Long ago the only rose we Australians knew was Mateus.
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The ultimate date night wine, chilled, easy to drink, came in a fun bottle shape that was often used to stick a candle in once you were done. Today however the art of the Rose has changed dramatically.
Dying are the styles that have a flavour profile of a packet of Allen's lollies, growing in trend are more complex, savoury styles that work a whole lot better with food pairings.
Orange has several producers creating some wonderfully unique styles, that differ dramatically but all are worthy warmer weather contenders to your next barbecue salad table.
2019 Colmar Estate Pinot Rose
As the name suggests, Pinot Noir is the contributing grape to this Orange Wine Show winner for best Rose.
Vigneron Bill Shrapnel has been dominating the wine show circles in recent years and his Rose is another example of hard work in the vineyard paying off in the bottle.
Light salmon like colour on sight, leading into some beautiful strawberry notes on the nose.
Strawberry is there on the palate, but dry not sweet, which is perhaps one of the biggest things for the modern Rose to wrap their head around.
2019 Swinging Bridge #004
Tom Ward hates being boring and has a strong dislike for boring wine.
This has led to his wonderful Hashtag Series, which creates wonderful diversity in our local wine region and pushes the ideas of what modern winemaking can be.
Made entirely from Pinot, this wine is then fermented in oak barrels. Commonly rose is fermented in steel tanks, the fermentation in barrels leads the wine to have more texture than your standard Rose.
No filtering or fining either on this funky sour cherry delight, which has even been seen at leading Australian restaurant Attica entering customers glasses.
If you are chasing something entirely different, unique and far from boring then this wine is must.
2018 Bloodwood 'Big Men In Tights'
Bloodwood have altered course slightly over the past few years.
The Rose has transitioned from unmistakably big, bold and red, to now a much lighter and elegant style.
Still made uniquely from Malbec grapes, the wine has an almost cult like following.
When asked for what rose the restaurant has by customers on the floor they normally stop listening after Bloodwood's name is mentioned and say 'just grab that one'. While their Rose has evolved it's still unmistakably Stephen and Rhonda.
Bright red fruit and easy by itself or accompanied with numerous amounts of cooler summer dishes.
2019 Hoosegg 'Sorry For The Slow Reply'
What on Earth is Hoosegg? Well in short, its Philip Shaw's brand-new wine label, ill cover the new brand a little further on down the track.
The Rose however is a wonderful blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet Franc.
It is made using the saignée method, which in short is the runoff from the pressings of the main grapes.
What is left is this wonderfully light and savoury style wine.
While the label on this maybe the most controversial in the state, the contents on the inside are as sound as ever.
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