Wine
In the pink
by Michael Cooper
Pack a fabulous and fruity rosé for a perfect picnic.
No longer dismissed as “lolly water”, rosé is now fashionable, with more than 100 New Zealand labels on the shelves and dozens more from overseas. Gibbston Valley reports that after a glass or two of its Blanc de Pinot Noir 2008, a rosé from Central Otago, “truck drivers weep for the agonising beauty of the world”.
Rosé is summer wine. Its typical lightness, liveliness and crisp acidity is refreshing. A buoyantly fruity, gently chilled rosé is the perfect picnic wine.
These charming “now or never” wines are usually at their strawberry and raspberry-flavoured best within 18 months of harvest. Older rosés are often dull and flat. Other faults in New Zealand rosés have been a lack of full fruit ripeness, resulting in green, herbal, acidic rosés; an excessive, cloying sweetness; and heavy, tannic wines, too “red-winey” for the style.
Classy rosé is “quite difficult to make”, declared Emile Peynaud in his famous French winemaking textbook. Gordon Russell, who crafts New Zealand’s most awarded rosé on the competition circuit – Esk Valley Merlot/Malbec Rosé – agrees: “It’s hard to believe this fruity and simple wine can be the most complex ‘hands-on’ wine to produce.”
Rosés often exist only as a by-product of the maker’s desire to create a more concentrated red wine, by “bleeding off” some of the juice from red wine ferments. When I asked a leading Hawke’s Bay wine-maker if he was planning to -produce a rosé, he replied: “Why should I? My red wines are already well balanced and rich.”
By contrast, the top labels are the result of a plan to create a quality rosé. This starts in the vineyard with blocks dedicated to rosé production. In the winery, the best rosés are produced by giving the juice of black grapes 12 to 24 hours’ skin contact before or during the fermentation; the juice is then promptly separated from the skins and fermented alone. The precise duration of the skin contact determines the rosé’s colour.
For a taste of the popular rosés made in the Mediterranean, try Arrogant Frog Ribet Pink 2007 ($19.90), a mouth-filling, syrah-based wine with plenty of strawberryish, slightly spicy flavour, ripe and smooth. From Langhorne Creek in South Australia, Bremerton Racy Rosé 2008 ($16) is bright pink-red, crisp and lively, with strong, plummy, berryish flavours.
Two key styles of rosé are emerging in New Zealand. Those grown in Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Auckland, typically merlot-based, are more full-bodied and rounder than the lighter, crisper, pinot noir-based rosés from the south.
So, what’s new and exciting from the 2008 harvest? From Waiheke Island, try Cable Bay Rosé 2008($20). Already delicious, this blend of merlot and malbec grapes has loads of berryish, spicy flavour.
Millton Te Arai Vineyard Merlot Rosé 2008 ($21), from Gisborne, is fleshy, with fresh berry, plum and spice -flavours, a sliver of sweetness and a scented bouquet. Pink/pale red, with berry-ish aromas, Esk Valley Merlot/Malbec Rosé 2008 ( $22) is a vivacious Hawke’s Bay wine with an abundance of cherryish, plummy flavour, deliciously fresh and smooth. Ata Rangi Summer Rosé 2008 ( $18), also made from Hawke’s Bay grapes, is floral, fresh and -generous. Te Kairanga East Coast Rosé
2008 ($15) is great value. A fully dry blend of pinot noir and other -varieties, it is bright pink, with fresh raspberry and spice aromas and flavours, crisp and lively.
Muddy Water Growers’ Series Rosé 2008 ($23) is a happy marriage of Waipara and Central Otago grapes, bright pink, fresh and flavour-packed.
Central Otago’s mouth-wateringly crisp, aromatic rosés are hard to resist. Amisfield Saignée Rosé 2008 ($25) and Bald Hills Friends and Lovers Rosé 2008 ($20) are very floral, fresh and flavoursome. Mt Difficulty Central Otago Pinot Noir Rosé 2008 ( $25), a partly barrel--fermented style, is a real standout.
