapes (common throughout almost all of southern France), and very gentle direct pressing (the first-run juice being the palest) are all techniques employed when chasing a lighter hue.

Such wines are a fine balance between ripe fruit and fresh acidity. Darker pinks can have riper grapes and longer skin contact – some, especially in Tavel, macerate for up to a week. They are just as good, but more full bodied.

4. Rosé is simple

As with any wine colour, the styles range from simple to complex. And yes, rosé can be complex with some outstanding examples appearing from old vines, low yields, blending different harvest dates, spontaneous fermentation, careful use of oak and amphora, or longer ageing on the lees. These wines push the limit of what any wine can achieve.

5. It has to be drunk young

Most rosé keeps its fresh fruitiness for two to three years, and many definitely improve as the flavours integrate and open up.

After three years, secondary notes start to emerge, often with a gradual evolution of dried peaches and apricots giving a charming richness. Most estates do not keep older vintages so this is a hard myth to disprove, but tastings of rosés (usually the premium cuvées) going back 20, 30 or more years reveal some stunning wines.

6. It is all about lifestyle and image

Hard to dispute this myth when so much marketing is focused on lifestyle and image, and the packaging can be so stunning. It is, however, worth looking out for the rosés in dark bottles where the colour is not visible and the wines are protected from light strike.

7. Rosé is cheap

The majority of southern French rosé certainly falls into the cheaper end of the spectrum.

However, many producers, especially in Provence, are increasingly adding not just a premium rosé to their range but also more experimental wines which sit at slightly higher price points. The detail on the back label is often the clue to why a wine is a little more pricey with details of vineyard, grapes and winemaking.

8. Provence rosé is just one style

This is one of the weirdest misconceptions for producers living in the south of France.

Even locals cannot agree on the definition of Provence! Is it the Var department, or perhaps the picturesque lavender fields of the Luberon and southern Rhône? Are the very different rosés of Tavel and Bandol part of Provence? Different soils, winemaking, grapes and traditions result in many different styles.

9. There is no vintage variation 

This myth may be fast disappearing as the news over the past few years has highlighted the problems of frost, drought, fire and hail.

But there are also cooler and hotter vintages which result in different styles. In Provence, 2018 and 2020 were more delicate and fresh vintages, while 2019 was more robust and concentrated. 2021 was difficult and 2022 may be more like 2019.

10. Rosé is just for women

A seriously weird untruth. Is it because pink is feminine? That only men can understand wines which are more complicated?

There is no answer to this misconception other than real men drink rosé, too. Rosé is also for people of all ages. As with other wine, you just have to find the style for you.

For those keen to explore the variations and diversity of southern French rosé, try different wines from different appellations, a range of colour intensity – from pale to dark – and different varieties such as Grenache, Mourvèdre or Syrah-based wines.

Elizabeth Gabay’s recently published book ‘Rosés of Southern France’ (£22, Amazon UK/com/FR) sets out to explain and define the tastes, styles, traditions and winemaking of this fast-growing sector, showing that there is no singular style, but huge diversity and exciting new directions.

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What makes a premium rosé plus 12 to seek out

Andrew Jefford: ‘Rosé, for the time being, is a pretty babble’

Many wine styles can seem perplexing at first: imagine the first bottle of Barolo if you only know Barossa Shiraz, or the first bottle of Jura Savagnin if you were brought up on California Chardonnay. With time, thought and repeated tasting, though, comes understanding. You learn each wine’s syntax and lexicon, its hints and inferences. You grasp the ways in which each style communicates. Its beauty dawns, then grows.

Rosé wine sales grew 23% worldwide between 2002 and 2019. Its fuel has come from Provence, whose rosé exports soared by more than 500% over the 15 years to 2020. Spurred by the success of these Côtes de Provence new classics, petal-pink and quietly beguiling, everyone wants in on the act. This includes historical, indigenous styles of rosé, whose recognition and renown have been shaded out by the pale pink dazzle.

There is, though, a problem. We haven’t learned the language of rosé. It’s a wine most of us drink with our eyes: tinted allure. That’s not enough. It’s like saying you love the sound of Italian, but not bothering with the vocabulary and grammar. Rosé, for the time being, is a pretty babble.

This came to mind as I tasted a range of wines from the newly founded Rosés de Terroirs group, linking producers from Bandol and Bardolino, Sancerre and Tavel, Rosé des Riceys and Faugères. Doubtless more will join: Rioja? Marsannay? Palette? I love tasting rosé, as it’s a difficult challenge; the grammar is indeed novel. How do you read success and failure? How might excellence be articulated across a range of styles?

One guiding principle: there must be charm. Seduction (via colour, scent and flavour) is more important for rosé than for any other wine. Any rosé that is powerful, grand or serious but fundamentally charmless is unlikely to convince.

After that, though, I’d suggest that there are three main routes by which a pink wine can exert its charm: creaminess, crispness or character. Côtes de Provence’s pale-hued rosés are creamy, by dint of delicacy of fruit, restrained and understated acidity, the use of lees and the use of up to 20% of co-fermented white grapes, especially Rolle (Vermentino). Technology is vital, too: optimal harvesting to keep freshness in the fruit; direct pressing timed to the second; inert gases to keep oxygen at bay until the wine splashes into the glass. Drinkability (one glass leads to four) is its great virtue.

