FEATURE
The Parade of the Rosés By Dr. Kenneth Friedman
I
t seems everywhere you look these days, the presence of pink wine is continually growing. Even during a global pandemic that has continued into 2021, sales of rosé have risen and the kosher market will see a greater quantity of rosé in Spring 2021. And for good reason: Rosé is generally affordable, easy to drink, and universally considered fruity and fun. Virtually every winemaker who makes kosher wine now produces a rosé, hailing from all parts of the world. How do you like your rosé? Pale, restrained and Provençal? Fruitforward and with more heft? Sweet? Bursting with bubbles? Rest assured, there’s a rosé being produced with you in mind. Even with the 25% U.S. tariff on French wines taking effect in 2019, French wine imports continue to rise to the United States. Its driver? Rosé. While millennials have not bought wine apace with older generations, they most certainly are responsible for the great boom in kosher rosé sales. Just a decade ago, many consumers—non-kosher and kosher alike—were unfamiliar with rosé, but with booming growth in all areas of kosher food and wine, it is only natural to expect a parallel phenomenon to occur with the rise of rosé. “The most noticeable trend of the past five years has been the ascent of rosé wines,” said Gabriel Geller,
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director of public relations and wide education for Royal Wine Corp. “The constant growth, both in sales and offerings, has shown that it is not a passing trend but a category that is here to stay.” Geller explained that this trend is good for the market, considering that “the context in which rosé wines are often consumed, typically on a weeknight, [as part of ] a simple dinner or as a refreshing and relaxing drink on Shabbat makes it the type of wine that helps to promote wine as a culture in our community, away from the sole obligations of kiddush and other religious ceremonies.” The kosher wine world will see well over 100 rosé offerings in 2021. “I don’t think we have reached a
MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781
ceiling yet,” said Geller. The rosé category will not just be composed of entry-level easy-drinkers, but will include several higher-priced French offerings from Château Roubine, which produced three Cotes du Provence rosés last year, but will offer three or four more rosés this year. A particularly well-received rosé last year was that of Cantina Giuliano, one of only three allkosher wineries in Europe, located in the heart of Tuscany and imported to the United States by Allied Importers, Inc. Produced from 100% Sangiovese, the rosé was a huge hit, selling out quickly. “The right people, thank God, found my rosé good very early in the season,” owner and winemaker Eli Gauthier told me, “and everybody just kind of followed up on those opinions.” Gauthier produced 4,000 bottles of rosé last year, and plans to increase to 5,000 bottles this year. “Being a small winery, there’s a bit of mazal to things,” said Gauthier. “I don’t control everything perfectly every day, and wines have a way to just take a direction of their own sometimes.” As the growing rosé trend intersects with the equally prevalent trend towards all things kosher, wineries everywhere seek a toehold into this world. Importer and distributor The River Wine, managed by Ami and Larissa Nahari, produces the Contessa Annalisa Collection, which sources wines from Italian winemakers.
