100 Rosés

Rosés are probably the flavour of the month, but to attend a tasting of 100 odd Rosés is a seriously bewildering affair for a number of reasons. You would never have heard of most producers. Rosé can be based on pretty much any red grape variety (I encountered Black Muscat), although Grenache, Sangiovese and Pinot Noir are most prominent. There are a number of quite different production methods, and maturation can be in tank or oak. All the major wine countries, like France, Spain and Italy produce Rosé, but I will simply highlight three Australian wines which impressed me.

The 2015 Farr Rising Saignée is a 'serious' wine. Based on Pinot Noir, it has quite a dark colour, as the juice had considerable skin contact. Maturation in oak gives this wine a solid tannin structure.

The 2015 Chalmers Rosato from Heathcote is quite a different wine. The family is committed to Italian varieties and different ones go into the Rosato, depending on the vintage. Aglianico, Sagrantino and Negroamaro have been used. The colour of this wine is salmon pink. The wine is bone dry, with chalky notes.

The 2016 Schmölzer & Brown Prêt-a-Rosé from Beechworth has quite a big mouthfeel. This is an up and coming winery and the Rosé is a good example. It is made from Pinot Noir and Sangiovese. The wine is certainly bigger than the Chalmers, with more obvious fruit, but it finishes dry - a happy compromise.

Overall, the fruity wines were in the minority, and the future seems bright. The three wines above should satisfy serious wine drinkers.

Bird in Hand Pinot Rose

It is a warm evening in Sydney, seafood is on the menu, and I felt like having a Rose (I don't know how to put the accent tegue on the e, sorry). Now, the problem in Australia is that most Roses are Grenache or Shiraz based. The risk is they are too big and too sweet. So I opted for a Pinot Noir based wine from the Adelaide Hills, the 2015 Bird in Hand Pinot Rose,my first wine from this year.

The wine has a pale pink colour, which is promising. The strawberry flavour is surprisingly strong. It is a predominantly dry wine, as I had hoped, but it is a bit broad and not very precise on the palate. As a result, this wine is a bit bland, but finishes dry. Can you expect more from a $20/bottle wine?

Score: 89/+

Spinifex Rose

I tasted seven Roses on Saturday. There were clearly two styles. One was a pale coloured wine in a savoury style with fruit flavour playing second fiddle, whereas the second style had stronger colour and more emphesis on fruit, without being sweet. My favorite from these wines was the 2014 Spinifex Rose. It belongs clearly in the first category.

The colour of this wine is more orange than pink. Skin impact would have been minimal. The wine is based on Rhone varieties, with Grenache being dominant, but there is none of the bubblegum flavour this variety sometimes displays. This Spinifex is a smart wine. It is restrained, but has intensity, and at 12.5% alcohol is a relatively easy drinking style. It accompanied a Japanese meal for me last night and worked very well. I am looking forward to drinking more of it this summer.

91/+++  

Pepperilly Wines

There are still many new wineries trying to make it in Australia and quite a few deserve a chance. From Western Australia comes Pepperilly, no it is not from Margaret River nor the Great Southern. Pepperilly is based in the Ferguson Valley, overlooking Bunbury i.e. north of Margaret River.

I recently tasted two of their wines. the 2010 Pepperilly Purple Patch is a GSM, with a very dominant Grenache component, maybe a bit too much. The flavours are very clean, with raspberry dominating. The Shiraz provides some darker flavours on the back palate. The wine has fine tannins on the finish. Overall, this is a well made wine; it is pretty, quite feminine. The high 14.5% alcohol is not noticable, which points to sufficiently intense fruit.

Score: 91/+

The 2011 Pepperilly Rose looks quite French, with its pale pink colour. It is based on Cabernet and Shiraz. Again, the flavours are very clean and crisp. I find the wine a little sweet and to me it is - all the prejudices coming out here - a ladies wine.

Score: 89/0

How much value is in the label? Well, these wines look very stylish and at less than $20 per bottle, they represent excellent value.

Yelland & Papps Grenache Rose

What else would you drink but Rose in these conditions? This young 2010 Yelland & Papps Grenache Rose tastes attractively of raspberry, quite fruity, but not too sweet. It is an easy drinking style, fairly lean and with a dry finish.

Score: 89/+

Kalleske Rosina

No doubt, Kalleske owns one of the great vineyard complexes in Australia. The Grenache fruit in this 2009 Kalleske Rosina Rose is pure and very tasty. There is quite a lot to like in this wine, for example the low alcohol level of 12.5%. This makes it a nice drink for summer (if we had one) lunch.

My problem with it is that it is a little sweet. This is hard to avoid with Grenache unless the grapes are picked really early like Spinifex does. A blend would probably have added some complexity and more savoury characteristics to this wine, which otherwise is well made.

