Wines of the week: eight rosé wines to drink in August

Make the most of the hot weather while it lasts with some fine ‘pinks’ – ripe for any barbecue

It is, of course, obvious with hindsight that any column dedicated to heatwave wines – as was the case here last Sunday – would be greeted by the first bout of cool, rainy weather for many weeks. Such are the perils, dear readers, of early deadlines. But, according to the forecasters, warmer weather is back for much of the country this weekend, so it’s time for another round-up of rosés, which are currently dominating the supermarket shelves and demonstrate the wide variety of grapes and styles that can create our “pinks”.

So let us make the most of them while we can this August – in just few weeks, autumn will be here, the days cooler and wines of a different nature needed. Unless of course we get a September heatwave…

If you are planning a gathering today, then Majestic has just the right bottle – the 1.5lt party friendly and stylishly labelled Lez Arts Magnum (£24.99 or £19.99 if bought as part of a mixed six bottle purchase; majestic.co.uk) which is really a Cotes de Provence rosé by another name, but is actually Cotes de Luberon, which is a different appellation but in the same wider geographical area (as it happens, Peter Mayle, whose book, A Year in Provence, attracted so many people to the area and celebrated “the local pink”, lived in the Luberon).

A typical grenache/syrah blend, its palest pink, very dry, orange scented and with a flick of green herbs on the palate, it’s ideal for grilled fish and almost any Mediterranean foods. More Provencal rosé recommendations can be found in last week’s column and in my June column here, but other parts of France make excellent rosés as well. For a very different rosé try the Domaine de Mus Rosé Pays d’Oc IGP 2017 (£8.70 genesiswines.com) made from pinot noir grapes grown near Beziers in the Languedoc, this is cherry and raspberry flavoured, with typical pinot precision on the finish. Brilliant with any ratatouille style dishes.

Moving into a slightly more upmarket zone, the Florentine Frescobaldi family in Tuscany have many centuries of wine making expertise, mainly in celebrated Tuscan reds and their Alie Rosé Ammiraglia Toscana 2017 (£14.79 strictlywine.co.uk; £17.80 winepoole.co.uk) continues their tradition of elegance and sophisticated wine making with a Provencal style bottle and refined flavours of citrus and red fruits with a spicy edge from the mostly syrah blend, tempered by a little vermentino.

In the Maremma region of Tuscany, the influence of coastal breezes gives freshness and the sangiovese grapes a slightly more fruity note to the equally elegant, equally Provencal style bottled Montauto Staccione Rosata (£17.95 davywine.co.uk). Both of these wines really merit equally elegant and refined seafoods, such as lobster, langoustines or crab to do them justice.

​Rioja is another area primarily known for producing reds, but is now seeing more and more rosés available. Here they tend to come fuller and fruitier, like the garnacha/tempranillo blend Conde de Valdemar Rioja Rosado (£9.49 allaboutwine.co.uk; £9.99 oakhamwinesonline.co.uk), with luscious strawberry fruit flavours and just right for smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches or lighter fruit puddings.

We don’t see many Turkish wines in the UK, let along Turkish rosés, but one that is very good and follows the Provencal style is the palest pink (Kayra Beyaz Kalecik Karasi Rosé 2017 £12.42 strictlywine.co.uk, £13.46 novelwines.co.uk) made from the indigenous kalecik karasi grape grown at high altitude around lovely Denizli in the south of Turkey, its fragrant, very dry with orange peel aromas, grapefruit and watermelon flavours and is only 11.5 abv, making it an ideal summer lunch wine.

Finally, to Australia for two contrasting rosés, mirroring those Provencal and Spanish styles: Eden Road – the Long Road Skin Contact Pinot Gris 2016 (£18.95 winedirect.co.uk £20.36 wineman.co.uk) is from a boutique New South Wales winery, the palest pink, very dry, very restrained fruits and herb flavours, with a slight savoury edge, typical of pinot gris.

Meanwhile, at the more affordable end of the scale, the 16 Little Black Pigs Rosé 2017 (£8.99 virginwines.co.uk ) also from south Australia, heads more into the fuller bodied, fruitier, strawberry flavoured garnacha territory, although staying very dry. And, if the weather does the same, a great wine for barbecues.