Champagne and Rosés (Part 2)

In part one of my Champagne and Rosés  blog I discussed a theoretical (unless you book one with me! hint) tasting of 8 wines with the above theme. I decided to offer 5 Champagne and sparkling wines followed by 3 rosés. In this second part I must decided on the rosé wines I would serve.

Wine 6
For me only one style comes immediately to mind as a definite and that is Provence Rosé. In recent years it has become an almost trademarked style all of its own. Usually salmon pink and delicate of flavour it makes a perfect aperitif or afternoon drink on the patio.

Rosé wine has been made in the Provence region for 2,600 years and has been influenced by the ancient Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Catalans and Savoyards.

It also uses a motley crew of diverse grape varieties in order of importance (arguably) Carignan, Cinsault, Mourvédre and Grenache. All of which, except perhaps Grenache, are not particularly well known, to the British public at least.

In total Provence has eight wine appellations with AOC designation. The largest is Côtes de Provence. According to the Vins de Provence website Provence is responsible for 6% of total domestic AOC wine production but a whopping 35% of rosé production. This corresponds to 162 million bottles some of which is exported. It is not only Britain and the United States that has had a surge in rosé drinking but even the French themselves as the chart below clearly illustrates. The percentage of rosé wine sold in supermarkets has risen from 10.8% to 29.7% since 1990. I was unable to find similar figures for the UK but the change may be even more extreme.

Bargain Provence Rosé from Aldi

So we will start with a Provence rosé. But where to buy it? Almost anywhere it seems. It can also be a bit of a bargain with this fine example from Aldi at £5.99. Even if you don't believe me Decanter World Wine Awards awarded it a Bronze so definitely not so shabby.

Majestic do a fine line in Provence rosé too, some 13 different offerings ranging from £6.66 (after discount) to £50 for a Double Magnum of the magnificent Aix Rosé. If you do get one and need myself and my wife Louise to join your party to help drink it we would be more than happy to! Just so you know.

Not quite a kick like a mule
but powerful stuff!

Wine 7
Having started with an old world classic perhaps we should look further afield for our second choice. The star grape of Chile is undoubtedly Cabernet Sauvignon, with over 40,000 hectares under vine, about one third of the total area. Most of this is made as red wine ranging in style from light, fruity everydayers to blockbusters made to knock your socks off. But they do make some rosé too. If you like delicate they may not be for you and the colour will certainly be starkly contrasting with our Provence rosé. One worth trying, and currently on offer at Waitrose is Las Mulas Organic Cabernet Rosé. It is full of dark berry flavours and has a good bit of poke too. Great on its own or with food.

Wine 8
And now to our final wine. If you are a regular reader of my blogs you will have read about this one before but I enjoyed it so much I feel I would like to include it here. Rosé wine can be made in three different ways remembering the golden rule that the colour in wine comes only from its skins meaning that rosé and red wine can only be made by the use, at some point, of red or black grapes. The first method of production is simply by leaving the skins in contact with the juice for a period of time, anything from hours to a few days and then discarding the skins. The second method, and you would of thought easiest, is simply blending white and red wines together. This does not actually produce great results and is not widely used in quality wine regions. The final method is the saignee or bleeding off method where a percentage of the wine is literally 'bled' off to be vinified separately as rosé. In some quarters this is seen as controversial but Andrew Margan of Margan wines actually calls his rosé by the method to make clear how it is produced. I wrote a whole blog on this wine recently and you can read that if you wish but I think it makes a great third wine in our trio of rosés. It is the darkest of the three and almost

Margan Saignée Rosé

tastes like a red wine but without any harsh or bitter tannins that often put rosé drinkers off trying red wines. Check it out. It is available from a favourite wine merchants of mine Tanners Wines.

This blog has only scratched the surface of what is available as rosé wine continues to become more and more popular. Please do let me know your particular favourites. That is all for now. I will return with a series of blogs about my visit to the Bordeaux region this July.

In the meantime, enjoy your wine and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook or better still book me for a tasting event. More detail at my website www.gloryofwine.com

Cheers!
Simon

Red Wine Masquerading as Rosé

A couple of weeks ago I tweeted about an unusual but delicious rosé I had tried. So lovely and different was it that I thought I should expand it into a blog post.

Bulging Supermarket rosé shelves

Until fairly recently, maybe the last twenty years, rosé wasn't really taken seriously in this country. It was the preserve of people who didn't really drink serious wine. In fact one of the reasons for this was covered in my last blog about Zinfandel. When White Zinfandel became mega popular in the late 1980s and 90s it was seen as a bit 'naff' but quality rosé wines were still out there. And by 2008 Provence rosé in France had become incredibly popular, even rivalling white and reducing sales of red wine, according to the Daily Telegraph. As stated in the article a rosé boom was expected in the UK and so this has proved. In 2013 rosé accounted for 1 in 8 bottles of wine purchased at retail in the UK compared with 1 in 40 in 2000; with sales rising at 10% per annum.

But for me rosé wine was always an afternoon in the sun drink or perhaps with a light lunch. That was until I came across the Shiraz Saignée 2011, made by Margan Wines in the Hunter Valley, Australia.

On the same day I had purchased the Verdelho from the same winemaker for an upcoming tasting event. The rosé was a bit of an afterthought. But what an afterthought. It was sitting in the bin ends shelves next to the till in my favourite wine merchants Tannners in Bridgnorth.

Margan Shiraz Saignée - Wow

Tanners Bridgnorth

It was opened a couple of days later and wow, what an incredible surprise. The colour was a deep, bright red, but not like a red wine. This is going to be interesting I thought. And it was. I have since read various reviews of the wine but I'm not sure any do it justice. To me it tasted full and earthy with some gentle spice, like a red wine, but without the presence of any significant tannins. I know, for many, tannin in red wine is part of the appeal but for me this is the holy grail. I absolutely loved it and could drink it every day. Most reviews recommend drinking it with the usual rosé staples of asian foods, curry, salads, etc. But I think it could stand up to almost anything you wanted including beef, duck and lamb dishes. No, seriously.

Saignée Method - Controversial but lucrative?

So far, I have not mentioned Saignée which is the method used to produce the wine. Saignée is actually french for bleed and it is considered, in some quarters, a controversial method of producing rosé wines. It involves 'bleeding' off some of the juice from the must to enable the red wine remaining to obtain a deeper colour and flavour from the skins. For many winemakers this is just a by-product in red wine production that is then slung or used as ullage to top up tanks but as can be seen here it can make some beautiful wines. And with rosé wines becoming ever more popular why not take advantage or every possibility you can.

I revisited Tanners again today hoping to pick up another bottle. Fortunately they had one left. Mind you I needn't of worried. It was only in the bin ends as an end of vintage. The 2013 was sitting proudly on the shelf. I think I may be buying a few more in the coming months. Why not hop over to their website and try it out for yourself.

That is all for now. I will return with another blog soon. If you would like to meet me in person and home is in the UK why not book an event with me. More information can be found at my website www.gloryofwine.com. Maybe you need an excuse for a party involving tasting some lovely wines. Or you could come to one of my events. Do get in touch.

You can also follow me on twitter @GloryofWine


Enjoy your wine. Cheers!
Simon