Away from Côtes de Provence (and notably in Languedoc, as well as all points north), crispness increasingly serves as the structuring principle. This means more acidity than is typical for Provence – which is dangerous, since misjudged acidity, once allowed to eclipse delicate fruit, will instantly extirpate charm, too. Get crispness right, though, and it will provide a more mouthwatering rosé experience than you’ll ever find in Provence. Cue the best Bardolino and Faugères.

Character is the quality most difficult to define – but it’s what great gastronomic rosé wines have, and it’s what the Rosés de Terroirs group most wants to champion. Tavel’s vivid fruit presences and hibiscus hue (the result not of direct pressing but of up to two days’ cold maceration, plus some retained press wine for final adjustment) are one route. Bandol’s Mourvèdre and clay-rich marls give a salmon rosé which succeeds in being flavoury, resonant and commanding without ever jeopardising charm; while other approaches (like the extraordinary Clos Cibonne, with its emphasis on the Tibouren grape and long ageing on lees and under a film of yeast – a distant Provençale cousin of the aged Rioja rosé tradition) build structure, layers and mellowness into the wine. The charm, now, is akin to that of the historical novel: a journey back to the delicacies of times past.

To appreciate all of this, you need just two things: an open mind, and a palate prepared to listen for nuance. Nothing should be loud in rosé, even when it’s characterful. This is a language best murmured.

In my glass this month

I loved the Tavels in this tasting: great wines produced by Maby, Prieuré de Montézargues, Trinquevedel – and this, the Château d’Aqueria, Tavel 2001, blended from Grenache, Syrah and white Clairette. Translucent cherry; then bell-clear fruit on the nose, thrusting and vital. That’s what you’ll find on the palate, too, in pure, singing style, with ample vinous length. It’s a prefect among rosés, the grown-up in the room; it’s the ridge path which separates the valley of pink from the valley of red.

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Weight, complexity and ageability are all important qualities to look out for in premium wines. Many garner cult followings and excite hot passion and buying frenzies. But what else makes these types of wine so premium and sought after?

Are they rare and made in tiny quantities? Atypical? Fantasy projects? Or are they creative examples of what a wine might achieve outside of the constraints of commercial pressure? This debate is particularly true of premium rosé.

Scroll down to see Elizabeth Gabay MW’s top picks of premium rosé wine to try

Fans of the fresh, simple style of rosé regard oak use as a betrayal of the essence of rosé. Oak characters or greater structure can shock. Some Provence producers are firmly against putting rosé in oak. But good oak-aged rosé will have the weight and extract to support the oak, creating more powerful, complex wines.

High-end aged and oaked rosés, such as the Viña Tondonia rosé from sought-after Rioja producer López de Heredia, have become part of the establishment. Releasing older vintages is a break from tradition.

Behind-the-scenes conversations with winemakers reflect some frustration with this constant demand for pale, fresh and uncomplicated rosé, contrasted with the winemakers’ desire to be more artistic.

Often made in smaller volumes, premium styles of rosé don’t fly off the shelf as quickly, not just because of their higher price, but because they are different, either in terms of colour, structure, use of oak or even origin. Sometimes unexpected creativity can produce a slightly shocking result.

The colour of rosé doesn’t always indicate quality. Find out more here

Bandol rosés are often complex, structural and long-lived, especially if they are Mourvèdre-based (although there are a growing number made in the Provence-style). Some are fermented and aged in oak or amphora and all are released with some age. However, only Domaine Tempier sells above £25.

The word ‘Provence’ is still a major selling point when it comes to rosé, and although exciting rosés come from other regions, Provence is still the source for most premium priced rosé.

There are many other different rosés which show great flair and creativity, but didn’t make the list as they fall into the slightly lower price bracket of £20-£25. In fact, this price bracket can be a minefield as there are many wines which are superb – think Bandol, Tavel and Clos Cibonne – but also many others which are less exciting and still priced relatively high, based on a marketing image.

See Elizabeth Gabay MW’s recent article on full-bodied rosés here

Most rosé is selected by its colour and presented in a clear bottle. Less than 10% is bottled in dark glass. But among premium rosé, the number of wines bottled in dark glass is higher, protecting the wine from light strike and also rendering the bottle recyclable. It also tends to indicate a producer who is rising above selection by colour.

Serious rosés are best drunk at around 12C, not fresh from the fridge, and when youthful can benefit from decanting.

Making rosé wine

There are three main methods of making rosé wine: direct press, saignée, and blending.

At its most basic level, a pale pink rosé is made from red grapes, usually harvested around two weeks prior to the red wine harvest. The grapes are chilled to prevent colour leaching out, and are then gently pressed. The smaller the press, the shorter the time the grapes spend on the skins. The juice is then fermented in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures ranging from 10 to 18C.

The saignée method typically involves taking a proportion of pink-tinged juice out of a tank destined to make red wine.

Depending on the yeast used, different fruit profiles are accentuated. After fermentation, some rosés sit on the lees for a couple of months, but many are bottled quickly and are ready for drinking by February and are best consumed within the year.

