KEY POINTS:
Pink's just not so shocking nowadays. Real men can drink rose, wine lovers don't wince at the thought of it and it's not all sweet and insipid. The recent rose revival overturns stereotypes that have surrounded the pink stuff in the past.
Some have been put off rose by the indeterminacy of the style, which lacks both the structure of a great red and the edginess of the best whites. And, of course, there's the lingering stigma from the heyday of that flask-shaped bottle, which arguably made a better candle holder than a beverage. But opinions of - and the range of - roses available are on the up.
There's now a plethora of pink wines to be found. Production of our home-grown rose has rocketed in the past five years, with exports expanding by an impressive 14,000 per cent to satisfy the growing thirst for the style overseas.
While too many are still in the sweeter lolly-water spectrum for my liking, there is an increasing array of attractive dry examples or crisp styles with just a suggestion of sweetness, from countries such as France and Spain, as well as New Zealand.
Most roses obtain their hue through contact with the skins of red grapes, where the pigment of all but a few varieties is to be found. While the preferred method is to leave the juice of crushed grapes with their skins until the desired colour is reached and the skins removed, the most popular method in New Zealand is the saignee method (from the rather gory French word meaning "bled"). This produces lighter coloured wines from draining off the free-run juice of red grapes after a short maceration on their skins. This becomes the pink portion, leaving a red wine that's been concentrated by its removal.
With saignee roses being something of a by-product of red winemaking, wine cynics will often be heard to mutter that in more diluted red wine vintages the rose doth flow.
Pink champagne is the only high-quality rose which derives its colour from the addition of red wine to white, which along with its smaller scale makes it more costly to make than its white counterparts.
But it's a style for which a growing number of folk are prepared to shell out the extra and offers a far more serious proposition than the lighter-hearted still styles.
Rose also has amazing versatility when it comes to being paired with food, something that's often overlooked. While the sweeter styles are best left as aperitifs, drier versions can be a great partner to pink fleshed fish such as salmon or trout.
Roses are also cracking with crayfish, a marvellous match with many kinds of soups, go well with vegetable dishes and are often suited to Asian fare, from sushi to Thai.
So is the future fuchsia?
Things may be looking rosy for rose, but the style is still somewhat misunderstood.
With the exception of pink champagne, it's not trying to be sophisticated and shouldn't be judged as such. Rather, the strength of its classic and eminently quaffable examples is in offering wines that are fresh, fun and affordable.
Pink wines for Valentines
PRETTY IN PINK
Woollaston Nelson Pinot Noir Rose 2007, $18
Grapes for this pretty pink were grown specifically for making rose, resulting in a wine that's light and fresh.
From www.woollaston.co.nz
LIGHT AND LOVELY
No1 Family Estate Cuvee Number Eight, $29.95
Not strictly a rose, this elegant cuvee has a pinkish tinge. It's soft and creamy textured, with notes of redcurrant and an underlying yeasty richness.
From Fine Wine Delivery Company, First Glass, Milford Cellars, Don Johnson's, West Harbour Wines, most Liquorlands and Super Liquors.
THE ULTIMATE ROSE
Champagne Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose NV, $120
To impress your Valentine's Day date, you can't go wrong with a bottle of Billy. Sophisticated and seductive in its mille feuille-like layers of cream, fresh raspberry and strawberry fruit and sweet pastry.
From Glengarry, Wine On Jervois, Bacchus, Milford Cellars, Liquorland Waipapa, Waipu Off Licence, Cactus Liquor.
