Why rosé is so much more than a summer fling

Who decided rosé was just for balmy weather? Probably the same people who only open Champagne on big occasions. But who made them boss? Just like a bottle of bubbles doesn’t need a celebration, pink wines don’t need a heatwave either. And look, we know there’s something pretty special about sipping on rosé in the summer sunshine with a few great mates. But with so many different styles of rosé, and all of them being total MVPs on the dinner table, if you’re overlooking these wines in the cooler months, we think you’re missing out.  

Pale, dry rosés have been the drink of recent summers – and for good reason. This style, which hails from Provence in France, has become the benchmark of all that’s right about rosé. It’s had a huge impact on our winemakers here, with almost every Aussie producer now offering a rosé in their collection. These are quality rosés, too – not just an afterthought as they may have once been. These days, rosés are made with a whole lot of love, with carefully tended grapes getting gentle maceration and skin contact in the winery to extract the right amount of colour, and then fermentation and ageing to nail the desired style. 

The fact that these wines can be made from almost any grape variety results in countless shades and flavours – and that’s before any number of winemaker decisions come into play – so there really is a rosé for every occasion. That includes chilly nights curled up on the couch, as well as all those wintery dinners where you might automatically reach for a red. So, to help you find the best rosés for winter (and beyond), we’ve picked out the following wines and shared some ideas on what to serve with them, too. And if you still can’t be convinced that rosé is a cold-weather wine, grab your glass, shuffle closer to the heater, pop on a film with a gloriously sunny Euro backdrop and pretend you’re somewhere else.