The trend back to buying rosé wines continues, while a new trend for wine on tap grows.

A short report about Miraval Rosé wine in the Daily Telegraph in June said that this French vineyard “has now smashed the price record for pink blush. A magnum of its Muse de Miraval fetched more than £2,300 at a charity auction this month, prompting the French newspaper Le Figaro to describe it as ‘the superstar of rosé.”.

The Telegraph went on to say: “Once sniffed at by French connoisseurs and tolerated only during summer holidays in the south, rosé has become respectable thanks to a worldwide craze for blush wines that began in the United States a decade ago and has spread to China.”

Regular AAS readers might agree that the UK has also led a trend back to rosé, thanks largely to improvements in the quality of the blush wines from France, New Zealand and Australia rather than the USA (Californian) versions.

The 17th-century Miraval estate, located in the Var region of Provence, was bought by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for a reported £31 million in 2011. It was extensively renovated and local wine expertise brought in to improve quality.

The first modern vintage was released in 2012 and met with wide acclaim. A beautiful pale pink colour, with a nose of wild strawberry, stone fruit and delicate floral touches, I tried it with a sea bass supper – an excellent match.

This is a quality wine and not cheap.  The magnum at M&S is £40. The 75cl bottle at 13 per cent abv is £20 at Majestic, cut to £15 in a multi-buy or mixed box of six.

Wine ‘on tap’

Pretty much all bars and restaurants offer wines by the glass when a whole bottle is too much for the customer. Generally this comes out of a bottle, poured by the bar staff. An opened bottle will be kept behind the bar until used up by other customers, but some might question the ‘quality’ of the wine from the part- used bottle, not knowing how long it has been sitting there.

An alternative is wine on tap. Wine wholesaler Uncharted Wines of Bethnal Green, London, is working with top wine bars to make this the feature of the bar, with a wall of chrome taps with a dozen or more wines offered this way. The system is getting into pubs as well; I found a range of three taps for red, white and rosé in amongst the beer pumps at the Old Ship at Heybridge Basin, Essex, on a recent trip to the Blackwater.

Rupert Taylor of Uncharted Wines, probably London’s leading wine-on-tap merchant, said: “Wine in kegs is not exposed to light and air so it will preserve and taste better than an open bottle on the back bar, plus it is much more eco-friendly than transporting tons of glass around the world, and no corks or closures or foil or paper labels.

“Also, much like a beer tap room, you have got the opportunity to taste before you buy.”

So if your local or your August holiday location bar has a wine on tap offer, give it a try. My prediction is you will not be disappointed.

Gin at Cowes Week

Harrogate-based premium gin brand, Slingsby, is the official gin for this year’s Cowes Week regatta and sponsor of Ladies Day. It is named after William Slingsby who is credited as the first man to discover the restorative properties of Harrogate’s famous spa waters in 1751. This is the water used in producing the gin, along with a range of other locally grown botanicals. Give yourself a treat if you see it at Cowes or find it at Tesco – about £39 a bottle, 42 per cent abv, 70cl bottle.

 

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