Summer wine

The wine for the season is Rosé — orange-pink, with loads of aroma

Strawberries, cherries, and an angel’s kiss in spring/my summer wine is really made from all these things” went that old Nancy Sinatra song — terrific imagery there, makes one want to go rushing out to buy the stuff, never mind that in India we have virtually no spring, and summer’s already here.

The wine for our summers is, of course, Rosé — in delightful shades of orange-pink, with loads of aroma (yes, some have both strawberries and cherries!), enough tannins to satisfy those who like something to chew upon, generally soft (and not too dry), and best sipped well chilled.

I’ve always wondered why more Rosé wines are not sold in India (their share is a mere 2 percent of the segment’s volumes — perhaps it’s because this type of wine is neither red nor white but something in between. Since most wine consumers know little about the subject, they prefer to go for one or the other rather than take a chance upon what could be just a hybrid.

Rosé wines are generally made from red grapes, but with a shorter period of skin contact so that the wine’s colour is paler (‘clairet’) than traditional red wines, and with a shorter fermentation that leaves a higher amount of residual sugar (and lower alcohol) in the wine.

The best-known Rosé wines in the world are probably the Rosé d’Anjou, made mainly from the Gamay grape in the Loire Valley in France and the Rosé ‘s from the Rhone Valley (particularly Tavel) which use the Cinsualt and/or Grenache grapes. Students in post WWII London used to enjoy a sweet, cheap wine called Mateus Rosé — it’s now distributed in India by Sula and retails in Bangalore for Rs 868. We also have the Bouvet-Ladubay Rose’ wines (from Saumer, in the heart of the Loire) for Rs 1,672, while sundry Rosé wines on five-star hotel wine lists are a lot more expensive.

Some Rosé wines are misleadingly called ‘White Zinfandel’ — there’s a history to that, but the term (used generally for wines from the US) tends to confuse; others are given the ‘Blush’ prefix (eg ‘Blush Shiraz’) — a rather charming term, although our darker-skinned ladies might demur.

The Rosé wines made by Indian vintners are really of quite a good quality and a whole lot more affordable: there’s the ‘Art Collection Shiraz Rose’ from Grover Vineyards (Rs 480 in Bangalore) and Sante Rose (Rs 325), while Sula does a ‘Blush Zinfandel’ (Rs 637 in Bangalore, closer to Rs 450 elsewhere) and a Madera Rose (Rs 291). There are also Rosé wines under the Four Seasons, Vinsura, Zampa, York and Indus wine labels — all worth a try. Lastly there’s the delightful Zampa Brut Rose’, the only ‘Pink Champagne’ (Ok, ok, pink sparkling wine) that will knock your socks off.

The interesting thing about Rosé wines is that they go well with a wide range of foods, from Continental to Indian to Chinese, as they combine the best features of both red wines (some complexity from the tannins) and whites (aroma, acidity balanced with sugar).

As the heat is on, go try a Rosé wine, either for a relaxed weekend afternoon or as an aperitif or even with your dinner — you are guaranteed to be pleasantly surprised, just remember to chill the wine well.

Wines I’ve been drinking: Kinvah Manthan red wine from Bijapur (Karnataka), at the Bangalore International Wine Festival. A Cabernet-Shiraz blend, the wine was surprisingly drinkable (even if it was warmer than I would have liked), and is apparently available only in Bangalore. Cheers! n

[Alok Chandra is a Bangalore-based wine consultant]