Great News!

Initial stocks of the wonderful 2012 vintage of Whispering Angel Rosé have now come in.  We've had a chance to try it and can simply say that every year just seems to get better!  Bring on the sunshine!

All best wishes for the New Year!  Why not celebrate with a good bottle of Rosé?  When in doubt open something sparkling! 

Congratulations are in order for Chateau Routas and winemaker Jean Louis Bavay who have won an outstanding five stars, best in show, at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards.  A marvellous result for a very affordable Rosé - here's what was said,

"Appetizing style singing of Mediterranean France. Clean, fresh herbal aromas with invigorating aniseed over a ripe peach and tropical fruit palate with pretty, floral notes, plum skins and stony, mineral acidity.” Decanter Magazine. 

OK, so you’ve bought some lovely Rosé wines – how do you get the best tasting experience? Here’s some general guidance put together by Rose-wine.com which might help. 

Remember, that tasting tends to be quite subjective with people often having surprisingly different opinions. There are no set rules. Where wine is paired with food this can have a marked effect too. Not only does the wine often heighten appreciation of the food, the food can have an effect on the perception of the wine. Experimentation is often the best course and can be good fun!

There are various other factors that can influence your enjoyment of wine besides the wine itself. Serving temperature is one, with Rosés often being best served cool, perhaps around 8 to 12 C. When the Rosé is cold it will be quite sharp and clear and very refreshing. As it warms up to room temperature, well-made Rosé can become fruitier and slightly softer. Ideally, try the wines cool to start with, which would be most people’s preference, but if you find you enjoy it warmer then that’s best for you. Also, good ice in Rosé can be very pleasant and only has the effect of diluting the wine, not spoiling it. 

Glasses make a difference mainly because a bulky glass will quickly warm up a cool wine whereas a finer glass will keep the wine cool. The size of the rim opening matters in that too narrow an opening causes you to have to tilt back your head when drinking. This fails to deliver the Rosé to the best part of the mouth for full enjoyment.  A good fairly wide rimmed white wine style glass is ideal for Rosé.

Where possible it is good to let wine settle down after transit. Good Rosé is a natural product and is best stored in a cool dark place. A refrigerator will be fine, ideally a few days before drinking. The difference is small but, may just be noticeable.

There’s a great selection of Rosés available, all different to the taste, everyone’s perception of them will vary, but hopefully the above notes will help!  Just add good company. Have fun!  Bill

A customer contacted me recently wondering about a little sugary looking deposit she'd noticed in a couple of bottles of Rosé.  I was able to reassure that these are natural and, in fact, are an indication of a particularly well made wine.  They tend to form only in wines that are slowly fermented, a process which adds to flavour and aroma and are sometimes more noticeable when the wine has been kept cool for a while.  Sometimes you may also see them on the bottom of the cork.  They are completely harmless and are not a fault, quite the opposite.

For the technically minded the little crystals are a potassium tartrate which is generally used to make cream of tartar for baking.  The wine industry is a great source of this natural material.  Thinking among winemakers varies.  Some are concerned that customers may not know what they are, and perhaps wrongly, perceive them as a fault.  Bolder winemakers won't compromise on quality, and do not put the wine through unnecessary additional processing involving temperature changes to remove them. 

The tartrates essentially come from good mature grapes and choosing not to remove them is a good example of the commendable "putting the grape first" school of thought, to provide absolutely top quality wine. 

The correct choice of good wines can make such a difference to everyone's enjoyment, as most guests will have at least a glass or two, or in my case, maybe more!  Our Rosés with their vibrant colour and great bottle presentation, very much look the part, but have other great advantages too.  Not least is their almost universal acceptability - almost everyone enjoys a Rosé. 

A sparkling Rosé or Rosé Champagne is a marvellous welcome for guests and super for the toasts.  They look so good in the glass too.  Likewise, the still Rosés go so well with most food and with their characteristic lightness, they are very suitable for drinking throughout the meal no matter what time of day it is served.  They are equally good during the later reception. 

Currently, we have stock of some fabulously exclusive, romantic and elegant Rosés from the St Tropez area, just right for Spring or Summer weddings.  Please drop me an email to Bill@Rose-wine.com if you need any help or advice.  I'm happy to advise on quantity too, and we can take back any stock not used. 

I'd probably get married again, just for the fun of it, if I wasn't married already!  Happy planning!  

We are hoping to have some great new wines and super offers throughout 2012.  Please don't forget to register your email address with us for full details.    

Good News!  Sacha Lichine of Chateau D'Esclans has always expressed his ambition to "make the best Rosé in the world".

Now you can decide for yourself, as we are pleased to offer his flagship wine in an affordable single bottle gift pack!   A blend of Grenache and Rolle from very old vines, aged in temperature controlled barrels with Burgundian style battonage, this is an exceptional wine by any standards!

Click here or scroll down under "Our Rosé wine selection" for full details.

