Plus a simple tip for adjusting a rosé that is too sweet for your taste.
The modern style of rosé is pale coloured, light-bodied and dry or almost dry. Driven by France’s Provence region, this fashionable kind of rosé is soft and easygoing, well-balanced and light. Not too demanding, and no excesses of sweetness, acidity or tannin grip.
The grape varieties best suited to this style are grenache and pinot noir, although there are many others that make excellent rosé. The ubiquitous shiraz can be very good, as is gamay, mourvèdre, cinsault, nebbiolo, and even the Bordeaux red varieties cabernet sauvignon and merlot.
The Portet family of Yarra Valley have their roots in Bordeaux, so they make rosé from cabernet and merlot; their Dominique Portet Single Vineyard Rosé 2025 ($44) is an outstanding example. Strawberries, honey and herbs.
Fran Austin and Shane Holloway, from Tasmania’s Pipers River, make Delamere Flyleaf Rosé 2025 ($32) largely from a 40-year-old block of estate-grown pinot noir, which they cultivate especially for rosé. Blueberries, cherries and violets. A delicious example of why pinot noir is a great rosé grape.
In South Australia’s Langhorne Creek, Greg Follett’s Lake Breeze Grenache Rosato 2025 ($22) has lip-smacking savouriness and drinkability. A top example of grenache, which is one of the key grapes of Provence rosé. Rosato is just the Italian word for rosé. Pot-pourri, dried fruits, cedar and cherries.
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A tip for rosé in summer: if you are served a rosé that is too sweet for your taste, just refrigerate it: the colder the wine, the less sweetness you will taste.
Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au
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