Serious or Not? Experts’ Opinions on Provence Rosé

During the long, hot days of Augusts past, coveted pink wine from Provence flowed so briskly that the greatest source of anxiety among millennials from the City was that supplies would dry up in The Hamptons. But can a wine category that has a reputation for easy drinking be considered serious? I published a piece on the subject of rosé in May 2017 and felt it was time to revisit my thoughts and those of a collection of experts.

Growth in rosé consumption has been mind-boggling.  The latest figures from Nielsen Research and French Customs indicate that sales in Provence rosés alone increased 55% by volume and 60% by absolute value during the twelve months ending July 2016, as compared to 34% on volume and 40% on value for the same period a year earlier.  In France, one of every three bottles of wine consumed is a rosé. Read More Here.

Thoughts from Rosé Experts

Andrew Jefford’s article in his Financial Times Magazine article entitled “Pretty in pink: the rise of rosé.” He writes about some of the factors that led to the astonishing rise of rosé and ponders how far Provence rosé can go.

Eric Asimov, The New York Times resident wine writer. In the first piece (June 4, 2020), “Rosé for All Seasons,”  Asimov puts forth three rosés as homework for the month and he asks his readers to compare and describe each and to think about whether the flavour is related to the colour of the wine.

“Provence is the benchmark for rosé and, with more and more competition, the producers continually work to improve their wines to retain their leadership role and reputation,” said Gilles Masson, Director of The Center for Research and Experimentation on Rosé Wine in Vidauban, Provence.

For a deeper dive into the subject of rosé, read Elizabeth’s book Rosé: Understanding the pink wine revolution (The Classic Wine Library). She spent an entire year tasting rosés worldwide to write the book.

Wine writer Jill Barth shared this thought, “I don’t think there is a topic I’ve covered more than rosé. Part preference, part probability, it seems only natural that a Provence wine specialist would document the past, present and future of vin trois, the third colour of the wine trinity.”

Affiliations range from the “Hampton’s Water” lifestyle crowd to the “rosé all day, which turns all year” set to the “when in France, drink rosé” philosophy. But I’m here to argue, with the proud yet slightly guarded nature of the public defender, that none of these positions get the root of what rosé means. Read more.

Victoria James is a Certified Sommelier in New York City. She is also the author of Drink Pink a Celebration of Rosé. She agrees with Elizabeth that the rosé category is here to stay. Read our interview here.

Stephen Cronk of Mirabeau Wine feels that there is a lot of rosé out there. Most wine regions of the world are jumping on the bandwagon and hoping that their pale-pink Provençal looky-likey wines will provide early $$ into their coffers (given that rosé is made from red grapes, many strapped producers, therefore, appreciate the revenues coming in earlier than with their red wines).