Some added weight and structure can be obtained through slightly longer skin contact or a small addition of juice bled off the red wine.

Premium rosé wine to try:

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In light of the boom in premium rosés, asking Jean-François Ott whether his decision to make Étoile was a commercial one is an obvious question.

‘Definitely not’, is his emphatic reply. ‘I regard each rosé from each of the Domaines Ott estates as being a premium rosé. We make three premium rosés and if the grapes or wine is not up to the quality I don’t put it in the final blend.’

Tasting rosé with Ott reveals his boundless curiosity of different expressions of the wine style, as well as a curiosity towards other winemakers’ visions of fine rosé wine.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for a mini vertical of Domaines Ott’s Étoile

Domaines Ott’s Étoile – the birth of a star

Working with the three Domaines Ott estates, reflecting three very different terroirs and varieties, Ott’s aim is to create a pure expression of rosé from each estate.

So it was no surprise that during the winemaking for the three estate rosés he would consider how to identify the essence of each terroir. These terroirs are Château de Selle in central Provence at 300m, Clos Mireille on the coastal schist vineyards of La Londe, and the calcareous sandstone and sandy marls of Château Romassan in Bandol.

Discussions with his cousin Christian Ott developed the idea further. What if they blended the most expressive juice from each of their three estates to create one wine? What would it taste like?

See our full producer profile of Domaines Ott here

Initially the discussion remained an intellectual curiosity reserved for the blending table, with a few bottles produced for family consumption.

But with the 2019 vintage, the first Étoile was released, more to provoke discussion around the character of terroirs than to compete on the super-premium market.

The wine is labelled as Vin de France because the grapes come from the three different estates.

Commercial release not guaranteed

Despite the potential of Étoile as an ageworthy, premium product, Ott’s priority remains making the three separate estate rosés. Étoile will not necessarily be made commercially every year. If no wine is available to make it, or if the wine is needed to make the estate rosés to their usual high standard, no Étoile will be made.

Each vintage of Étoile is a limited release, with only 6,000 bottles produced, using the signature Domaines Ott bottle shape. The name refers to the trademark star which appears after the name Ott.

Étoile’s intricacies

Over the past three years Jean-François has noticed a clear pattern emerging in the blend of wines used in Étoile. Hand-harvesting, chilling, gentle direct pressing with no maceration, and fermentation parcel by parcel is the same for all the rosés, up until blending.

At this point, Jean-François selects the wine for Étoile. He notes that the best wine always comes from the lowest yielding plots, from the same range of parcels and is always the first run juice.

The percentage of the varieties used is generally 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvèdre from Romassan, with differing percentages of each parcel used, so that depending on the vintage, terroir variations are more evident.

The ripeness is consistent, resulting in 14% alcohol every year. Étoile goes through extended lees ageing in tank until the following May.

Can rosé wines really age? See Elizabeth Gabay MW’s verdict

Is ageing the way forward?

True to Ott’s vision of rosé, he focuses on the neutrality and purity of the fruit, fermenting Étoile in inox and small ceramic spheres.

Asked if he would ever consider fermenting or ageing his rosé in wood, he pragmatically replies: ‘I would never say never, but only if it would benefit the wine, then maybe’.

A number of bottles are held back to see their ageing potential, an important new trend in the world of rosé, with serious producers looking at older vintages and conducting vertical tastings.

The Domaines Ott house style is restrained when youthful, an archetypal Provence elegance that can be a little underwhelming.

Tasting the wines as they age reveals hidden depth, complexity and richness behind their classic delicacy, and this is even more evident in the three Étoile vintages.

Tasting notes and scores for a mini vertical of Domaines Ott’s Étoile:

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What makes a premium rosé?

The subject of ageing rosé elicits passionate debate. For many, ‘aged rosé’ or rosé de garde, still means rosé with only two to three years of age; but with the increase in quality inherent in wines of this type that have a capacity to age, these rosés are still youthful.

The big question is: ‘How do rosés continue to age?’ What are their secondary and tertiary profile evolutions as they shift from fresh fruit to other flavours?

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for six age-worthy rosé wines

‘Rosé should be drunk young and fresh’ is the prevailing mantra of producers and critics, who cite its simplicity and fun-loving style as one of the many reasons for the rosé boom. Vintage charts and extra wine knowledge are not required.

In southern France, rosé regarded as good for the season has meant traditionally that winemakers rush to bottle their wine by January/February to be tasted in time for reviews and new listings from Easter. By the following spring, any wines left over are relegated as old stock to dispose of by the time the new wines come in.

Many believe rosé does not age well beyond a few years because older vintages have never been tasted, yet very few producers retain a library of older vintages to taste or show to those who are interested – let alone to sell! It makes it difficult to evaluate and assess the ageing potential of rosés, requiring great effort to locate old vintages.

Near Narbonne in Languedoc, Gérard Bertrand is keeping back examples of his Clos du Temple to be able to offer vertical tastings, and Château du Galoupet in Provence, now in the LVMH stable, is considering the same policy.

Staying power

Various winemaking techniques are used to help rosé age. Because rosé is halfway between white wine (avoiding extractions of phenol compounds at the tannin level) and red wine (with potential problems in colour extraction and structure), producing rosé wine that ages means developing ways to help the wine age within the style.

