Versatile and robust rosés to enjoy all year round

Our wine expert shares why the popular pink wine is not just a summer sip

Aoife Carrigy's pick of rosé's for all seasons

Aoife Carrigy

In the visitors’ reception of Provençal winery Château d’Esclans — home to the extraordinary phenomenon that is Whispering Angel rosé — a sign scrawled on a life-size pink camel implores us to ‘Save Water, Drink Rosé’. It’s reminiscent of the ‘roséallday’ hashtag and the Insta-appeal rosé lifestyle that helped increase global consumption of pink wine by 40pc in two decades. You don’t have to be on Instagram to know the lifestyle: blue skies, blue waters and ideally a boat or at least a beach for lazing on. All day.

Whispering Angel played a pivotal role in selling that lifestyle to an international market led by the USA, which enjoys half of its one million cases sold annually. It also helped cement the current fashion for uber-pale rosé, though not all imitators boast the attention to detail that imbue this market leader with its balance and nuance.