Last year, we saw a unique trend in the wine world; the world  went wild for ‘pink’ or rosé wines.

I’m not referring to ‘blush,’ which are high-production sweet wines usually adjusted with doses of sugar and colouring, but to the groovy, refreshingly crisp, fruit forward yet dry, pink wines. Rosé wine is typically lighter in body, meaning lower alcohol content, and very young, usually the first wines of a vintage to hit the market.

Rosé is typically made from red wine grapes. Wine gets its colour from contact with the skins, hence zero skin contact will give the winemaker a white wine. Very little contact, two to three days, will give a winemaker rosé.

What is making rosé wine’s popularity grow is a number of factors; the primary is the wine itself is so good. The wines are very aromatic with aromas of fresh cut flowers, ripe red fruits like strawberry and cherry.

The easy approachability combined with the lighter body make them great summertime wines. There is no oak finish, no long-term contact with the lees, nothing but the young wine. This also, for the most part, is why rosé wine is generally inexpensive.

The Provence is an area in the south of France that is thought to be the home of modern winemaking but is indisputably the ‘king’ of rosé wine. Pretty much every region, including Bordeaux, produces rosé, but it is the Provence located along the Mediterranean coastline that produces a plethora of killer rosé wines.

If you, like many of us, are looking for both economic relief, stock up on a couple of rosé wines. They are crisp, clean, generally inexpensive and easy to drink and go with virtually everything.

The Arniston Bay Pinotage Rosé is a light and easy-drinking rosé made from South Africa’s signature grape Pinotage. It has a fresh and lively palate showing summer berry flavours and a tad of sweetness.

Source: theledger.com