Philippe Bru, winemaker at Château Vignelaure in Provence, sees complex reasons why a rosé can age. ‘Maceration adds to concentration and rich fruits, wood adds tannins and structure; and although malolactic fermentation does not in itself contribute to ageing potential, as it reduces vital acidity, if the wine has naturally high enough acidity to allow for malo, it has ageing potential.’

Mireille Conrath, consultant winemaker for the Syndicat des Vins Côtes de Provence, feels that the techniques used for creating a rosé that will age are hit and miss. Over the past 10-15 years there has been an extensive modernisation in rosé winemaking, which could impact on how current and future rosés will age.

Aged Provence rosés tend to have spent time in oak, and they usually age quite gently, taking on soft ripe fruit character. However, with fewer older vintages around to taste, it’s not always easy to evaluate such wines’ ageing potential.

On the south coast, St-Tropez cooperative Torpez’s Ultimum 2015 (40% Grenache, 40% Mourvèdre, 15% Tibouren, 5% Syrah, aged 18 months in foudres) has oranges, juicy raspberries, white peach, saline freshness and sweet, gentle oak.

Château Vignelaure 2014 (Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon) is from one of the most northerly Provence vineyards – at up to 400m between Rians and Jouques – and has ripe, sweet red fruit, quince, sweet apples, peaches and apricots, with long, fresh vibrant acidity.

Also on the coast, Bandol’s direct-press wines take on golden salmon hues and nutty quince and bruised apple notes quite quickly, while remaining fairly concentrated, with saline notes a commonly used descriptor as the wines age, defining the freshness.

Domaine Dupuy de Lôme 2015 (70% Mourvèdre on north-facing clay and limestone) has powerful structure and ageing potential, with youthful peaches and apricots and an underlying darker fruit power. And Domaine Tempier’s 2011 (55% Mourvèdre on limestone) has saline, rich orange and apricot fruit, caramelised bitter almonds and long pomelo freshness.

Domaine de Terrebrune’s 2010 (60% Mourvèdre on brown clay), meanwhile, has fresh, bitter orange, hints of blackcurrant fruit, saline molasses and citrus vivacity with honeyed concentration.

Tavel too

Up in the Rhône valley to the north, Tavel producers use lengthy maceration ranging from 12 to 72 hours, and they attribute the ageworthiness of their full-bodied rosés precisely to this maceration and the weight and tannic structure it provides. Tavel can develop notes of chocolate, orange and floral delicacy with tannins giving freshness, while some of the wines that have had longer maceration can develop notes of dark cherries and kirsch, but very rarely the saline notes found in Bandol.

Domaine Maby’s Libiamo 2015 (50% Grenache Blanc, 50% Cinsault on the hot galets roulés terroir, fermented and aged in new demi-muids) has notes of marmalade, black chocolate and honey, with firm tannins.

Château Trinquevedel’s Les Vignes d’Eugène 2011 (Grenache, Clairette and Cinsault on sandy soils and 24 hours’ maceration), has ripe cherry fruit, floral notes, hints of bitter almonds and blood orange acidity. Château Manissy’s Tête de Cuvée 1976 (sandy clay soils, fermented in concrete, aged in foudres), has dried apricots, honey, Lapsang Souchong tea notes and amazing freshness and length.

Oak ageing is another hot topic in the rosé world, with many arguing that extra care during winemaking and the use of oak helps rosé to age longer, especially if backed up with greater weight and extraction in the wine.

The benefits of oak

Allowing the must to interact with a little oxygen before, during and shortly after fermentation can protect wine from subsequent oxidation in the bottle. Oak, which is naturally slightly porous, is an easy way to let in this small amount of oxygen – too much and the wine will oxidise.

Ageing in oak (and extended skin maceration) will also provide tannins, which can protect rosé from the negative effects of oxygen, just as they can in reds. For many winemakers, this use of oak is a statement of serious, ageworthy rosés that justifies waiting a year before release.

Even if a rosé is made to age well, its ageing potential can still be jeopardised by lightstrike. While its colour is flaunted in clear bottles, there’s a risk it will be exposed to harmful UV light. Nevertheless, only a few producers put their rosé in dark or recycled glass. Château Trinquevedel’s Guillaume Demoulin, who is also the current president of the Tavel producers, is working towards the syndicat having a dark glass bottle to use for the premium wines intended for ageing.

The question now is n0 longer whether rosé can age, but rather what the impact is of the different varieties, terroirs, vintages and vinification techniques in creating different styles we can enjoy in five, 10 or 20 years.

Benefits of age: Gabay’s half-dozen age-worthy rosé wines to tuck away

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Spring was in the air as we walked through bluebell-covered, ancient oak woodland deep in the heart of the Kent countryside. Richard Balfour-Lynn pointed at the bramble which had grown on patches of land where old trees had fallen, allowing sunshine to filter through. ‘That’s the natural cycle, here,’ he said.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 12 Balfour Brut Rosé wines

Just moments ago, we were in the state-of-the-art winery of Balfour, Hush Heath Estate. Its visitor centre-come-restaurant is also a showroom of the proprietors’ art collection, which ranges from a four-piece set of ancient Chinese landscape paintings to a funky, scarlet fibreglass sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi, iPod in hand.

