I wouldn’t call myself a wine drinker. I probably drank too much box wine in my teens. And even though over the last few months I have found a new appreciation for the differences in wine through tastings in class, I found myself still not able to really order something I liked or know where to start when picking a bottle.
To take the first step towards solving this little issue I thought I’d start with Rosé – because, well PINK wine!
I took a looks at a few resources, detailed in the bibliography below but ultimately felt that The Rosé wheel from Rosé Wine – The Guide to Drinking Pink (Simonetti-Bryan, 2017) gave a good structure to start to understand different types of rosé and therefore how to find a bottle that worked for whatever occasion.
I found 32 wines through New Zealand retailers that gave options from around the wheel in all four quadrants – blush, crisp, rich & fruity and whilst it wasn’t possible to track down every option on the Rosé wheel it’s still a well rounded offering.
What I loved most was that the wheel didn’t conform to the perfect gradient I wanted it too. The initial concept was to look at wine like a spectrum, but it doesn’t work that way. The colour of a wine can’t be constrained for my A type personality and it doesn’t truly reflect the character of a wine.
To use this diagram, first choose which type of Rosé you want:
- Blush – sweet, lower alcohol, low tannin
- Crisp – delicate, high acid, low tannin
- Fruity – fruit aromas, high alcohol, heavier body
- Rich – big, bold, higher tannin, highest alcohol
And then choose a wine from that quadrant that takes your fancy. There are a range of prices and most should be readily available in NZ. A couple are mail order only so just in case make your pick a little in advance. Just google the text in the circle of choice.
Simonetti-Bryan, J. (2017). Rosé Wine: The Guide to Drinking Pink: Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated.
Rowlands, S. (2015). The Periodic Table of WINE. United Kingdom: Ebury Publishing.
Robinson, J. (2016). The 24-Hour Wine Expert. United Kingdom: Penguin Books Limited.
