So what, exactly, is a Rose?

Contrary to popular belief, rose is not necessarily the product of a misalliance between two equally-suspect batches of red and white wine. It is, in fact, a style of wine able to stand up and be counted. Roses are made as shy, delicate red wines or as champagne styles, of which the best are made with the traditional methode champenoise technique.

Let’s start with the table wines. The best are light, dry and still, with an attractive pink colour showing no more than the occasional trace of orange. Beware those which fizz and bubble – their very presence underlines the need for a wine educational programme of global proportions. Never exorbitantly expensive, table rose ranges from a delicate, delightful beverage to a pungent, fizzy witches’ brew fit only for kitsch and bad-taste parties.

The table roses are a laid-back drink able to generate serious pleasure. They should have an attractive, fresh, fruity, and even grapey aroma. Their taste should be vibrant, fresh and clean, with a zing of acidity almost appropriate in a rhine riesling. Rose is a light-coloured, light-bodied and low-alcohol red wine, usually around 8-11 percent by volume whereas most conventional styles of red weigh in around 12-13.5 percent. This drier style is at its best when served outdoors with a salad or picnic, but can also restore some sensitivity to the jaded palate if served before sweets at a dinner-party. Most are picked from slightly unripe red grapes, with the resulting danger that poor examples may show a somewhat undesirable boiled-sweet flavour, characteristic of immature fruit.

If you ever feel compelled to try the range of rose, you will notice two vastly differing styles, based on different European models. The most popular is the Portuguese style, as personified by the ubiquitous Mateus, whose romantic label successfully belies its refinery-like origins. Its success can be gauged by its number of imitators. We have our own, even down to the same flask-shaped bottles, which also sparkle and taste sweet. Most marketing executives in the wine industry regard this formula as the only way to make a buck out of a rose. Unfortunately, they are damned near correct.

Honesty dictates I should report that the several bottles of Mateus I have tried in the eleven years in which I have taken wine seriously have all been vastly different from each other. Each displayed a different, but individual, gross winemaking flaw. I shall say no more.

Far superior to me are the still, dry rose styles with French pretensions. They’re crisp and clean, often tasting of apricots and grapes. As in France, the better Australian wines are made from either cabernet sauvignon or grenache. I am happy to recommended the Sandalford, Houghtons, Tollana and Reynella roses as good, drinkable wines which will rarely disappoint if you have set your sights at the right level. I especially admire the two first mentioned, from the West, which seem to raffle off the major rose awards at capital city wine shows each year.

Another wine to look at is made by Geoff Merrill, the McLaren Vale Grenache, from his Mount Hurtle winery. It’s slightly fuller in colour than most roses, but has an attractive, tangy fruit flavour.

But to me there is no better rose to be found in Australia than the Tavel – a full, flavoursome wine from the southern Rhone Valley, north of Avignon and across the river from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Tavel rose is usually easy to find, for it comes in a bottle not unlike that used for Fanta, but that’s where I draw an end to this comparison.

The other well-known breed of still French rose found here is the Anjou – from the Loire Valley district of the same name, west of Saumur. There are two types of rose made in Anjou, the Rose d’Anjou and the Rose de Cabernet. The latter is made entirely from the cabernet grapes, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, whereas the former can be a blend of the groslot, gamay, cot, noble and Pineau d’Aunis varieties. Anjou rose can be sweet or dry, but like most people I lean towards the Rose de Cabernet, which is fresher, has more flavour, acidity and colour.

What of the sparkling roses – the refreshing, fuller-flavoured champagne styles made just like a champagne, only pink? They’re the very height of fashion today and are frequently seen accompanying smoked salmon, caviar and ham spread across a beach, river bank or Mercedes bonnet – on a pink tablecloth, of course.

The French don’t get too excited about their Champagne roses, for history has proven time and again that they’re just a fad. It is also true to say they don’t take them as seriously as their bread-and-butter non-vintage and single vintage Champagnes. I think it unfortunate that they don’t. I like Champagne rose and would willingly walk great distances to find a table of Louis Roederer, Pol Roger, Perrier-Jouet, Charles Heidsieck, Veuve Clicquot, and – dreamily – Krug Rose waiting for me to open. The full-frontal and unusually vibrant character of some top Champagne roses on one hand and the delicate, subtle dryness of others creates a spectrum of colour and flavour you too might find hard to resist.

Pinot noir plays an essential role in top Champagne roses and I find its freshness, flavour and creamy yeast even more attractive than the perfect Mornington Peninsula strawberry dipped in the very thickest, richest and most unhealthy King Island Double Cream.

Unfortunately, then, Champagne roses will always be a relatively scarce option. Luckily some local names are dealing you another option. Moving right on from the sound, clean, but comparatively bland options at the lower end of the scale, such as Seppelt Great Western Rose, Angas Brut Rose, Carrington Blush, are some thoroughly interesting options in sparkling rose.

Chateau Remy’s Rose Premier is possibly the best in Australia. It’s an elegant, flavoursome, complex dry wine with much of the fruit quality you could look for in this style. Then there’s the scarce little Yarra Burn Pinot Noir methode champenoise, a pale pink wine which makes up in honest flavour what it may lack in sophistication. The Bests Brut Rose 1985, made with pinot noir and pinot meunier from Great Western in western Victoria, has attractive, mouthfilling flavour and the Landragin Rose has length, complexity and suppleness.

Andrew Garret’s Pinot Noir is simple, yet popular for its up-front pinot flavour. Tisdall’s Mount Helen Pinot Noir 1986 is older and offers more with its development and yeastiness. The Taltarni Brut Tache and the Yellowglen Brut Rose are reliable for their freshness and flavour.

So, before the sun lowers down to its winter pathway and the winds turn from the tropical to the polar, use the remaining bright afternoons and long evenings to acquaint yourself with the wine industry’s equivalent of limited-over cricket. Roses are meant to be bright, breezy and generally fun. Just be careful not to take them too seriously. Please login to post comment