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30 August 2024
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3 September 2024The rise of rosé
Once despised as the tipple of old men in French bars, rosé has never been more popular among those who’d like to think themselves as serious wine connoisseurs – and most of the rest of us too.
T
he UK’s Decanter magazine reported in July that the UK supermarket Sainsbury’s recorded a 26% year-on-year increase in sales of rosé, with particularly strong demand for the most expensive bottles, especially of the most delicately hued beauties from Provence, wines that have also surged in popularity in the US in recent years.
Once despised as the tipple of old men in French bars, rosé has never been more popular among those who’d like to think themselves as serious wine connoisseurs – and most of the rest of us too.
T he UK’s Decanter magazine reported in July that the UK supermarket Sainsbury’s recorded a 26% year-on-year increase in sales of rosé, with particularly strong demand for the most expensive bottles, especially of the most delicately hued beauties from Provence, wines that have also surged in popularity in the US in recent years.
Prices for the best Provençal rose, from properties such as Châteaux d’Esclans, have soared to levels unimaginable even a decade ago. We just can’t get enough of their ‘Whispering Angel’.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie jumped on the bandwagon back in 2012 and bought another leading property, Chateâux Miraval. The ‘Brangelina’ effect helped to create a demand so strong that it couldn’t be slowed by their split. The rise of rosé seems unstoppable.
Nature and, more specifically, the effects of climate change may, however, apply the brakes in 2022. First disastrous spring frosts and then August wildfires have devasted the crop in the Var, the part of Provence that supplies our favourite rosé. Early reports suggest that over 7,000 hectares (17,200 acres) of vines have been scorched and winery buildings have gone up in the flames too.
Some leading wineries such as that of the hugely successful, British-owned Domaine Mirabeau have suffered catastrophic losses and may well make no wine at all this year. The BBC reports that prices will surely rise. Rosé from other regions may help fill the gap, but the crop in other parts of France that escaped the fires as in northern Italy too is likely to be severely reduced by those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ early season frosts.
Some leading wineries such as that of the hugely successful, British-owned Domaine Mirabeau have suffered catastrophic losses and may well make no wine at all this year. The BBC reports that prices will surely rise. Rosé from other regions may help fill the gap, but the crop in other parts of France that escaped the fires as in northern Italy too is likely to be severely reduced by those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ early season frosts.
While the unhappy rosé-makers of Provence surely deserve our support, maybe the lack of wine from there gives us an opportunity to explore other regions and other styles of rosé, some of which still remain relatively unpopular and thus can offer exceptional value for money.
Prices for the best Provençal rose, from properties such as Châteaux d’Esclans, have soared to levels unimaginable even a decade ago
One clear example is Rosé d’Anjou from France’s Loire Valley. It’s almost as pale as Provençal rosé, tinted just as they are, solely, by the slow, gentle pressing of red-wine grapes, in this case from the local Grolleau grape. The favours and scents are of wild strawberry and bare-ripe raspberry, with an acidity to match, beautifully offset by just enough residual sugar to balance the wine out.
The very best example, I think, is that made by the kindly Antoine Leduc at Domaine Leduc-Frouin at Martigné-Briand. Provençal rosé is bone dry, of course, but sometimes a little sweetness works miracles.
Grolleau grapes make delicious Rose d'Anjou
More robust styles of rosé are made by starting out as if to make a red wine. Instead of gently pressing the grapes and fermenting juice that is barely coloured, the grapes are crushed and soaked with the juice for many hours or in the case of the famous Tavel rosé the best part of a couple of days. Tavel was the first rosé from Mediterranean France to earn an international reputation, and I think it’s still by far the best. Its vineyards lie just across the Rhône from the old Roman city of Avignon.
The grapes are picked fully ripe so that the skins and pips don’t add unripe tannins to the wine, but the mix of varieties used is otherwise pretty similar to those used further east in Provence. My favourite is probably the superb Château d’Aqueria, with Domaine Maby and Domaine la Rocalière also excellent.
The wine is a deep, rich salmon rather than onion pink, with a wonderful aroma of herby red fruits and a lingering, totally dry finish. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway, who couldn’t get enough of it, called it the ‘wine of love’. I wouldn’t presume to disagree.
The only European rosé wine that can be made by blending red and white wine together is, of course, champagne, although some growers, most famously, perhaps, Laurent Perrier prefer to work only with pink juice. The only problem with this is that although the wine is undoubtedly delicious, it ends up almost a pale copper hue rather than truly pink.
The wine is a deep, rich salmon rather than onion pink, with a wonderful aroma of herby red fruits and a lingering, totally dry finish
Working the press at Bollinger
It’s fabulous stuff, but I prefer Bollinger Rosé, which is made with the addition of just 5% red wine producing a subtle red-fruits flavour that makes it an irresistible partner to so many foods, including quite spicy Asian cuisine (its crisp acidity is also a key factor in its success).
Elsewhere in the world, winemakers are free to, for example, add a drop of red wine to a scented white wine to make a refreshingly different pink wine – that’s how a Sauvignon Blanc ‘Rosé’ is made in Marlborough New Zealand, but the New Zealanders are experimenting in other ways too.
One of the most interesting examples that I’ve tasted recently is from Forrest Wines who co-fermented Pinot Noir and white Arneis grapes, native to Piedmont in Italy, to produce a wonderfully pale wine with a tantalising aroma of redcurrants and celery salt (rather nicer than it sounds, believe me). Crisp and just-off dry, but with just 9.5% alcohol, ‘The Doctor’s Rosé’ is a much lighter alternative to Tavel, which can weigh in with an alcohol level not far short of Fino Sherry.
Rosé’s rise is certainly not going to be slowed by the heart-breaking damage to so many Provençal vineyards this year. Winemakers are experimenting the world over, fermenting it oak barrels, aging it in clay amphorae and we’ve also witnessed the arrival of cheap and cheerful Rosé Prosecco.
Even White Zinfandel will always, I guess, have its fans too, but I’m not one. I’d bet my bottom dollar that rosé sales on both side of the Atlantic will continue to grow faster that those of red and white wine for some years to come, and I, for one, won’t be complaining.