All About Wine

hese delightful summer sensations are at long last being seen, tasted and enjoyed for what they are - highly diverse, complex and charming delicate pink wines.
The original success of Rosé was the wines of Portugal and Spain, we all recall “Mateus Rose’ in the round bowl shaped bottle. This wine was easy to find and generally reliable, but usually, if were talking about the bottle shops of the 80’s and early 90’s, it was the only one. Today in a Dan Murphy or First Choice store you’ll see a whole row of Rosé, so how do you choose?
Recently I judged a class of 24 Rosé wines, the experience was revealing. The line up was all so different, it included everything from the Innocent Bystander “Pink Moscato” to Lillypilly’s “Red Velvet”. The Moscato was fresh apple, melon, juicy and clean with a light candied floral character, pure fresh sweetness, while Red Velvet from Lillypilly Estate at Leeton in NSW is a light Red Style being a blend of none less than ten Red Varietals including Zinfandel, Touriga & Mondeuse. The resulting wine is an enticingly aromatic, generous wine with a flavoursome palate. Most of the Rosé wines were made from Shiraz, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Sangiovese and Pinot Noir and combinations of each.
Rosé can be made by the Saignee method. This is where red grapes are cold soaked and allowed to take on a little colour from some early fermentation. The wine is then made from a portion of the first pressed free run juice. A cold fermentation is then completed over three weeks and the wine bottled early to produce fresh styles with a generous palate of ripe berry fruits, good balance and a soft but structured finish. The “Pyramid Hill Rosé Saignee” from the Upper Hunter Valley is a dry wine that is appealing and complex.
The Penna Lane “Rambling Rosé” from the Clare Valley is a similar style made from Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz. A serious wine with intense cherry and mulberry flavours on the bouquet and palate, just a touch of sweetness and good acidity makes the wine a perfect match with a Mediterranean platter of cold meats and char grilled vegetables. Killara Estate “Rosetta” from the Yarra Valley, displays sweet ripe berry fruits including strawberries. It’s another primarily dry style and is a great food wine. The Andrew Peace “Masterpeace Shiraz Sangiovese Rosé” has some residual sweetness yet the wine is beautifully balanced with firm acidity.
Kilikanoon Wines in the Clare Valley uses old vines Grenache fruit for there “Second Fiddle Rosé”. These vines were planted in 1946 and are hand picked and hand pruned. The wine has a perfumed bouquet of cherries and sweet fruits. A premium wine that like many of the top Rieslings from the same company is elegant and lingering. Like all Rosé wines it’s best enjoyed as a young wine. Magpie Estate “The Thief” Mourvedre Grenache Rosé is more fragrant than most but certainly packs a punch with 14.5% alcohol. The wine is made form the first 10% of free run juice the remainder of juice has extended fermentation on skins and is used to make the Rolf Binder’s “Bulls” Blood.
From West Australia’s Margaret River and Pemberton Region there are a number of these lunchtime delights. One of the best is Barwick Estates “Crush Rosé”. A candy floss bouquet has resulted in lusciousness balanced with gentle acidity.
For something totally different and truly unique Larry Jacobs, Barossa Valley’s “Hahndorf Hill Rosé” is dry, made from Trollinger and Lemberger grapes which are highly popular in Southern Germany and Austria. The salmon coloured wine has an aromatic nose and palate of freshly crushed raspberries, quinces and cider apples. The wine is especially magical with chilli based cuisine and chilli dark chocolate.
From the hilltops region Mistletoe have made a Shiraz based dry Rosé, a floral and spicy bouquet and lively palate full of red berry flavours and crisp acidity. In McLaren Vale the Scarpantoni Ceres Rosé is a Gold Medal Winner. It’s produced from old vines of the French grape variety Gamey. The wine has a lifted bouquet of cherries, plums and raspberries and the great acidity is perfect with a deep fried seafood platter for Sunday lunch.
The Linda Domas Wines Shot Bull Rosé, considered one of the ‘best’ Rosé in Australia is up there with Turkey Flat and Charlie Milton’s Rosé of Virginia. A strawberry and spice flavoured wine is a delight anytime. Spinifex Rosé made from Grenache and Cinsualt is worth a try while several of the Pinot Noir Rosé wines are interesting and remarkably full flavoured. De Bortoli’s Galf Station Pinot Noir, Mudgee’s Huntington Estates Pinot Noir and Ballarat’s Eastern Peake Pinot Noir are all Rosé with a perfume of strawberries and rose petals. A heavenly demure nose while the palate is a little more assertive and complex.
There is no easy answer to picking the right wine, so read the back label and try a few. The range of foods that work well with Rosé’s is vast, so you can’t go wrong. It’s generally a good refreshing match.
Be into spring in 2008 and drink Pink!