 Well,
it is pink, I suppose but – and you can call me Senhor Piquillo
if you like – a nose of chopped ham and flavours of pork off-cuts
are not really what I’m looking for in a wine.
OK, so a second look reveals it to be in fact a taste of ‘Spain’
and, although it’s easy to snigger at poor old Mateus, we
should bear in mind that sales went up 42% between 2002 and 2004,
and yet more last year. In fact, they went from very big to very,
very big indeed.
It seemed to me a pleasant enough drink – if a little sugary
– and I actively enjoyed that refreshing bit of spritziness
it has. I’m not 100% sure I would know it was wine if it didn’t
say so on the bottle, though, and I said to Mrs G. that it somehow
seemed to have been made for simpler times. ‘Simpletons, more
like it’, came the reply – she had not taken well to
it – and I let the matter rest.
Rosé is big news all round these days, and sales topped £200
million last year and are still rising, so I thought it would be
a good idea to have a look at what all the fuss is about.
There’s been a serious upturn in quality across the board
in the last few years, and wines like Château La Moutète
2005 (Clissold, £6.99) – from the Côtes de Provence,
the spiritual home of rosé – have been leading the
charge. Made from Cinsault, Syrah and Grenache, it’s no pinker
than a baby’s bum and it’s at the same time creamy and
sappy, minty and marshmallowy. It’s delicious and, Godammit,
you could even say it’s complex, and that’s not a word
you ever used to hear spoken about rosé. Clissold have nigh-on
three dozen pink wines, of which about 40% sparkle in one way or
another – literally, not figuratively – and they are
adding more every year. And that’s another thing you didn’t
ever used to hear about rosé.
Of the big brands, Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Rosé 2004
(widely available, and currently £6.49 at Sainsbury) is a
perennially good bet when a deep draught of something cold enough
to send trickles of condensation down the outside of the glass is
what you want. It has good body and length and candied-fruit flavours
with a nice tarry edge – there’s a splash of rose water
thrown in for good measure.
 The
ever-reliable Casillero del Diablo make a Shiraz Rosé (the
2005 vintage is £5.99 at Oddbins) in Chile’s Maule Valley
region, and it’s about as dark pink as a rosé can be
without having an identity crisis. Its yummy flavours – of
redcurrants and strawberries – are correspondingly pronounced.
It has some of the spiciness you’d expect from Shiraz, and
it’s big enough to stand up to robust food – something
juicy from the barbie would be just the thing.
Very much worth a special mention if you find yourself down in
Clerkenwell is Specogna Pinot Grigio 2003 from the Venezia-Giulia
region of Italy. Although a ‘white’ grape, Pinot Grigio
is a somewhat genetically confused scion of Pinot Noir and it has
a pinky-grey skin which gives this wine its burnished auburn hue.
It’s laden with autumnal flavours, like sappy pine needles
and herbs, chestnuts and bay, and smells of swirly bonfire smoke
and pancetta. If that sounds good, then every penny of the £12.95
you’ll have to hand over at the excellent Vinoteca in St.John
Street (020 7253 8786) will have been well spent.
Whatever else you do, probably the most important two words to
remember when buying rosé are these: ‘banish blush’.
OK, there may be exceptions but, as a rule of thumb, avoid them
unless you know them. After all, they’re probably a bigger
cause of rosé’s erstwhile – what shall we call
it? – image problem‚ than anything else.
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