Tasting Bench
EXPLORING
ROSÉ FORGET ALL THE STATISTICS, CHARTS, FIGURES, DATA, INFORMATION, MUCH OF WHICH IS VERY QUICKLY OUT OF DATE. WINE WRITERS HAVE AN INFALLIBLE METHOD OF ASCERTAINING WHAT IS HOT AND WHAT IS NOT – THE DAILY DELIVERIES. NO SURPRISE THAT WINE PRODUCERS SEND OUT THE WINES THAT CONSUMERS WANT. SO YOU CAN IMAGINE THE FLOOD OF KIWI SAVVY WHEN THAT TOOK OFF. BEFORE THAT, ENDLESS BOTTLES OF UNWOODED CHARDONNAY (TRUE – I WISH I WERE MAKING IT UP). THERE WAS THE MOSCATO PHASE. TODAY WE ARE TASTING ROSÉ. These days, not much is hotter than Rosé, yet go back a decade or two and I was lucky to see half a dozen bottles of rosé a year. Now, if it is only half a dozen a week, one starts to wonder of the postie is pinching a few. Winemakers would tell us that rosé sold well at cellar door but beyond that, nothing. Today, it is the people’s favourite! Rosés from producers that most of us had no clue had rosé on their radar pop up all the time. Obviously, local offerings will dominate but we are seeing more than enough
36 drinks trade
from offshore, especially those wonderful Mediterranean Rosés, to know that consumers are not restricting themselves to either home or away. Nor should they. Not that long ago, local rosés were largely clumsy, too much sweetness, often neon purple rather than the delicate pink we encountered when drinking rosé overseas. Those wonderful wines, so perfect for outdoor dining when served chilled with fresh seafood or a bubbling bouillabaisse,
were pristine, fresh, elegant, often bone dry and ideally balanced. It is what they did. Why couldn’t we? Innovative makers have taken us down those roads, whether using similar varieties or adapting our traditional grapes. Every region in Australia is now offering wines of that ilk, while we see more and more of the originals imported, though naturally, most of the production is enjoyed by locals and tourists to the French Riviera. Best of all, rosé so often represents such great value.