The story of Balfour

Sitting directly opposite this very modern winery, across a field of young vines, is Hush Heath Manor which can be traced back to 1503.

The Tudor house was bought by property tycoon Richard Balfour-Lynn as a family home in 1986. In 2001, the surrounding 162ha of land, which was once a working farm, was put up for auction and the family seized on the opportunity.

Besides apple orchards for ciders, the family planted wildflower meadows and maintained the ancient forest on the outskirts of the estate, now home to fallow deer, buzzards and barn owls.

With a mutual passion for wine and inspired by their favourite Champagne, Billecart-Salmon’s Brut Rosé, Richard and his wife, Leslie, established Balfour Winery in 2002. The venture was built on a simple business plan: ‘if we can’t sell it, we’ll drink it,’ they say. Owen Elias, then head winemaker at Chapel Down, was invited on board to turn their dream into reality.

Curious, ambitious, and keen to create something different, the award-winning Elias started off with two hectares of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, planted in Wealden clay soils in the Oast House Meadow vineyard near the manor.

In 2003, an experimental batch of 1,000 bottles showed promise and led to the first commercial vintage of Balfour Brut Rosé the following year..

Elias’ non-malolactic style combined with young vines and a hot year lead to immediate success and a sign of things to come – the 2007 vintage was chosen as the only English wine to be served at the 2012 London Olympics.

A formidable team

For the first six years, Brut Rosé was the only wine produced by Balfour, with its 2010 being not only the first vintage made exclusively on the estate from start to finish, but also the year which saw Owen being joined by his son, Fergus, for the first time.

Fergus Elias spent many of his childhood days among the vines at Chapel Down, and although he originally trained in law, he decided to return to his winemaking roots, joining Balfour permanently in 2014.

After completing an MSc in Viticulture and Oenology, and working as an assistant winemaker for three years, Fergus became head winemaker at Balfour in 2019 – one of the youngest winemakers in England to take on such a major role.

Vineyard manager Cathy Turner and her team of growers have been here since there were a mere nine rows of vines. At one point, the growers experimented with grafting vines to apple orchards, hoping to pick grapes at the same height as apples. Although the ‘Grapple’ project didn’t work out in the end, they have built up a keen knowledge of the estate’s many micro-plots of vines, each featuring its own particular climate and maturing schedules.

Unsurprisingly, this means that each parcel needs to be harvested at just the right time, however this in turn facilitates the small-batch approach in the winery where micro-blending is a keyword – a pair of four-tonne presses allow the father and son winemaking team to adjust the blend according to vintage conditions.

Today, land under vine at Balfour has reached just over 80ha, including the three most famous Champagne grapes as well as lesser-known varieties including Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier and Arbanne. Balfour also works with other Kent vineyards for varied fruit expression from green sand and calcareous soils.

Two decades since its advent, Balfour Winery now produces over 400,000 bottles of still and sparkling wines each year. The signature Brut Rosé, however, is still sourced almost entirely from the original Oast House Meadow vineyard, where it all began.

Balfour Brut Rosé: The vertical verdict

Non-malolactic winemaking is, without doubt, one of the core identities of Balfour Brut Rosé, and one that certainly benefits extended ageing under cork. However, the tasting also provided a rare opportunity to compare recently disgorged 2008, 2011 and 2014 against the same vintages aged under cork.

Freshness, purity and zesty citrus bite were better kept in the recently disgorged bottles. However, on almost every occasion, the cork-aged editions showed a far more complex and interesting spectrum of flavours. By retaining the crunchy acidity, which regularly hits 9g/l, the sparkling rosé develops a complex bouquet of tertiary characters without losing its vibrancy and charm, even long after disgorgement.

Tasted nearly two decades later, the inaugural 2004 vintage was vivid testimony to how English sparkling rosé can age gracefully.

Its razor-sharp acidity shines through a full-on flavour profile developed in bottle, featuring bruised apple, savoury brioche, burnt sugar, zingy orange peel and a silky layer of caramel on the palate, followed by a long, lightly spiced finish.

Equally impressive was the 2005 vintage which won a Regional Trophy at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards. The tasting note from the judges then recorded its ‘delicate perfume of fresh strawberry, quince and blossom; crisply elegant with a prominent mousse’.

While the fresh red fruit characters may have faded today, the wine has developed a savoury edge of salted nuts and mushrooms, in addition to layers of oxidised fruits, and the vibrancy on the attack still lives.

A wealth of autolytic characters was the dominant theme of the cork-aged 2008 vintage. The 2011 was more sweet-spiced, with cinnamon-dusted apple pie on the nose and a lingering, nutty finish. 2014, meanwhile, displayed a honeyed, biscuity nose and ripe fruits on the palate.

Red fruit characters became more apparent in the 2018 vintage, the youngest release of Balfour Brut Rosé. Born in a vintage praised as one of the best for English wines in the modern era, the 2018 is slightly lower in acidity (7g/l) and has a higher proportion of Pinot Meunier (30%) than the estate’s average.

