Tips for Choosing a Great Value Rosé

I love a good rosé.  I have friends that I met on a vacation in Spain.  Whenever we would dine together, there was no debate about what type of wine to order.  It was always rosé.  I found my people.  After 12 years we are still vacationing together, and still ordering rosé.

Rosés are easy drinking, meant to be enjoyed while still young.  There’s no oak barrel aging.  These are not meant to be sipped next to the fireplace on a chilly winter’s night.  To me, it is summertime in a glass.  Open a bottle, kick back and enjoy a summer day.  To be clear, I drink rosés year-round.  This is a bit odd, but I make the wine drinking rules in my house.  The wine shop down the street from me in Chicago, I think stocks rosés in winter specifically for me.  This past December I remember running into the wine shop to pick up a red wine for a holiday party.  There was a tasting going on, and the place was busy.  The owner of the shop had me try the tasting of rosé.  I loved it and bought two bottles.  I now understand what it’s like for other people going to Target or Cosco.  I always seem to leave with more than what I went in for.

Rosé is a great category of wine when looking for value.  There are many good quality rosés that cost less than $15.  I think most people associate rosé with France.  The French do produce a lot of rosés, but too often the price points hit much higher.  French rosés tend to be more dry than those produced in other regions, but are still fruity and easy drinking.

A great trick when looking for a value wine is looking for unique grape varietals being used in an otherwise famous wine growing region.  Well known wine regions tend to command a price premium for their wines, but it is much harder to do that with lesser known grape varietals.  That was this case for this French rosé bottled by Lionel Osmin & Cie:  Villa La Vie En Rose.  The grape varietal is Négrette.  If you hadn’t heard of it, that’s the point I’m making.  At $12, this was a great value.  The wine was produced in south west France, just south of the Bordeaux region.  It has all the classic characteristics of a good French rosé, but cost as much as half as much as other rosés coming from the south of France.

Another trick to choosing a good value wine, is avoiding regions that command a higher premium.  This is very obvious, but in the case of rosé, France’s neighbor to the west produces a ton of it.  Drinking rosé with your lunch in Spain is as Spanish as the siesta.  Spanish wines don’t command the same premium as French, but the quality is there.  These wines are meant to be young and fruity, and the Spanish are particularly good at making them.  At $12, this rosé (rosado in Spanish) from Perla is a great example.  Made with the Grenache (Garnacha) grape varietal, this light and fruity wine is a quintessential Spanish rosé.

My final tip on choosing a good value rosé is to look for unexpected origins.  Chilean wines, for example, are typically quite good in quality, value priced, and somewhat unexpected.  For whatever reason, we think of certain countries and regions, and oftentimes overlook others.  This $13 rosé from De Meye is a perfect example.  This South African wine is one of my current favorites.  I don’t think I tried a South African rosé before this one.  I loved it.  It was unexpected.

I found each of these great value wines at Bottles Up in Chicago, which is a great, friendly shop on N. Broadway.  If you are in the area, please check them out.  Cheers!