It's time for the annual rose column when I urge all rose-lovers to persist and encourage all rose doubters, skeptics and haters to get over it and get with it. Rose wine is on a roll worldwide, and there are many fine examples to choose from.
I don't hear quite as many people as I used to saying they never drink rose wine, but there's still a lingering prejudice. I mean, it's a natural for summer sipping and dining, and the LCBO still carries quite a good range. (Vintages released a bunch of roses a while ago, and you should have a look there, too, to see what's left.)
Still, there are big pockets of resistance to rose, and I often wonder just what the problem is.
Is it the colour? Does it look too feminine for half the population? I'd have thought that pink was less firmly associated with women these days. Anyway, rose isn't just pink. Roses come in a wide range in colour, from light salmon through to shocking, electric hues.
Is it the name? It occurred to me that we call rose wine rose, not pink. Why do we use English words for red and white wines, but the French word for pink? Would it help to label them as pink wines?
Or is the problem one of experience and association? For many years, the most commonly available roses in North America tended to be sweet and simple, like old-style White Zinfandel from California. There were (and are) classic dry roses like Tavel from southern France, but they tended to be more expensive and rarely available. Now many -- maybe most -- rose producers have shaken off the sweet style and most of the roses on offer tend to be fruity but essentially dry.
The growing popularity of rose internationally has led more and more producers to add rose to their portfolios. You can now find very good examples from California, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, South Africa and, of course, Ontario. At the same time, sales of pink Champagne are climbing.
Moreover, producers are making rose from classic grape varieties like Merlot, Grenache, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. This lends the wines good fruit character and more structure, so that many modern roses are what we might call "serious wines."
This is all to the good, because a well-made rose is a very versatile wine. It's not that it's half white and half red, but that it combines excellent qualities from both. It tends to be light- to medium-bodied, have fresh fruit flavours and good acidity, and it can be made in dry and sweeter styles. This means you can match a rose with steak, turkey and cranberry sauce, roast ham, pork, salads, spicy dishes, salmon, vegetarian dishes ... there's a rose for virtually everything.
Of course, you can say all that about red and white wines and that's the point: Rose is a category of wine in its own right. It's not a jumped-up white or a red wannabe, but a wine style that deserves its own place on your table.
Today, four roses to choose from, running from dry to medium-sweet. There are more pink wines in the LCBO and Vintages, as well as in private retail wine stores.