The 2018 is already approachable with its floral summer berries and honeyed yellow fruits on the palate. Its bright green-fruit acidity, however, suggests that it has a promising journey ahead, just like its predecessors.

Balfour Brut Rosé: 2004 to 2018

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Pale pink Provence rosés seem to be everywhere, but 20 years ago the majority of rosés on sale were relatively dark and full-bodied, and many of them lacked freshness and finesse. The evolution of rosé led to the rise of lighter, more elegant wines, along with the idea that the paler the rosé, the better the wine. True or not, this has had the effect of reducing the popularity of darker rosés.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 25 full-bodied rosés

Producers of these styles often have a long history of fuller-bodied rosés, and are today often fighting against the tide of international trends. The fightback has resulted in renewed pride in these historic styles and brought fresher, more modern interpretations of these wines, which are worth looking out for, despite the pressure for ‘paler is better’.

Most darker rosés were originally made from juice ‘bled off’ (by the saignée method) from red wines as a by-product, which would result in wines that often lacked acidity and were slightly tannic. Typical regions where you’ll still find this approach today include northern Spain and its Garnacha-based rosados and, in central-eastern Italy, Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo rosato wines made with the Montepulciano variety.

However, producers are now choosing to make these wines separately from the red wines, harvesting earlier to maintain freshness and reducing the temperature during skin contact and maceration, so that their saignée method wines now have both full-bodied freshness and darker colour, but without the heavy, clumsy structure of old. In the New World, darker rosés are often produced in this fruitier style, but often lack the structure found in European wines.

Some varieties lend themselves to the fuller-bodied structure, often with darker fruit flavours, and these typically include Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese and Petit Verdot.

Time well spent

Another traditional style of winemaking which can result in full-bodied rosés in both pale and darker hues is the use of black and white grape varieties blended together. Depending on the vintage, the depth of colour in such styles can be determined by the relative proportions of black or white grapes used.

Today, a tendency for higher percentages of white grapes, such as Rolle or Macabeu, allows for greater extraction of fruit without leading to such a deep colour in the final wine.

Examples include the claretes of Cigales in northern Spain, the clairets of Bordeaux and German Schillerwein, as well as the rosés of Tavel and Provence.

These styles’ extended skin maceration, ranging from 12 hours to a week, means the wines can fall between full-bodied rosé and light red, accompanied by great ageing potential. Rosés made with paler grapes or with more white grapes in the blend can be deceptive, their pale colour hiding the fuller body coming from the extended maceration. Time spent in oak is another invisible factor that can contribute to weighty, paler rosés, although this is still more of an Old World style.

While some producers have abandoned traditional styles, and seen sales increase with modern paler wines, others have introduced the pale rosé style alongside their traditional darker wines. For some, the traditional dark wines are perceived as the wines drunk by the grandparents; for others they are seen as an act of defiance to the increasing dominance of pale rosé. Among natural wines, rosés are often darker, too, with many producers rejecting the ‘rosé’ term altogether and declaring their wines to be ‘pale reds’.

These fuller-bodied rosés are both more suited to being matched with a range of foods and less restricted to the summer season – and they usually find favour with a broader range of consumers’ wine preferences.

See tasting notes and scores for 25 full-bodied rosés

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• Best English rosés for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
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Inside the Decanter magazine July 2022 issue:

FEATURES

• Fuller-bodied rosés: proud to be pink, Elizabeth Gabay MW
• Can rosé wines really age?, Elizabeth Gabay MW
• 10 reasons to drink English sparkling wine, Susy Atkins
• Decanter guide to picnicking for wine lovers, Chris Losh
• Piedmont Nebbiolo guide: the latest releases, Aldo Fiordelli
• Winemaker profile: Sam Kaplan, Jonathan Cristaldi in Napa Valley

LEARNING

• Wine wisdom: Expert tips to help you on your journey through wine

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SPIRITS

• Distilled: Spirits, cocktails and insight – plus five Cognacs for cocktails
• The perfect Martini: A cocktail classic at home, by Alicia Miller

GOOD LIVING

• Perfect pairing: It can be done…White and red to match spicy lamb
• Travel: Alsace – City and vineyards, a trip to leave a lasting impression, guided by Panos Kakaviatos

BUYING GUIDE

• Editors’ picks: Recent tasting favourites from Decanter’s staff
• Panel tasting: Godello – 52 wines tasted, three rated Outstanding. Fresh dry whites to seek out from northwest Spain
• Panel tasting: Value Argentinian Malbec Under £20 – consistent quality but quite a lot of oak
• Weekday wines: White, rosé, red and more – 25 top picks under £20, chosen by the Decanter team
• Weekend wines: Seven standout buys to impress guests or enjoy at your leisure, costing £20-£50
• Expert’s choice: Canned wines – 18 of the best selected by Peter Ranscombe

COLLECTORS

• Marketwatch investment news: Fine wine market update and upcoming releases
• Marketwatch spotlight on Italy: Big-name SuperTuscans set the pace, but there are other quality producers to watch

REGULARS

• Meet the experts: Decanter’s authors
• Uncorked: News, views & more
• Your letters
• Andrew Jefford’s column: Can wine help us deal with tragedy?
• DWWA 2021 highlights: Riesling winners from around the world
• Wine to 5: Vincent O’Brien of wine storage specialist Octavian

