Summer is here so it is time to enjoy some rosé (From The Oxford Times)

Summer is here so it is time to enjoy some rosé

6:30am Thursday 29th July 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Do you remember that story of Eeyore’s birthday? Pooh and Piglet set forth to visit him with a gift of honey and an inflated balloon.

I forget now what mishaps befall them but I know that by the time they reach poor Eeyore, the honey pot has been licked clean and the balloon is a burst rag.

I would forgive my parents having an Eeyore moment when I unpacked my picnic bag that had accompanied me on the East Coast train service to Scotland to present them with some half-eaten sandwiches and an already-opened bottle of Sancerre Rosé 2007 Les Ruettes from Marks and Spencer (£12.99).

I had cracked when the train’s air-conditioning packed in and the young boy sitting opposite started to show the signs of a child who had eaten nothing other than Yorkie bars, Kit Kats and chewing gum since boarding at Peterborough.

Still, there was enough left over to enjoy a glass with dinner and there was uniform agreement over its merits.

Made from Pinot Noir, it’s not the fleshiest pink on the shelves but I favour a crisp, crunchy, slightly herbal, summer-berry fruit rosé and it is just that.

Now that the summer holidays are well under way and we seem to be enjoying a decent number of summer days, an increasing number of us will be turning to rosé and, whether you are enjoying a furtive glass on the train, enjoying it in the garden, or at dinner with friends, here are some of my personal favourites.

The St Hallet 2008 Rosé (£6.64 www.waitrosewine.com) from Australia’s Barossa Valley is a riper, richer style that is hard not to like.

The extra weight of fruit makes it a good choice to partner some (not overly!) grilled chicken from the barbecue.

Another hearty, fruit-forward pink is Azul y Garanza’s Navarra Rosé (£8.25 www.vintageroots.co.uk).

Laden with ripe strawberry fruits and fresh acidity, it is a guaranteed party pleaser.

A wine that ticks all of my rosé boxes: lovely salmon-pink colour with dry redcurrant and raspberry fruits with herbal hints is the Bandol Mas de la Rouvière 2009 (£14.95 www.yapp.co.uk). It is a classy, arguably more grown-up rosé that will drink very well with a piece of simply roasted sea bass.

Whether you’ll be able to keep the cork in any of these until your friends come round is anyone’s guess!