I've always loved rosé. I like it's elegance. It's ability to cool me down on a hot summer's day. It's diversity.
It's always broken my heart though when people say "ugh, I don't like rosé...it's like a cold, red wine". Oh dear....
It's time to embrace rosé and all it's qualities. Particularly living in Australia, where our climate is perfect for it all year around.
Some common misconceptions:
1) Rosé is sweet - No...it really doesn't have to be. Yes, there are some 'off dry' and sweet rosés but if you stick to the southern French style, they are usually dry to bone dry. A lot of new world wine producers have also seen the call for dry rosé and are making their wines accordingly.
2) Rosé is made by mixing red wine and white wine - NO! A BIG no....I mean, I don't judge people because if you know nothing about wine, this could make a lot of sense. Alas, no. Rosé is made by allowing the skins of the grapes to mix with the free run juice (macerate) for a short period of time (24-48 hours commonly) simply to 'stain' the wine.
3) Rosé is only made from Pinot Noir - Again, a misconception. Rosé can be made from any type of grape due to point 2 above. In fact, in southern France (Provence and Languedoc- Roussillon specifically), the blend is typically Syrah and Grenache.
I mentioned Rosés diversity above. I love that they can be super affordable and can range from light red fruit aromas and flavours with nice, soft acid that you can have every day as a sun-downer and then you can find the Rosés that are a bit more gutsy and can be enjoyed with meat dishes.
Rosé truly is the perfect summer wine and the perfect wine for Australia all year around. I highly recommend trying Marrenon's Petula Rosé which is a single vineyard Syrah from the southern Rhone and the Andeluna 1300 Malbec Rosé simply to taste the difference between how two varietals from an old world and a new world country can make such vastly different Rosés.