Inside Decanter’s Bordeaux supplement 2022

CONTENTS

• Welcome to Bordeaux, Georgie Hindle
• Meet the experts: Decanter’s authors
• Introduction: the fast-changing face of Bordeaux, Stephen Brook
• Bordeaux’s innovative owners and winemakers, Elin McCoy MW
• 10 years on: Bordeaux’s 2012 vintage revisited, Sebastian Payne MW
• The Ambassadeurs de Graves: A new annual initiative enlivening the region, Georgina Hindle
• Regional profile: Margaux, Panos Kakaviatos
• The delights of older Bordeaux vintages, Charles Curtis MW
• Producer profile: Château Léoville Poyferré, St-Julien, Georgie Hindle meets the new generation
• The 2000s vintages, Jane Anson
• St-Emilion: contenders for promotion, Panos Kakaviatos
• Pomerol in three steps, Colin Hay
• Panel tasting: Médoc grand cru classé 2017 – 62 wines tasted, with 11 rated Outstanding and two Exceptional by our expert panel.
• Expert’s choice: Dry whites under £25, Andy Howard MW
• Travel: Exploring Sauternes country, Ceil Miller Bouchet
• Vintage guide: To drink or keep?

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Pale salmon in colour, a basket full of freshly-picked summer berries backed by the tell-tale, mouth-watering English acidity – these pink delights are wines made for summer and glorious celebrations.

In fact, rosé is likely to become ‘one of the most important styles made in Britain over the next 10 to 20 years,’ as Oz Clarke put it in his 2020 book on English wines*.

The top examples of English sparkling rosés tend to be made mainly from the red Champagne grapes using the traditional method, with the best bottles capable of ageing for decades. In her feature in the July issue of the Decanter magazine, Susy Atkins highlighted the ‘fresh snap of acidity’ and the ‘subtle raspberry-ripple ice-creaminess’ that make them perfect apéritifs and great pairing partners for light canapes.

The delicate and poised charm also applies to still English rosés, where blossom, wild berries and stone fruits are met with crunchy apple acidity, zingy citrus and a touch of minerals on the palate. Some producers may choose to venture beyond the Pinots for diversity and introduce oak for polished mouthfeel.

In time for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we have listed up our top English sparkling and still rosés tasted by the Decanter team in the last year, with buying links attached.

There are more value choices among the still pinks than the fizz – if the plan is to celebrate the national spirit with something British but not too pricy. Although the best pink sparklers are true manifestations of the skills and achievements of English producers in the last decade – you may well be surprised.

*Clarke, Oz. English Wine: From still to sparkling: The NEWEST New World wine country. 1st Edition, Pavilion, 2020.

Related articles

Best English wines for summer

Best English still wines to try

Best English vineyards to visit

Still and sparkling English rosés to try

Rosé Champagnes are so widely available today that it’s hard to believe volume production is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Just 15 years ago, rosé accounted for just 3% of total Champagne output – today the figure sits close to 15%. This reflects the increase in rosé wine consumption across the board and, within sparkling wine, Champagne leads the way as the source for the world’s best (and most expensive) pink wines.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 30 top rosé Champagnes

Rosé Champagne in fact dates back several hundred years. Moët & Chandon first produced rosé (called ‘rozé’) after an order from Napoleon for a pink fizz; Veuve Clicquot launched its first rosé Champagne in 1818. Rosé now accounts for 20% of Moët production, up from just 2% a decade ago.

Burst of red fruit

There is no doubt consumers appreciate the fine bubbles, freshness and finesse of Champagne – the perfect drink for a celebration.

Rosé Champagne adds another facet to this with a burst of red-fruit character, a slight reduction in acidity and appealing colours ranging from very pale to a pronounced copper hue.

In terms of sweetness, rosé Champagne is usually brut as there is little need for additional dosage given the extra fruitiness provided by the inclusion of red wine in the blend (see below). As well as being a great aperitif wine, rosé Champagne is also very gastronomic and an ideal partner with food.

Reacting to the rapid increase in demand poses difficulties for producers using the traditional method for their fizz production.

The creation of a sparkling rosé is not a quick process, unless you are working with the larger volume Charmat method. This has enabled rosé Prosecco – only legalised a year ago – to reach the market and sell in high volume.

For producers using the traditional method (which involves a second fermentation in bottle), timescales are much longer. Champagne and Cava are the two largest sparkling rosé sectors, while rosé is less commonly found in Franciacorta or Crémant wines.

Precious commodity

The (relatively) limited volumes of traditional method rosés, combined with increasing demand, are key reasons why rosé Champagne is more expensive than the brut equivalent. Sourcing high-quality still red wine is an additional cost. Yet despite higher prices, these wines are well worth seeking out.

So, how are these delightful wines produced?

Rosé sparkling wine is an anomaly in the wine regulations, being the only area where blending of red and white wine is permitted for the production of rosé wines.

When it comes to Champagne, the skill of the winemaker is to bring together a wide selection of neutral, acidic and relatively low alcohol base wines to create a blend which, post-second fermentation, will become much greater than the sum of its parts.

