Whenever I believe of rosé wine, I promptly believe of sickly wonderful alcopop with lashings of hangover. I’ve always avoided this type of wine more than any type of other.
However, when we were in Provence in southern France last year, we were extremely surprised by what we found. Rosé is in truth extremely much de rigueur there. even among the manly guy working the land.
In Australia as well as the UK, a guy seen sipping on a glass of rosé would be promptly stared at by his beer-swilling chums as well as most likely punched a bit too.
From the wine-drinker’s perspective, rosé is – traditionally – seen as the ugly bit sibling of the reds’ as well as whites’, as well as isn’t provided much respect or credit. It’s usually as well sweet, poorly made or lacks body. It’s a bit of a non-entity wine.
The stuff we had in Provence though has totally altered our minds. Rosé from southern France is usually crisp, dry, flavoursome as well as refreshing – particularly on a hot day. Not to mention commonly a great deal cheaper than any type of domestic counterpart right here in Australia.
If you do discover a affordable Australian rosé, be wary. checked out the label carefully as well as prevent anything with words like ‘passionfruit’, ‘strawberry’ or ‘tropical’ in the synopsis. Unless you like wonderful wine of course!
It seems there are three or four methods to make this type of wine, which might be why there’s so much controversy as well as a concern for high quality of rosé wines.
How rosé is made
Rosé at its finest is made by leaving the grape skins in with the ‘juice’ for a extremely short time – only a day or two. This lets a bit of the colour as well as flavour of the skins modification the wine from white to pink.
The other prominent method to make rosé – though wine movie critics get antsy about it – is by taking a little amount off the top of a vat of red wine so as to concentrate the flavours of that red. What is eliminated hasn’t been with the skins for long as well as so can be bottled as rosé.
This technique is called ‘saignée’ – French for ‘bleeding’. Some bottles will state if this technique has been used.
Some winemakers offer this as such, however most just throw it away or utilize it later in the red wine-making process. since this method is primarily for red wine production, the rosé is seen as a spin-off as well as ‘unworthy’.
Another method to make rosé is to filter red wine with absorptive charcoal, which sucks out colour. It likewise draws flavour as well as other helpful aspects out of the wine too, so it’s not extremely popular.
Some wineries are understood to blend red wines as well as white wines together to make rosé – however this isn’t that typical anymore as well as is in truth unlawful in France. They don’t let you get away with anything over there, do they?
Our top tip:
Look for Provencale rosés or ones from somewhere else in the South of France. They understand what they’re doing down there. just ask the farmers!
Here’s what our wine Saints have to state on the matter:
Saint Andrew:
“Not a fan of Aussie rosé truly – as well commonly guilty of ‘over-grunt’ or cloying sweetness. as well as with some well balanced French quaffables offered at around the $15 mark, Australian rosés are likewise more expensive.
“A well-made rosé is particularly great with spicy Thai pork dishes, as well as larb too.”
Saint Peter:
More of a red drinker, St Peter isn’t as au fait with rosés either – though after living in Orange NSW for a year, he has taken to the Bloodwood Rosé, which is a great drop. It’s nice as well as dry, much like the Provencale style.
Saint Paul:
St Paul is a bit out of the loop as far as rosé goes. He’s “never been a huge fan.”
However, always humble in his saintly duties, Paul admits that rosés “are back in though so am a bit behind the times.”
Perhaps St Paul should pay a see to Provence as well as see what his flocks are drinking there. It may modification his mind!
Here are some Provencale rosés we’ve discovered at Dan Murphy’s that are good.
Marius Peyol Côtes de Provence Rosé $9.99.
La Plancheliére Cabernet d’Anjou Rosé $9.99.
Miraval Côtes de Provence Rosé $29.99. This is really a star effort from Brangelina – hence the price!
And I rather like the Domaine de St Antoine rosé I discovered at our regional vintage Cellars too. It’s from Nimes, which is in western Provence.
Mrs R doesn’t mind the La Bohéme Act two from Yarra Valley either. It’s ahead of its time as well as extremely much in the style of rosés from the South of France. as well as the label’s awful pretty!
Have you tried a decent rosé recently? Or do you have any type of horror stories you requirement to share? tell us all about it in the comments below!
Images by Mr & Mrs Romance.