The Auswine Forum

Morning all,

Well the weather is warming up and the Poms are burning in the cricket, so what Rosé are you hoovering up in the dusky twilight these December days?

We prefer the Southern French style: Pale onion skin colour, fresh strawberry nose and a dry svaoury palate. We've had a few good ones lately including an aged one by Gary Farr, but our Rosé of choice at the moment is Sutton Grange's Estate Rosé 2010. Partly due to the quality, but also their stonking bin-ended price (plus free Xmas delivery for orders over $100). I love a good Rosé which has enough structure about it that it can handle a bit of age. If you like bright red Rosé's with a lot of primary fruit flavours and a touch of RS then steer clear.

On the topic of Rosés, what has Charlie Melton done to the label of his Rose of Virginia? It now looks a little... twee.

Cheers, Travis.

(If recommending a winery bin-end is against the Forum policy then please feel free to take this part out of the post Gavin)

Rob Dolan True Colours Rose - Absolute winner. Dried Flowers and musk, buoyant in weight, perfumed...about $23.

Bird in Hand Pinot Rose - Another outstanding Rose. Floral, strawberries, fresh, good weight, refreshing...about $20.

Dumangin Champagne Rose - Very hard to find but very much worth the search. About $40...just has wow factor to it. Elegant, fresh, classy, fragrant, light...amazing value, especially if you have previously tried Billecart Rose, Moet Rose, Veuve Rose etc.

I have always enjoyed Turkey Flat Rose. One of my 'Go to' summer wines. Perfect for sitting on the deck watching the sun go down.

Last year i had a few Jansz N/V Rose`..... thoroughly enjoyed them, will have to buy some more this summer as well.

(slightly OT)

Has anyone had the Between 5 Bells Rose, David Franz or Vinea Marson Rose`?

Rossco wrote:I have always enjoyed Turkey Flat Rose. One of my 'Go to' summer wines. Perfect for sitting on the deck watching the sun go down.

Last year i had a few Jansz N/V Rose`..... thoroughly enjoyed them, will have to buy some more this summer as well.

(slightly OT)

Has anyone had the Between 5 Bells Rose or David Franz Rose?

I had the Between 5 Bells Rose at Aria awhile ago when I tried their degustation...didn't think much of it to be honest, that is my opinion though.

So... Why is it we drink so little rosé? Not manly enough? Not trendy enough? Not knowledgable enough? Not enough quality to chose from? Tis a mystery wrapped up in a conundrum, inside a bottle.

TravisW wrote:So... Why is it we drink so little rosé? Not manly enough? Not trendy enough? Not knowledgable enough? Not enough quality to chose from? Tis a mystery wrapped up in a conundrum, inside a bottle.

I think rosé is often a bit of an afterthought at Australian wineries. Made with leftovers etc.

The wife drinks plenty of Charles Melton Rose of Virginia over the summer months and particularly around Christmas. I'm not a huge drinker of Rose, but it is certainly the best I've had. The Teusner "Salsa" is not too bad either.

Cheers
Ian

Rockford Alicante Bouchet
Melton RoV
Turkey Flat
Kalleske

Panda 9D wrote:

TravisW wrote:So... Why is it we drink so little rosé? Not manly enough? Not trendy enough? Not knowledgable enough? Not enough quality to chose from? Tis a mystery wrapped up in a conundrum, inside a bottle.

I think rosé is often a bit of an afterthought at Australian wineries. Made with leftovers etc.

I think the point of this thread is not the wines you describe

Milan wrote:I had the Between 5 Bells Rose at Aria awhile ago when I tried their degustation...didn't think much of it to be honest, that is my opinion though.

Did you mean Attica? Because thats where I saw it. Have always highly regarded Banjo and his selections, but never tried the 5 bells, so was intrigued.

I quite like the bass phillip. Not sure about the bottle though.

cuttlefish wrote:

Panda 9D wrote:

TravisW wrote:So... Why is it we drink so little rosé? Not manly enough? Not trendy enough? Not knowledgable enough? Not enough quality to chose from? Tis a mystery wrapped up in a conundrum, inside a bottle.

I think rosé is often a bit of an afterthought at Australian wineries. Made with leftovers etc.

I think the point of this thread is not the wines you describe

It was answering the question. I think the reason why we don't drink so much is because there are less quality rosé options out there than white or red ones. The point is to talk about people's favorite rosé wines.. do you really think most of the wines being mentioned here are made with the best fruit available to the winery or even from vineyards planted especially for rosé? There are exceptions.

TravisW wrote:So... Why is it we drink so little rosé? Not manly enough? Not trendy enough? Not knowledgable enough? Not enough quality to chose from?

Rarely interesting enough for me, even among the better ones.

Rossco wrote:

Milan wrote:I had the Between 5 Bells Rose at Aria awhile ago when I tried their degustation...didn't think much of it to be honest, that is my opinion though.

Did you mean Attica? Because thats where I saw it. Have always highly regarded Banjo and his selections, but never tried the 5 bells, so was intrigued.

It was at Aria awhile ago. Yet to try Attica.

I like Rockford's Alicante Bouchet, Charlie Melton's Rose of Virginia (defo a twee label now, but it does have significant r.s. afterall), Logan's Hannah Rosé, even Turkey Flat's rosé. I'm a fan of many Sutton Grange/Fairbank reds, but their 2009 Estate Rosé didn't strike that Southern French-style balance very well for me (too much Viognier and too much fat).

My go-to fav Aussie rosé is Krinklewood's Francesca Rosé - 'sweet' fruit and florals, but also with enough aromatic 'savouriness' to keep them in check, dry, a pretty long finish for an Aussie rosé, eminent drinkability...

As to why rosé isn't so popular in Australia (or much of the world over, to be honest), I'd agree with Panda: quality rosé is simply harder to find.

I really quite like rosé at times... Usually the drier and saignee styles... I think the reason it's not popular is twofold, one a marketing problem with its image as sweet lolly water and the other is at the end of the day I am never going to allocate more than a fraction of my wine drinking to rosé vs red wines and the noble whites, so like savvy b it's an uphill battle

Opened a second bottle of the 2013 Castagna Allegro on Saturday night, and once again, it created a real ruckus at the table. Not since some fantastic malbec roses I tried in Buenos Aires last year have I tasted a rose of such complexity and substance. To rush it would be a crime, it switches from Turkish delight notes to real foresty elements, lots of red berries too.