At last people see the light about Rosé

We were always fans of Rosé. Tastes great on a hot summer night in the garden at the back of Tsunami. Now it seems the world in catching up with us (;-) Having experimented with a few Rosés in our days, namely Charles Melton and even Nederberg, we have settled on Montalto Pennon Rosé which won best Rosé in the Australian Penguin Fine Wine Guide the year before last.

We'd like to get more Rosé on our list but alas it's not popular (yet) for reasons mentioned in the article.

We hope you enjoy this article from the New York Times.


The Summer Drink to Be Seen With

By JULIA CHAPLIN and SIA MICHEL
Published: August 6, 2006



IT was Fourth of July weekend in Montauk, N.Y., and Ben Watts, a D.J. and photographer, was serving as host of his annual beach blowout at Ditch Plains, a popular surfing area. Although there were plenty of people in hoodies huddled around a fire, this was no humble gathering. Mr. Watts was spinning 80’s rock and hip-hop for a crowd that included Russell Simmons; Sean MacPherson, an owner of the Maritime Hotel and the Park restaurant in Manhattan; the Hollywood stylist Philip Bloch; and the actress Naomi Watts, Mr. Watts’s sister.

Sophia Rosé, 2004. A rosé wine from Francis Coppola's vineyard named for Sophia Coppola.

Poured at the Spotted Pig, Domaines Ott, the beautiful drinkers’ rosé of choice, whispers Provence.
At least a dozen revelers were chugging light pink wine from a bottle. It was Domaines Ott, a French rosé that retails for about $30. Thanks to Mr. MacPherson, who always packs several cases for the weekend, it has become the unofficial drink of the Ditch Plains scene, so common that attendees were referring to it as “D.O.” and “the Ott.”

“To me this wine tastes like the South of France and summer, and you should have an endless supply of it,” said Mr. MacPherson.

Rosé wines, long disparaged as too sweet, too pink and too cheap, have improved in quality in recent years and been embraced by food and wine connoisseurs. But a new collection of fans have emerged: club-hopping hipsters and tastemakers, who lay in a stash of rosé for parties and ask for it when out on the town.

“Rosé has replaced prosecco and cosmos as the new chick drink,” said Ken Friedman, an owner of the Spotted Pig, a celebrity-friendly restaurant in Greenwich Village, which offers five rosés on its wine list.

At Union Square Wine and Spirits in Manhattan, the demand for rosé has increased about 30 percent over the last year and 100 percent to 150 percent over the last four years, said Jesse Salazar, the wine director. “A lot of younger people are buying rosés,” he said, adding that many men are no longer embarrassed to be seen drinking a pink wine. “Guys will bring it to rooftop parties and backyard barbecues. I’ve been putting rosé in an empty Gatorade bottle and drinking it in the park.”

Long a populist summer staple in Provence, where it is enjoyed by everyone from socialites to construction workers, rosé first became popular in the United States during the 1960’s and 70’s with sweet, fizzy and inexpensive Portuguese brands like Mateus and Lancers.

But because it was often made with grapes harvested for other wines and doesn’t age, it was always considered less credible than reds and whites. Over the last few years, however, wineries around the world have begun to harvest grapes specifically for rosé production, and quality has increased.

“I used to hate rosé,” said Alex Kapranos, the lead singer of the rock band Franz Ferdinand and a food columnist for The Guardian in London. “It was a Blue Nun-style secretary’s-night-out drink, and that put me off it. But a couple years ago I had a cold bottle on a hot night, and it was marvelous.”

Still, its old reputation was hard to shake. Jay McInerney, the wine columnist of House & Garden, compared rosé to Jackie Collins novels and Jerry Bruckheimer movies in his August column. “There was a sense that pink wine couldn’t be serious,” said Mr. McInerney, a rosé fan, who has been trying to lead a revival for years. “People were afraid of looking unsophisticated by drinking rosé. It wasn’t red. It wasn’t white. They didn’t know what to do with it.”

But now, among a certain group of global style setters ordering rosé is a sign of being in the know. Dropping the name of a Provençal rosé like Domaine Tempier can be code for having recently frolicked in St.-Tropez or Cap d’Antibes, where rosé accompanies leisurely seaside lunches. Even Pamela Anderson, in the days before she wed Kid Rock in St.-Tropez, was snapped by paparazzi on a yacht, a glass of rosé in hand. “The South of France holds a place in people’s hearts and psyche as this cool jet-set place,” said Jennifer Rubell, the author of “Real Life Entertaining.” “Ordering a bottle of rosé back in the U.S. is a subtle sign of belonging to that world.”

Devotees praise its light refreshing flavor, one that complements food and tastes best very cold, even iced. Recent converts say you can sip it all night without getting too drunk or suffering a bad hangover.

“A lot of my friends don’t want to get wasted on vodka and be sick the next day,” said Greg Krelenstein of the MisShapes, a group of three influential Manhattan party promoters and D.J.’s, who tasted rosé for the first time this summer. “And everybody’s off the speed drinks like Spark. I’ve bought rosé for people, and they’ve been excited to drink something that’s not going to make them crazy like tequila.”

On a Tuesday night in late July rosé was flowing at restaurants across downtown Manhattan, including Freemans, Lil’ Frankie’s, Uovo, Grape and Grain and Little Giant.

At the Spotted Pig the most requested label, Mr. Friedman said, is Domaines Ott, which has become the trendsetter’s rosé of choice since it was bought by Champagne Louis Roederer, the maker of Cristal Champagne, two years ago.

And at least according to those who buy and serve it, it is the most recognizable brand of rosé, the top seller at both Sherry-Lehmann on the Upper East Side and Union Square Wine, which was sold out by late July.

“Domaines Ott is the 501 jeans of rosé,” said Mr. MacPherson, the hotelier, who discovered rosé 20 years ago while vacationing on the Riviera. “It’s like a groundswell buzz name,” said Mr. Friedman, who draws a comparison to the way Tommy Hilfiger clothing became popular in the rap world.