Our Rosés are very well made so they should be enjoyable at up to room temperature without showing any faults.  I suggest serving quite cool, somewhere between 8 and 12 C. as this suits most tastes.  However, the aroma of the wine may not be as full and fruity as it becomes when the wine warms up.  Likewise the taste can move towards being somewhat less dry and more fruity as the wine warms, a nice effect, quite pronounced in Rosés.  Stemmed glasses will prevent the wine warming quickly as will chilling the glasses first. 

And what about ice?  Controversial for some, I have no problem with it, especially if serving Rosé on a warm day.  A nice touch can be to make up the ice in advance from bottled water, perhaps selecting a French still water to make ice for French wines.  (The same applies to ice with good Scotch Whisky - best use Scottish water for a soft taste).  Ordinary tap water ice is fine for the ice bucket to keep the wine cool, but not too cold.  

Hope this helps!  

This is a well deserved recognition of the quality and excellence of this wine and is a genuinely prestigious award.  Concours Mondial bring together some of the World's leading experts to make very well informed decisions which can be a real help to consumers looking for an exceptional product.  I have included a link to Concours Mondial above.  Their website is in several languages and you might find it interesting to take a look.

Congratulations to the team at Chateau Léoube! 

   I was lucky to be able to fit in a few vineyard visits during this trip and would like to share the news about these.  In particular, I had a very informative and interesting visit at Chateau Léoube.  Romain Ott, the winemaker, gave Eveline and I, an excellent tour of this impeccable and well situated vineyard.  I learned a great deal and was very impressed by the visionary and inspired policies that have resulted in such remarkable wines.  I'll post some more details and photo's about this visit soon.  Good news too, we now have the two Chateau Léoube Rosés in stock for immediate shipment.  I thoroughly recommend that you try these wines! 

   Chateau Léoube is beautifully situated on the Mediterranean coast at Bormes-les-Mimosas and has all the benefits of the maritime climate and coastal breezes which contribute so much to the good health of the vines. These are ideal conditions, for Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cabernet Sauvignon which allow the wine maker immense scope to perfect his art.  The resulting pale Rosés are outstanding.

   One of the highlights of my visit to the Vinisud wine exhibition in Montpellier last year was trying the "Le Secret de Léoube" Rosé.  The blend includes Cabernet Sauvignon, a master touch, which adds to the fullness and flavour of this marvellous wine.

   Chateau Léoube's wines are a perfect example of top quality Rosés. As you can imagine, we are looking forward to stocking them and I certainly recommend that you give them a try! 

A frequent request was for a good, typical Bordeaux Rosé  which would be an all rounder with food.  Baron Philippe de Rothschild's Mouton Cadet, is I hope, a good response to this.  Commended by Decanter in their World Wine Awards for 2010, this wine is matured for four months in a state of the art facility.  Even the empty bottles awaiting filling are kept in a controlled atmosphere!

Next, you noticed that nearly all our wines were dry to medium and requested we add popular medium, to medium sweet wines.  These, particularly Californian, have always been a big sellers here in the U.K.  We are now offering the Gallo Family Vineyards, Winemaker's Seal Rosé along with their White Grenache and White Zinfandel.  Gallo are one of the largest exporters of Californian Rosé and are still a family run company.  They do produce these wines in sufficient volume to achieve appreciable savings from their scale of operation making them exceptional value for money.  Please have a look at our low prices for these well known wines.

I haven't forgotten the many requests for additional sparkling wines and Champagne's and we will be featuring them soon. 

Thank you for your orders, we have been shipping up to the last minute and hope that your deliveries have been on time despite the bad weather.  We shall be shipping again for a day or two between Christmas and New Year and fully re-open on 5th January.   

All best wishes, enjoy the wines and have a great time!

One of the Rose-wine.com crew had his birthday recently. These things creep up on us all, not that any of your esteemed team at Rose-wine.com are old! Our startling good health and longevity is perhaps a result of the business we are in! A new private room at the Crabshakk was chosen for the party. The Crabshakk is a really buzzy establishment with a well deserved reputation for superb fish and seafood. You can see from the photo’s that a really good time was had by all! It was also an excellent occasion to look at wine pairings with some of the freshest and best seafood available and to gather notes and impressions from a great party crowd.

The wine served on arrival was the Domaine de La Rouillère “Sparkling Rosé Brut”. It was served deliciously cool, immediately frosting the glasses, with its vibrant pale colour accentuated by the halogen lights. Timing was excellent in that it merged into being the accompaniment to the beautifully presented trays of Loch Fyne Oysters heaped high on a bed of ice. The dry wine with its vivacious sparkle freshened the palate ready for each sumptuous bite. The first very favourable impression of the Rosé Brut with the seafood meant that many preferred to stay with it right through the evening, trying it with each of the many courses which followed. It was especially good with the fabulous Langoustines and with Seared Scottish Scallops (prepared with an anchovy and sage butter).

