Drink pink

Traditionally fresh, easy-drinking wine for imbibing while young by the young, rosés in the past were rather pallid, cheap and acidic, good only for beach-quaffing in the South of France and certainly not a tipple to be taken seriously.

Not so anymore. Rosé wines are currently top of the fashion league among the in-crowd everywhere, making it one of the greatest phenomena in the wine-consuming world since Liebfraumilch and Lambrusco took over in the last decades of the 20th century.

As part of the Czech Republic's rather uneasy European Union presidency, a conference dedicated to rosé wines was held in the UNESCO-protected south Moravian town of Lednice in April. This was attended by renowned authorities on the subject, including Gilles Masson, director of the Centre de Recherche et d'Expérimentation sur le Vin Rosé in Vidauban, Provence, in the South of France.

Provence was traditionally the most important rosé region, and even today it contributes almost 8 percent of the total rosé wine production worldwide. Cinsault and Grenache are the main grape varieties, sometimes with an addition of the intensely aromatic cultivar Tibouren. The style here is crispy, fruity and aromatic, and it makes excellent food wine, matching well with grilled seafood, as the smoky flavor and dry acidity cut through the richness of the fish. It also suits pasta preparations, poultry and Asian cuisine.   

Portugal was also one of the pioneers in rosé exports, with the huge success of brands such as Mateus and Lancers, which became world-famous icons sitting pretty on supermarket shelves in the United States and Western Europe as early as the 1950s.

Now, every wine-producing nation is hard at it. In California, rosé is often known as "blush" wine, a term coined in Sonoma County. In the 1970s, Sutter Home Winery vinified some of its rugged red Californian Zinfandel grapes which, through a fermentation fault, came out as very pale pink. But it tasted interesting. This accidental novelty went on to achieve huge commercial success under the moniker White Zinfandel, which is now the most popular style for blush. Even non-wine connoisseurs agree that White Zinfandel is light, sweet and easy to drink.

As for rosés of local provenance, production and quality is also on the upswing, with exponents such as Štěpán Maňák, Jiří Hort and Leoš Horák making some of the best examples. Labín from Bettina Lobkowicz is an interesting ancient Bohemian specialty, and pink bubbly Sekt-Domaine, originally produced by the late Jan Petrák and now made by his daughter Marcela, is also a lovely drop for a sunny afternoon.  

Since they are unlikely to last long in an archive, rosés should be keenly priced - the only exception being pink champagne. In terms of appearance, rosés range from pale vin gris (almost gray), blush, salmon and onion-skin hues to almost deep shocking pink and partridge-eye colors. Some people agonize about the correct shade, but, for most, it doesn't really matter.  

Winery of the month: Vinařství Jiří Hort   

Based in the Moravian wine commune of Dobšice, near Znojmo, Jiří Hort has been making wine independently since refurbishing his family cellar in 1999. Overall production stands at around 60,000 bottles of all naturally produced wines, with prices for those with special attributes reaching 500 Kč ($27). Although he varies his techniques according to grape variety, Hort's winery does not have its own vineyards.  Instead, he purchases grapes from a range of trusted growers with the best vineyard positions in south Moravia, mostly in the Znojmo area. Hort is a natural at marketing, with no fear of experimentation. He now specializes in rosé wines, to which he has been devoting intense effort for the past five years, having foreseen the huge potential in what had traditionally been regarded as a frivolous sideline.   

"At most, we have a tip-top red vintage once every three years in this country," he says. "But, thanks to the cooler climate, using red grapes for pink wine allows their expression through a greater aromatic spectrum, with more chance of having the necessary freshness that is often lacking in wines of the southern climes." For more info, see Vinohort.cz.    

Wines of the month

Local Rosé: Sarah's Rosé 2008   

Producer: Stapleton-Springer Winery, Bořetice, Moravia  

An excellent example of the very palest blush-pink rosé styles (see above) from a U.S.-Moravian joint venture. The wine's muse is Sarah, the 2-year-old daughter of winemaker Jaroslav Springer. Produced from Frankovka (Lemberger) grapes, it has a pleasing floral nose, including an appropriate dog-rose-like scent. The palate feels immediately enchanted by a flood of mouth-filling peachy and melon overtones. Excellent length and lovely crisp acidity - a real thirst-quencher. (199 Kč)  

Foreign Rosé: Five Roses 2008

Producer: Leone de Castris, Salice Salentino, Apulia, Italy

By total contrast, Five Roses comes in a deep, shocking shade of pink. A forward fruity nose is soft, from the Negroamaro grape and red summer fruit, with a touch of raspberry. The palate is zingy and refreshing. This was the first-ever Italian rosé to be bottled commercially, in 1943, when U.S. officers stopping off on their journey up the Italian heel to the German lines further north were enchanted by the wine with the cute name in English. They happily provided hundreds of empty beer bottles (whose contents had been consumed by their troops), since no glass manufacturers were producing wine bottles. After the war, this became the first Apulian wine to reach the outside world.  (280 Kč)  

Events

As far as most organized activities are concerned, the city of Prague more or less shuts down for the so-called "cucumber season." However, Riesling & Co. on Randova street, Prague 5, is holding a Champagne tasting July 1. Seven different samples with a variety of seasonal additives will be available for 800 Kč. For more information, check Tichavina.cz.

Helena Baker can be reached at
features@praguepost.com