Three years after our inaugural Deep Dive into rosé, and with summer unfurling before us, it’s an apt time to cast our eyes across the Australian pink wine landscape. And when we say pink, the Pantone swatch book of rosé veers from the pale and coppery to the distinctly ruddy, and from a range of varieties that could include… well, anything. As a category defined by its colour, rosé, for us at least, is any wine that you can’t bring yourself to calling red and blushes too much to be classed as white. Can you call pinot gris coloured up with skin contact rosé? Why not. A white dosed up with a splash of red? Sure thing. Fermenting pink juice on aromatic white skins for more detail? Go for it. From the perfect accompaniment for sun-splashed languor to a versatile dinner-table foil, rosé is no one-trick pony. We gathered every Australian rosé that we could find – with the brief to present as rosé, or near enough, in colour, with no restriction on grape varieties – and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. That means we’re not necessarily looking for some platonic ideal of classic rosé, but rather wines of interest and character regardless of style. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines. Our panel: Abby Moret DipWSET owner Atlas Vinifera; Andrea Infimo DipWSET, Group Beverage Operations Manager Movida; Mitchell Sokolin, owner Gray and Gray, owner/winemaker Eleven Sons Wines; Victoria Pun, sommelier Recreation Bistro & Bottleshop; Xavier Vigier DipWSET, Wine Buyer/Advisor/Head Sommelier Mr Claremont Wines; Gilles Lapalus owner/winemaker Maison Lapalus, Bertrand Bespoke and Maidenii; Adeline Zimmermann DipWSET, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Export Manager for Barton & Guestier, Listel and Patriarch; Elisa Perissotto sommelier Gimlet at Cavendish House. All wines were tasted blind. Below are the wines that made the panellists’ top-six selections from the tasting. The Top Rosé Wines in Australia 2022 Nocturne Rosé, Margaret River RRP $35 This was Infimo’s wine of the day. “Probably the most enticing on the nose with lavender, sage and thyme in harmony with the perfectly ripe and well-defined fruit aroma (gentle raspberry, white peach skin) and a very pleasant floral note reminiscent of Marseille soap. Smells familiar; smells like summer. There’s a lovely fruit concentration on the palate in a tidy framework, balanced by just enough acidity and a silky, talc-like minerality. A satisfying finish with a generous cantaloupe note.” Zimmermann also gave this a top-six finish. “Restrained but elegant with complex oily texture – stone fruit dominant and white floral notes (jasmine). Medium length and not overly complicated but really easy to enjoy and definitively a crowd pleaser. Uncomplicated yet delivering everything expected from a refreshing rosé in balance… Fruit driven and crunchy, it is in harmony: easy to drink on its own or to share with friends.”
