Great Summer of Rosé 2007 Winner – Pink Elephant 2006

Well, to celebrate the winning rosé we had a bottle last night and took better pictures with my trusty Nokia N80.

Enjoy!

Great Summer of Rosé 2007: The Results

This is it, the final of the Great Summer of Rosé 2007. The votes have been counted then fixed so my favourite won… No, actually apart from myself the judges included ITsFood Jnr (the teenage female vote) and Mrs ITsFood.

When we began tasting we were looking for a classic rosé; fruity, dry and most of all a decent glug. What did we find?

First up was Pink Elephant 2006.

Well, it wasn’t bad at all. It was fruity, a definite hint of strawberries, dry with only a hint of sweetness. They suggest this is ideal with spicy food and I’d agree but it’s also a decent glug on it’s own. For about £4 a bottle it would be well worth getting a couple of bottles for your wine store even if you’re not a real fan of rosé.

Next up was Casillero del Diablo Shiraz Rosé 2006.

…in my mind it’s more of a crossover wine. Rather than being a classic rosé is tasted more like a “gentle red”. My tasting notes (yes, I took some! ) stated…

“…it tasted peppery, more red wine like, tasted better with/after food, less fruit than Pink Elephant.”

Yes, definitely in my book a wine with food rather than a pre-food glug. The pepperyness comes from the Shiraz grape which is also responsible for the fairly hefty alcohol content (for a rosé) of 13.5%.

Our third wine was Tesco Finest De Vito Grenache Rosé 2006.

Well it was… average. My wine notes tell me that this wine was…

“…Hmmm, okay, not much flavour, a hint of fruit, no real kick, bog standard rosé, nothing special.”

Not a great review then! It seems to me when they try to cram in a lot more alcohol (this is 14%!) the qualities of a good rosé seem to disappear. In my mind a rosé should be no more than 12% alcohol. This wine did nothing for me and at almost £6 a bottle there’s better out there.

Our fourth wine was The Real Rosé Company Pink Zinfandel 2006.

So, what does this wine taste like? A tasteless wine thought up my marketers or a wonderful blended rosé executed to perfection? Well, my tasting notes tell me this wine was…

“…nothing special, what I’ve come to expect from a modern rosé. Quite light, not as heavy as the last couple, bit of fruit.”

Yes, it was okay. A bit more “classic” rosé than some of the others I’ve tasted whilst not being sweet. Gluggable when cold but not brilliant. It’s a good price when you can get it for less than £4 a bottle, not quite worth the RRP of £4.99 in my mind though.

Our penultimate wine was Rioja Gran Familia Rosado 2006.

So, what did I think? Well… I think I’m getting a bit of rosé blindness! Yes it was dry, yes it seemed to have the modern trait of pepperyness, yes it was okay to glug. But, it wasn’t anything special, I like a bit of fruit in there but I prefer a rosé to be demi-sec, fruity sweetness killed off with a really dry aftertaste. This wine was just… a normal modern rosé. It sits in the £4.99 price range with all the others. Nothing in my mind sets this wine apart from all the others.

Our final wine was the classic, Mateus Rosé. A last minute replacement for Turning Leaf Shiraz Rosé 2005 which was drunk but never reviewed or photographed!

“Oh… Fizzier than I remember, also more dry, not as sweet, not much fruit, nasty aftertaste, I wonder if there’s any other wine in the house…”
Hmmm. Not good, this really was disappointing. I had kinda thought that I may prefer this to the others but I was VERY wrong! I did not enjoy this wine and seeing as it’s in the same price as the other rosé’s I’ve been tasting I can’t let my old “favourite” (!) win. Overpriced, overly fizzy and no fun.

So, who won? The winner of The Great Summer of Rosé 2007 is…

Pink Elephant 2006

Edit: I’ve change the photo to a better one after one of the guys behind Pink Elephant “complained”!

This was a unanimous winner, my favourite and also ITsFood Jnr’s which I’m sure will please the makers, 10 International, as she’s young and female, target audience I reckon!

This was a nice rosé, really gluggable and a good price. They haven’t tried to do anything too different like some of the others which just tasted like watered down reds. That, in my opinion is not what people want from a rosé. Pink Elephant 2006 ticks all the right boxes and is a deserved winner.

The final places were as follows with their ITsFood rating (out of five)…

1. Pink Elephant 2006 **** “Everyone’s favourite”
2. The Real Rosé Company Pink Zinfandel 2006 *** “Decent glug”
3. Tesco Finest De Vito Grenache Rosé 2006 *** “ITsFood Jnr’s second favourite, bit pricey”
4. Casillero del Diablo Shiraz Rosé 2006 *** “Decent enough but pricey”
5. Rioja Gran Familia Rosado 2006 ** “Bog standard”
6. Mateus Rosé * “Disappointing”

I hope you enjoyed our Great Summer of Rosé 2007, we certainly did. I now know a lot more about modern rosé and have found a new favourite. I hope you try some of these, especially Pink Elephant 2006. Let me know what you think if you do try it. Most of all, enjoy your wine!

