WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

THE TWO ROSÉS
Words by Paul Taggart
There is a gap of epic proportions between the type of rosé wine the public is
drinking and what winemakers and wine judges think they should be drinking.
The point was clearly evident in this tasting.
Is that an issue? Maybe, maybe
not. I think it is an issue if judges
are out of touch with general
consumers and don’t realize that
fact, as they’ll quickly become
irrelevant, in the same way that
corkscrews are now pretty much irrelevant.
But if they are aware of the gap and can
assess wine that is both technically correct
for the variety, and also appreciate why the
public enjoys and buys wine that may not
be worthy of five stars in their eyes, then
it isn’t a drama.
One obvious reason consumers may buy
wine that isn’t five star is price. Loyalty
to variety, brand and even the motherland
often goes out the window when there’s a
sub-$10 Aussie in the bargain bin.
But price isn’t so much of an issue with
rosé, as much of it is reasonably low cost.
However, the best wines in this tasting are
knocking on the door of $30, so there are
a few with some pretentions. Gone are the
days when rosé was where bad red grapes
went to die.
One of the great things about rosé is that
there isn’t the geographic snobbery that
is associated with some other varieties,
and good versions are made everywhere;
just look at our wines that were awarded
stars – we have a full hand, more or less:
Central Otago, Marlborough, Hawke’s
Bay, Nelson, Waipara and Matinborough.
And showing the judges’ consistency,
they picked two wines from the same
winery as the five-star winners.
What makes Wooing Tree so good? It
is another family owned business (there
is a theme developing with this tasting)
and good Central Otago fruit. These two
wines pressed all the buttons for our judges.
Barry Riwai said they would both be
excellent wines with food.
Simon and Matt both picked the Wooing
Tree Central Otago Rosé 2018 as their
top wine, while Barry went for Blondie.
He said – and this is an accurate quote –
“Drinking this wine with food, I would
be on another plane. I would die and be
in heaven”.
There may be a certain amount of
winemaker hyperbole in that statement,
but it clearly makes a point. This wine
needs to be on everyone’s table over the
festive season.
38 WineNZ Magazine | Summer 2018-19