The other wines chosen for the event were Rouillère’s “Grand Reserve” and Chateau D’Esclans “Whispering Angel”. They very much came into their own coupled with the Lobster Bisque and Shellfish Chowder which were presented as tasty little amuse-bouche, in espresso cups! The Grand Reserve was stunning with one of the house specialities, nicely textured small Crab Cakes, and also with the wonderful newspaper wrapped, Breaded Haddock Goujons. Later on, we feasted on an array of Scottish Cheeses served on a huge reclaimed wooden board. Many remarked on how well the Whispering Angel stood up to this test as well as with the spicier dishes.

The food was wonderful, the company was excellent, and the wines a tremendous addition to the occasion. Many thanks to our host and to Crabshakk staff, Claire, Mel and Julie (chef)!    
                                                                                                                                                 

Not everyone knows the whole process by which our style of wine is made.  There is a great website which provides all this information and more at http://www.vinsdeprovence.com/en  Operated by professional body, C.I.V.P. in France, it is well worth a look and also mentions the Centre du Rosé, which is a scientific establishment devoted to research into Rosé wine characteristics and production methods.  I visited the research centre when visiting suppliers nearby and met the Director, Gilles Masson.  We, needless to say, had lots to talk about!  I was very impressed by the equipment, the facilities and by the enthusiasm of everyone there.  The research carried out provides insight into the effects of the environment and production methods on the wines produced and helps further improve quality.  The Centre's website www.centredurose.fr is mainly in French, but contains a lot of information which will be of interest to technically minded wine enthusiasts.  However, the C.I.V.P. site (Vins de Provence) has an English version and is a great first port of call for everyone keen to know about good Rosé.   Just click on the Logo! 

But, as this report from the BBC shows, there's no longer the great demand for this there once was. Between there being a strong Euro and better prices and a better choice here in the UK, many are buying our wine from the UK, getting a good deal and being presented with a better range. And, if it's rosé wine you're after, Rose-Wine.com is sure to deliver. We always promise the best hand-selected rosé wines you can find and a great deal on every case you buy! No need to drive to Dover to get your rosé when we can bring the best to you!

We also have a selection of other good wines, both dry and sweet, from around the world.

Some are only available in limited quantity, but we shall be constantly sourcing additional wines to maintain an excellent selection. Many thanks to all our customers who made Rose-wine.com a success in the past. I hope you will like the improvements we have made. If you are new to Rosé wines or simply new to Rose-wine.com, welcome!

I have every confidence you will find wines here that far exceed your expectations.

Summer 2009. There were celebrations in Provence and throughout Europe among quality winemakers in response to the news that the EU has dropped plans to permit production of Rosé by simply mixing white and red wine together. This ensures the future of the much more labour intensive traditional method where the grape juice is left in contact with the skins for a period. This gives the natural colour to the wine, but does not involve use of possibly incompatible blends. The traditional method results in top quality Rosés made from the juice of red grapes.

Simply mixing white and red wines is not unusual in some parts of the world and is usually done to reduce production costs. Whilst there are quite a few examples of good wines made this way it is very easy for many to be uninteresting in that they do not have much differentiation (except for their colour) from the white wine which forms their base. It is a technique too often used by winemakers to make what I call an "as well" wine. For example a producer who makes white and red wines, thinks it would be good to have a Rosé "as well". You can be certain that should we offer any new world wines made this way it will be because the blend has been very expertly achieved to make a quality wine that stands out from the crowd.

Up until just a few years ago, I tended to choose glassware used for entertaining based simply on its appearance on a well set table. I generally chose good quality cut crystal in two sizes to accommodate red or white wines. When presenting a good Rosé I followed the convention of using the white wine glass or a good decorated crystal Champagne flute for our best Sparkling Rosés.

Then, I discovered master Austrian glassmakers Riedel, and everything changed! The Riedel concept is that the shape of the glass makes a huge difference to enjoyment of different types of wine.

The glass shape is optimised to bring out the best in the wine. Riedel propose that different types of wine require different shaped glasses in order to be fully enjoyed at their absolute best. I swiftly discovered that there was no question that our wines tasted better from the Riedel glass. The effect was startling, bringing out every nuance of fruit from even our most delicate dry Rosés.

The ‘Riedel Crystal’ Rosé glass is uncut and thin walled resulting in such a low thermal mass that it frosts beautifully the instant the wine is poured. Gone forever, was the need to refrigerate my chunky cut crystal glasses!

The Riedel glasses are available not just for Rosé, but optimised for each red or white wine variety to provide the ultimate tasting experience. The Riedel concept that form follows function holds throughout the range with its variety of shapes. They are unadorned (barring the discreet Riedel brand on the base) and are generously sized to allow enough room for the wine’s bouquet to be fully appreciated.

The lead crystal has a wonderful clarity which catches all the light and makes for a most elegant table. Given all the above it probably comes as no surprise that Rose-wine.com prefers to use Riedel glasses at our tastings.