BED OF ROSES

Asia has been slow to catch on while winemakers and vino lovers around the world embrace the trending pink drink. We introduce the hottest shades of blush through these outstanding rosé wines from Austria to South Africa.

- JUNE LEE

Prior to 2020, wine events like La Nuit en Rosé and Pinknic in the US, and Rosé Revolution across Asia that held four editions in Singapore, took off in a big way during the heyday of the rosé boom. Buoyed by the millennial dollar, celebrity attention and increasing innovations in the category, rosé has continued to be one of the most successful wine styles in the States and Europe.

John Schwartz, CEO of Amuse Bouche in Napa Valley, notes this: "Twenty years ago, you would never see a man order a glass of rosé wine in a bar or at a restaurant. Today, rosé wines have become a great compromise between white and red wines that are intriguing and pair quite well with a wide variety of foods."

Of the different styles in the US, Schwartz says, "There are some wonderful rosé wines produced in California, but the spectrum is quite wide. Many are off-dry, thin and lacking in balance, while others are composed in a way that you feel like you are having a real glass of wine. The latter is what we strive for. A rosé should be pale and not have a heavy, extracted colour to it."

The idea that rosé should be pale pink, dry, mineral and delicately fruity comes from Provence, France, in the 1980s when it became a new classic style and the ideal summer wine. Its famous "onion skin" lustre is the result of direct pressing, which creates a crisp, fresh and approachable wine suitable for the Mediterranean lifestyle and palate. In the decades since, more advancements have followed throughout the world, but what remains consistent is that quality rosé is made in two ways: through direct press or saignée (bleeding in French).