Score: 89/+

Rose - Don't judge by colour

I had two interesting bottles of Rose in front of me at lunch yesterday. One was a Spinifex, the other a Yelland & Papps. Both are from the Barossa, and both are Grenache based. The Spinifex wine is very pale, the Yelland & Papps dark ruby. So you think the former will taste watery, and the latter like a fruit bomb. Neither was true. The Spinifex has great vitality and freshness and a serious linear structure going down the palate. The Yelland & Papps has more of a fruit flavour, but is nicely balanced with savoury flavours and an elegant finish.

There are many ways to make Rose. This has become a much improved variety in Australia, but try before you buy.

Yelland & Papps Grenache Rose

Yelland & Papps are a young couple with a virtual winery operation in the Barossa. Their wines are pretty well made, not over the top, and reasonably priced.

This 2008 Yelland & Papps Grenache Rose is a relatively straight forward drink, but with an attractive fruit/savoury flavour combination. This Rose has an elegant finish. The wine is ideal for summer, for someone who wants a bit more than a quaffer. You would have to order from the winery.

Score: 91/++

Rose

A couple of days ago I had a glass of Charlie Melton's 2009 Rose of Virginia. This reminded me how this was probably the first savoury pink wine many years ago. This is all the more astonishing, given this wine is based on Grenache, with its strong fruit flavour to start with. Drinking it now, it still has a savoury finish, but it would be one of the fruitier ones around.

Score: 91/+

I was also impressed by the 2009 Dominique Portet Fontaine Rose. This is based on Cabernet, Shiraz and Merlot. It has an exotic flavour profile and tasted of raspberry and guava to me. Nonetheless it was a slightly lighter and more fragrant wine than the Melton, probably because of the grapes coming from Victoria.

Score: 92/++

If you want to go really pink, nothing beats the Spinifex Rose. I really liked this wine two years ago, and it remains well made, but maybe Peter Schell is going a bit overboard with the number of different grape varieties he has to cram in and the emulation of the French paleness.

Score: 92/-

Rose is an interesting drink, because it can be based on so many different varieties and be made in different ways. Be sure to taste until you find one you like.

Bindi Rose

This 2006 Bindi Rose is as close to perfect as I could imagine: it has enough depth of fruit to taste like a serious wine; it has enough savoury characteristics to make it an excellent food wine; it has enough balance to make it pleasant; it has excellent structure to make it still fresh and seamless with a few years of age. And best of all: the wine is quite linear and flows through the palate to a satisfying finish. Why would you drink anything else with lunch?

Score: 93/+++

Pizzini

I went to a tasting of the current Pizzini releases. The 2008 Rosetta is a rose based on Sangiovese. It has a light, slightly orange colour. Its flavour is quite savoury, the acidity often associated with Sangiovese is not present, but the wine is a little short. Not very complex, but a good lunch wine.

The 2007 Arneis is not very similar to the Piedmont wines. They tend to be fresh and slightly fizzy. This wine had more mineral and earthy characters and is a little broad on the palate - not my favorite.

Sangiovese is probably what Pizzini is best known for and the 2006 Sangiovese does not disappoint. It shows vibrant red cherry fruit, is quite savoury and dry, yet has an elegant finish. This wine can certainly stand up to the better Chianti Classicos.

The final wine was the 2003 Nebbiolo. I was particularly interested in this, as I have yet to try an Australian Nebbiolo that comes anywhere near the Piedmont quality. Well, nothing has changed. The wine has medium weight, is not very complex and has nice dusty flavours. However, this wine lacks the flavour spectrum of its Italian counter parts and also does not have the length in the finish. Nebbiolo is a difficult and work intensive grape which tends to be reflected in high prices. The wine then has to deliver something special. So far, we are still at the experimentation stage in Australia.

A High Quality Bargain

I am not much of a bargain hunter when it comes to wine, but clearly this is a good time to buy. I was offered this 2007 loose end Rose by Gibson Barossavale for less than $10 per bottle. The sun was out for a few minutes today after 10 days of rain, so it seemed a good reason to open one.

It is actually a serious rose, made from Grenache grapes, which Gibson has a lot of access to. It tastes of red cherries, very clean, not very complex, but fresh, not sweet and a crisp finish. It would hold its own amongst most good Aussie pinkies. What more would you want from a rose?

Any other good bargains you can recommend?

Spinifex Rose

As the temperature keeps climbing, Rose is often the wine of choice. One of my favorites is the Spinifex Rose. The 2007 Spinifex Rose is a blend based on Grenache. The colour is a light pink/orange, but the wine is actually quite big for a Rose. This is a serious wine.

The palate is quite savoury, very dry, smooth and long. It would go very well with seafood, salads and any chicken dish.

Willow Creek Pinot Saignee

With the variety of styles now available, Rose can be an attractive alternative to white wines as a summer wine. The 2007 Willow Creek Pinot Saignee comes from the Mornington Peninsula, home of excellent Pinot fruit.

This wine expresses vibrant cherry fruit, fresh, but not sweet. It has medium weight and some complexity, but should be drunk young. It is one of the most interesting quality Australian Roses and would go with a wide variety of food, such as salads, cold plates, fish.