To make a rosé Champagne, the winemaker needs to add a further dimension – the introduction of red wine.

High-quality red wine

The objective is nearly always to preserve the purity and elegance of the wine while introducing colour and the addition of fresh fruit characters.

There are two ways in which this can be done – rosé d’assemblage or saignée.

Rosé d’assemblage is widely used, with the addition of red wine into the blend prior to second fermentation, while saignée refers to the ‘bleeding’ of red colour from the maceration of Pinot Noir or Meunier grapes.

Whatever method is used, it is vital that the red wine must be of high quality. Many cheaper rosé champagnes are marred by the addition of average-quality red wine – a quick route to ruin the balance of the blend.

Rosé Champagne aficionados often have strong views as to which method is superior, but there really is no clear answer.

Laurent-Perrier is considered a master of the saignée approach, whereas Bollinger embraces the addition of high-quality red wine, sourcing Pinot Noir from its own vineyards in Aÿ. Veuve-Clicquot uses rosé d’assemblage, sourcing red grapes from premium lieu-dit such as Clos Colin and Au Moulin in Bouzy.

Rosé d’assemblage

The rosé d’assemblage approach sees the addition of between 5-20% red wine into the blend. Simply adding this to a ‘house’ Brut cuvée won’t yield the best results as the red wine, with different fruit profile, tannin and lower levels of acidity, will upset the balance of the wine. Quality conscious producers need to take a more considered, skilled approach.

Krug Rosé Champagne is created as an unique blend, whereas Bollinger relies on the expert addition of Pinot Noir into the already established blend. Bollinger’s non-vintage rosé uses around 5% red wine, while La Grande Année adds between 7-8% of red wine, sourced from the Côte aux Enfants. These rosé Champagnes are all undeniably fine wines and there is no right or wrong approach – the key remains the judgement of the winemaker in creating the optimum blend.

The saignée method

There are also many advocates for the alternative saignée or maceration method. Laurent-Perrier is renowned for its benchmark Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé NV, as well as the ultra-premium vintage cuvée Alexandra Rosé. Other excellent saignée Champagnes are produced by Jacquesson (Terres Rouge) and Larmandier-Bernier (Rosé de Saignée).

Laurent-Perrier sources grapes from grand cru vineyards in Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay, with maceration on the skins for between 48-72 hours depending on ripeness and tannin content, prior to the first fermentation. For Alexandra Rosé, the maceration approach is enhanced with the introduction of up to 20% Chardonnay from Grand Cru villages Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant and Avize. This vintage wine shows that rosé Champagne can also have the ability to age beautifully.

Rosé Champagne is usually more expensive than Brut, and produced in much smaller volumes.

It is a wine that is ready to enjoy and often provides a great match to accompany food.

Whatever method has been used to produce it, find a good producer and enjoy the diversity of colour, flavour and lift that rosé Champagne brings.

30 great NV and vintage rosé Champagnes to enjoy this summer

The wines are listed in score order starting with non-vintage then vintage

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First Taste masterclass: Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 2008

INSIDE THE SEPTEMBER 2021 EDITION OF DECANTER…

FEATURES:

• Provence rosé: our top 30 Perfect for those sunny al fresco afternoons, selected by Elizabeth Gabay MW
• Perfect pairing: tomates Provençales A masterclass in simplicity and flavour, by Caroline Rimbert Craig
• Agulhas Wine Triangle Take a tour of South Africa’s dramatic southern coastal region, with Malu Lambert
• Regional profile: Pouilly-Fuissé Anticipation builds with the imminent release of the region’s first premiers crus. By Charles Curtis MW
• Producer profile: Mas de Daumas Gassac After five decades, the ʻgrand cru of the Languedoc’ is still setting the bar high, says Andrew Jefford
• Vintage report: Tuscany 30 of the best new releases from Montalcino and Chianti Classico. By Michaela Morris
• My Siena A Tuscan gem: drink and eat at Sarah Lane’s favourite spots

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LEARNING

• Wine wisdom Expert tips to help you explore the fascinating world of win

SPIRITS

• Distilled Spirits insights and cocktail recipes – plus five flavoured vodkas
• Summer cocktails to make at home Join Laura Foster in creating some seasonal serves, alcoholic and not

GOOD LIVING

• Soho for wine lovers Fiona Beckett on the vinous heart of London’s West End

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BUYING GUIDE

• Panel tasting: Albariño versus Alvarinho One grape, two faces – and a multitude of delicious expressions
• Expert’s choice: Asti & Moscato d’Asti James Button picks his 18 top summery Piedmont sparklers
• Weekday wines 25 top picks under £20, chosen by the Decanter team
• Weekend wines 7 top buys, £20-£50

COLLECTORS

• Marketwatch investment news What’s making waves in the market
• Marketwatch spotlight The dash for digital in the fine wine trading world

REGULARS

• Meet the experts Decanter’s authors
• Uncorked News, views and more
• Letters
• Andrew Jefford’s column Time to move on: appellations need change
• Hugh Johnson’s column Just the right size: the joy of the half-bottle
• DWWA 2021 highlights: South Africa excelled this year. Here are its top sparkling and white wines
• Wine to 5: Shane Jones On his working life as a wine and sake educator

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