Paula Goddard’s Wines of the Week starting 10th June 2019
Chilled rosés are light, but still flavourful, and are ideal for sipping on a hot day. That’s why more rosé wines are sold during the summer than at any other time of the year. So you’d think picking up a reasonably priced and tasty bottle of rosé would be easy. Not so.
So why are the odds stacked against picking up a good rosé? Because rosés aren’t that easy to make.
Grape juice from white and red grapes is green. Most of a wine’s flavour and colour comes not from the juice, but from the skins of the grapes. Add yeast into a vat of grape juice from a ‘red wine’ grape such as Cabernet Sauvignon and you’ll end up with a white wine. To get a bit of colour into it, red grape skins need to be put into the brew.
The longer they are left in, the more colour and flavour is leached out. For a delicate rose-coloured wine like Rosé D’Anjou the grape skins are left in the wine for just a few hours. Leave the skins in for up to three days and even more of the grape’s colour and flavour will move into the wine – the resulting dark-coloured rosé could be mistaken for a light red.
Too little soaking will result in a flavourless wine while too much can result in ‘off’ aromas. The light strawberry flavours and raspberry aromas of the best rosés are due as much to the skill and judgment of the winemaker as the quality of the grapes.
PG Wine Reviews
Tesco Finest Argentinean Malbec Rosé 2018
£7.50 Tesco
Aromas and flavours of apples and peach, with a touch of pear. If you like white wine then this is the rosé for you.
Sanziano Romanian Pinot Grigio Rosé
£8.25 Corney and Barrow, Hic Winemerchants; £8.95 Tom Ianson Wines
A pretty light pink rosé that tastes of creamy strawberry and apple.
Cavit Terrazze Delle Luna Italian Pinot Grigio Rosato (Rosé) 2018
£8.99 New Forest Wines, North and South Wines, Kwoff
Light strawberry and pear with a grassy edge.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference English Dry Rosé 2018
£11 Sainsbury’s
Pale pink and gently fruity.
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© Paula Goddard 2019 www.paulagoddard.com