Great Summer of Rosé 2007 is over!

All the reviews are now posted, the votes are being counted. We’ll be announcing the winner next week! Stay tuned.

• Pink Elephant 2006
• Casillero del Diablo Shiraz Rosé 2006
• Tesco Finest De Vito Grenache Rosé 2006
• The Real Rosé Company Pink Zinfandel 2006
• Mateus Rosé
• Rioja Gran Familia Rosado, 2006

Great Summer of Rosé 2007: Mateus Rosé

Welcome to our final wine in the Great Summer of Rosé 2007. The sixth wine is… Mateus Rosé!

Ah… Now those of you who have been following the Great Summer of Rosé 2007 will have been expecting the final wine to be Turning Leaf Shiraz Rosé 2005. I did have a bottle of this. I did actually drink the bottle. But… for some reason I took no photo’s or wrote any tasting notes.

So, a last minute replacement is the “king of rosé”, Mateus. Like a lot of people in the UK when you think of rosé you think of Mateus. It was very popular in the 80’s and early 90’s before the New World wines invaded and educated us about decent, easy to understand wines. Now it seems it’s a bit of a joke, a bad retro wine joked about with other wines like Blue Nun and Black Tower. So is it that bad?

I have to admit I had fairly fond memories about Mateus, a bit like Vino Verde. A wine you have a craving for every now and again but don’t drink on a regular basis.

Sogrape (who own Mateus) tell us in the tasting notes…

Mateus Rosé is a rosé with a very appealing and bright hue. On the whole, it is a fresh and seductive wine with
fine and intense bouquet and all the joviality of young wines. In the mouth, it is a well-balanced and tempting
wine, brilliantly complemented by a soft and slightly fizzy finish.

Well, first of all it was more expensive than I remember. I had £3.99 in mind but it cost almost £4.99 putting it in the same bracket as the rest of our contenders. The cork is very small and challenged my Screwpull Corkscrew. They warn you on the bottle not to use a gas or air pump as the wine is semi-sparkling.

What did my tasting notes say?

“Oh… Fizzier than I remember, also more dry, not as sweet, not much fruit, nasty aftertaste, I wonder if there’s any other wine in the house…”

Hmmm. Not good, this really was disappointing. I had kinda thought that I may prefer this to the others but I was VERY wrong! I did not enjoy this wine and seeing as it’s in the same price as the other rosé’s I’ve been tasting I can’t let my old “favourite” (!) win. Overpriced, overly fizzy and no fun.

Mateus Rosé

Grape: Baga, Rufete, Tinta Barroca and Touriga Franca and more!
Alcohol: 11%
Guide Price: <£4.99 (currently £4.13 online for a half case)
I bought this wine at: Tesco’s (instore)
ITs Food Rating: One Star

Great Summer of Rosé 2007: Rioja Gran Familia Rosado 2006

Welcome to our next wine in the Great Summer of Rosé 2007. The fifth and penultimate rosé is Rioja Gran Familia Rosado, 2006.

Rioja Gran Familia Rosado 2006 is a wine made by Scotsman Norrel Robertson in Calatayud, Spain. Apparently the locals know him as “El Escocés Volante” (The Flying Scotsman). He studied Post Graduate Viticulture and Oenology in New Zealand and apparently is the only Master of Wine based in Spain. This better be good!

We’re blessed with some good technical details about this wine. I like reading these even though it doesn’t mean that much to me!

The vineyards are located on clay and limestone soils in Rioja Alta with an average age of 35 years for the vines. Grapes were hand-picked in early October when conditions were dry and temperatures steady, between 18-20 degrees. Then careful selection took place to arrive at the best possible juice. Fermentation was in tanks with temperature regulated at 14-16 degrees.The wine sees no oak and is fairly dry with residual sugar 2.1 g/lt.

So, what did I think? Well… I think I’m getting a bit of rosé blindness! Yes it was dry, yes it seemed to have the modern trait of pepperyness, yes it was okay to glug. But, it wasn’t anything special, I like a bit of fruit in there but I prefer a rosé to be demi-sec, fruity sweetness killed off with a really dry aftertaste. This wine was just… a normal modern rosé. It sits in the £4.99 price range (£3.79 currently if you by a half case) with all the others. Nothing in my mind sets this wine apart from all the others.

Rioja Gran Familia Rosado 2006

Grape: Tempranillo
Alcohol: 12%
Guide Price: <£4.99
I bought this wine at: Tesco’s (online)
ITs Food Rating: Two Stars