Bob Campbell is one of only 264 Masters of Wine in the world. An international wine judge, Bob judges wine professionally in ten countries and contributes regularly to publications around the world. His specialty is New Zealand wine which he reviews from an international perspective.
A large Rosé tasting reveals a few stars
But does it taste as good as it looks?
I’ve just tasted 83 samples of Rosé from six countries (NZ, Australia, Italy, Spain, France and South Africa since you ask). I discovered that Rose can be great, offering a wine with the refreshing qualities of white wine and some of the flavour intensity that makes red wine so appealing.
Many were annoyingly sweet. That’s hardly surprising when you consider that making Rosé involves a certain amount of skin contact and as well as extracting colour and flavour from the skins winemakers inevitably extract tannnins. Tannins need to be balanced by residual sugar in order to prevent the wine from being unpleasantly grippy on the finish. In the case of NZ Rosé cool climate growing conditions can produce wines with fresh acidity that also needs to be balanced by sweetness.
Most South Island Rose is made from Pinot Noir, producing delicate, charming wines that can lack mouthfeel and weight. If you want wine with weight you should choose Rosé from a region that grows Bordeaux grape varieties, such as Hawke’s Bay.
None of the wines achieved a gold medal score (93 points or above) although 14 earned silver medal status. They are:
88 Clearview 2008 Black Reef Blush Hawke’s Bay $16.00 NZ
88 Martinborough Vineyard 2008 Rose (500ml) Martinborough $19.00 NZ
86 Domaine de L’Ameillaud 2007 Caianne Cote du Rhone Villages $25.00 France
86 Gibbston Valley 2008 Blanc de Pinot Noir Central Otago $25.00 NZ
85 Shaky Bridge 2008 Pinot Noir Rose Central Otago $18.00 NZ
85 Sileni 2008 Cabernet Franc Rose Hawke’s Bay $19.95 NZ
85 Rockburn 2008 Stolen Kiss Central Otago $20.00 NZ
85 Esk Valley 2008 Merlot/Malbec Rose Hawke’s Bay $20.99 NZ
85 Unison 2008 Rose Hawke’s Bay $22.00 NZ
85 Cable Bay 2008 Rose Waiheke Island $22.00 NZ
85 Mount Dottrel 2008 Saignee Rose Central Otago $23.95 NZ
85 Margrain 2008 Pinot Rose Martinborough $24.00 NZ
85 Mitolo 2008 Jester Sangiovese Rose $24.90 Australia
85 Conde de Valdemar 2007 $26.00 Spain
All (plus 38 bronze medal wines) are reviewed in detail in the Rose Tasting Notes section of this website.