Nothing says summer quite like a delicious glass of chilled rosé.  It’s fruity, it’s refreshing and it feels just a little bit frivolous somehow (perhaps it’s the pink colour that does it).  It suits the happy and carefree feeling we get if when the sun is shining, holidays are looming and having fun is the aim of the game.
So which rosé to choose for your purposes?  Well, for relaxed drinking in the garden with nothing more than a bowl of strawberries or a light snack you might want something light and delicate.  Villa Wolf Pinot Noir Rosé is a marvellous choice – delicate salmon in colour with an equally delicate strawberry/raspberry flavour and a tiny touch of sweetness to keep the alcohol low and enhance the fruity flavour.  For those of you with a real sweet tooth, go for a bottle of Rosé d’Anjou – so kitsch it’s cool (and much better than Zinfandel Blush).

As far as reputation goes, Provence is at the top of the pink tree.  These are dry and crisp and go very well with a bowl of mussels or prawns.  These wines are very light in colour which indicates their subtle flavour and of course some of these are so good they pick up awards!  Château Vignelaure La Source Rosé won gold at the International Wine Challenge this year.  Artazuri Rosado is in a similar dry and crisp vein, this one coming from the sunny climes of Spain.  It is made from the Garnacha (Grenache) grape and has a very refreshing but more concentrated strawberry and cranberry flavour.  Perfect with any kind of tomato and fish combination.

For something really quite different, we have Charles Melton’s Australian Rose of Virginia, named after his wife.  This deeply coloured wine is serious stuff but utterly delicious.  Don’t be put off by the rich colour, the wine is still very fresh and the wine is bursting with raspberry and red cherry fruit flavours.  This is the kind of thing you might want with a barbecue.  Equally good, but a bit lighter is the lovely Mourgues de Gres Galets Rosé (currently with over 30% off) – for me the perfect balance between fruit flavour and freshness and rather too easy to drink!
Now if those clouds would just disappear…