The season has come for a wine style we should just shut up and drink, but we can’t help talking about how good it is. Of course, we are referring to rosé.
Looking at wine history through rosé-tinted glasses, we first of all see one of the most ancient wine regions - a stretch of France’s southern coast known as Provence. Here the charming variations on a famous Rosé-style were born, all of them relatively light-coloured and dry.
Whether the label says ‘Cotes de Provence’ or ‘Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence’ or ‘Bandol’, the rosé inside was designed, partly, to complement the local Provence cuisine of olive oil, garlic and seafood - and partly to mitigate the well-known and simply lamentable effects of having to live in a climate of constant sunshine and moderate heat. To be precise, these wines provide outstanding refreshment. With a pale colour and very little sweetness - barely a whiff of red fruit floating across a light and zingy acidity - the rosés of Provence really are the perfect summer wine.
Superb with afternoon canapes, or tapas, they are also perfect served very chilled in the presence of nothing at all but a book - and maybe a hammock. Where a white might be a bit harsh by itself, a Provence rosé is all softness and delicate pleasure. Where a red would be too structured and heavy under the sun, a rosé is all thirst-quenching lightness.
Caro’s Wines has recently landed a fresh delivery of these delicious, pink beauties so you can try them for yourself. The 2015 Hecht & Bannier Cotes de Provence Rosé is a terrific example, crisp and delicate. Or try the stylish 2015 AIX, all strawberries and floral scents in an equally light and dry wine. For a truly great example of the style, the Lafran-Veyrolles Bandol Rosé was recently voted second best in the world by Decanter magazine. We could go on, there are so many delicious options.
So next time you see a pale coloured Provence rosé in a tall bottle (like a bordeaux bottle, but slimmer), spare a thought for those poor Provencal winemakers and their terrible lifestyle. And spare a thought for yourself as well. As an old adage might one day say: ‘the travails of life are best faced by a glass of Provence the previous Saturday’.
CAROS WINES, 14 Mackelvie Street, T: 09 377 9974, www.caros.co.nz