End the year on a rosy note by sipping from a high-fivable selection of rosés, as selected by The Fruitful Pursuit.
December 22, 2020
Habits
The Fruitful Pursuit’s high-five wines: Rosés for summer
We’ve come a way, rosé.
Long gone are those hedonistic days in the Parklands, lying in tummy-down huddles in Wita Wirra, propped up by dusty throw pillows atop a patchwork of doona covers and miscellaneous boot blankets. Ruminating, rollicking. Sucking back sickly sweet pink as the sky fills with fire before refilling your glass with deeper and darker shades of the very same colour you draw to your lips, over and over again.
No, wait a sec. That sounds pretty damn good.
Let’s just ditch the liquid fairy floss and make sure someone brings the mozzie spray this time.
Our high-five selection this week could all be deemed exceptions: more developed, bountiful expressions within a niche that’s become almost numbingly stock-standardised in Australia.
The expectation most enforced upon rosé is its appearance. We get it. We like pretty things, too. But there’s a world of alluring tones out there beyond the spectrum of hanging flat-packed and vacuum-sealed fish in your chilly supermarket aisle.
Another regulator: sugar content. Be it boiled-lolly or bone-dry, generic rosé seems swayed to either pole, as if it were the only definable means of describing what your mouth will experience.
We’re here to tell you rosé doesn’t need to be so governed, so strictly (soullessly) defined.
There are local purveyors offering much more think in your pink, while of course, still retaining that yacht party aesthetic and the supreme drinkability that we enjoy so much in these warmer months (with or without the ice cubes).
And to the lads listening in, if you’ve only just joined the conversation and need someone to hold your hand and tell you it’s all okay, here it is: Real men drink the pink. Call it brosé if you must.
2020 SVEN JOSCHKE ‘La Adeline’
Mourvedre, Grenache and Cinsault
Barossa Valley
(Peramangk and Ngadjuri Land)
12.5%
$28
Sven’s lil’ ripper of a rosé.
Adeline has a pretty nose. Very pretty. Strawberries & Cream. Marshmallows and musk. Jasmines in full bloom. Crisp Fujis.
The taste is slightly richer, riper, fanning from ‘tingly fresh’ out to a surprising savoury finish. This is a fine wine.
The look of this thing will appease the die-hard Provence drinkers in your clan, but dose them with far more than their palates ever bargained for.
A ‘not from here’ style; we absolutely loved it.
Available: Sometimes Always, Nola and Apoteca.
2020 Somos ‘Barbera Rose’
Barbera
McLaren Vale
(Kaurna Land)
13.1%
$32
The colour is a haze of fiery peach: a wanton signal for ‘lit-ness’.
Opens like a cute time with some softer grapefruit stuff. There’s an air of lemongrass and Kaffir Lime and banana ice cream too. Touch of vanilla.
It’s vivid, all-encompassing; a mouth-filling energy braced by a refreshing Cinzano snap to finish. Gives the tongue a nice hug.
This is really quite delicious.
Available: Parade Cellars, The Stag Public House and Somos.
2020 Scintilla ‘Joy’s Wild Fruits’
Verdehlo+
Basket Range, Adelaide Hills
(Peramangk Land)
12%
$39
A fuzzier peach complexion.
This is Verdelho juice, pressed through the skins of 20+ red varieties found in one rather magical vineyard in Basket Range.
The nose is like peeling open a baby mandarin: that light mist of oil from the zest and popping, juicy pulp. Scents of green mango too, and some lil’ red berries.
She’s a live one! Vivacious. A flush of pine-lime acidity that, along with a fresh touch of spritz, lifts your tongue to the roof of your mouth for a thwack-y grip of skins.
Rushes at you like a freshly poured Aperol Spritz. Serve ice cold. One for the zero zero fans.
Available: Sometimes Always, Osteria Oggi and Soi 38.
2017 David Franz ‘Red Rosé’
108 Varieties
Barossa Valley
(Peramangk and Ngadjuri Land)
12.6%
$27
You iridescent looking thing.
Very grape-y. A thick whiff of red apple. There’s definitely something developed here, conserved: a freshly popped jar of homemade marmalade. Rhubarb.
Mouth of tart apples, blood orange and then something riper, gentler; the last plum left softening in the fruit bowl.
With the nursery of 108 varieties used to craft this wine no longer in his grasp, this 2017 was and will be the very last time Dave makes this drop. The last of its rosy red kind.
Snag some out of sheer curiosity, or for sake of sentiment.
Available: Hutt Street Cellars and David Franz.
2020 FREDERICK STEVENSON ‘Rosé’
Cinsault, Grenache and Mourvèdre
Barossa Valley
(Peramangk and Ngadjuri Land)
12.5%
$28
Coppery, burnt pink in the glass.
Soft, supple nose of Red Delicious, ripe strawberry and quince paste. A light creaminess. There’s amaro at play too.
Floods the mouth like peach iced tea. The near-half Cinsault component is what drives this certain savouriness: a bit of rind, a bit of herb. There’s a dollop of fruit sweetness here — this is not residual sugar, mind you — it’s technically dry but so generous to taste.
Along with a teensy lick of salinity, it’ll keep the forearm pumping.
Available: Oddio, Sometimes Always, Frederick Stevenson.
Many thanks to the good people at Udaberri for allowing us to use their establishment as a backdrop for The Fruitful Pursuit’s high-five rosés. When asked for a pink drink pairing suggestion, the kitchen team plated up some grilled Balmain bugs and green mojo, mussels, and banderilla with pickled garlic, guindulla, anchoviy and olives.
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