Four French Rosés For Summer

Four rosés for summer

Some people make the mistake of having rosé in the summer.

Others know better and drink it all year round.

Either way, summer is rosé season and International Rosé Day is on 11 June.

Here are four well-made and inexpensive rosés from France - look away now, label snobs; there is nothing from Provence here, but that just makes these wines better value.

La Belle Angèle rosé 2021 (£8.99 / £6.99 mix six, Majestic)

A Vin de France made with a blend of grapes including Grenache and Cinsault from both the Languedoc and the Gers in the South of France. Aged for just a few months in vats means this wine is fresh and full of strawberry bon bon flavours and floral aromas, as well as being a pretty, delicate pink colour.

La Belle Angèle was a famous muse for many of the French Impressionist painters in the Belle Epoque renowned for her beauty and joie de vivre. 

raspberry and redcurrant fruit, white pepper, saline minerality and good underpinnings. Rounded and elegant.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Match with barbecues, salads or just sip outside in the garden.

Abbotts & Delaunay, Fleurs Sauvages, Pays d’Oc, Grenache rosé 2021 (£9.99 / £8.99 mix six, Majestic)

A new wine from the Abbotts & Delaunay Collection. Thanks to the work in the vineyards that respect the soils and the vines, healthy, concentrated grapes can be harvested whilst respecting the wild flowers (fleurs sauvages) and other wild life that surrounds them.

Made from 100% grenache grapes coming from the Hérault plain and the Aude to create a wine which is fresh, pale Provence pink and bursting with strawberry and raspberry aromas with a touch of minerality.

delicate red berries and florality; crisp, fresh and saline-mineral with soft red fruits; elegant, harmonious and refreshing.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Serve as an aperitif on a sunny day in the garden or match with sushi or a warm chicken salad.

Calvet rosé d’Anjou 2021 (£8, Ocado)

Lower in alcohol at 11% making it good for summer drinking, this rich salmon coloured rosé comes from the Anjou region of the Loire Valley and is made from a blend of Cabernet Franc, Grolleau and Gamay grapes grown on clay/schist and clay/limestone soils.

expressive strawberry, raspberry and redcurrant flavours with watermelon, green apples, white peach and fresh citrus; hints of hazelnut and mint.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Refreshing and light enough for an aperitif, a great barbeque wine, match with seafood or quiche.

Fleurs de Prairies, AOP Luberon, 2021, £8, Morrisons - or £2.25 for a 1/4 bottle)

Made from a blend of 45% Syrah, 46% Grenache, 5% Vermentino, 4% Ugni Blanc grown in clay and limestone soils on the slopes of the Luberon in the southern Rhône Valley which is becoming increasingly popular for its rosés.

This pale pink wine comes in a pretty bottle decorated with the fleurs de prairies or the wild flowers; lavender, poppies and sunflowers which carpet the Luberon in the South of France.

sweet strawberries, rose petals, citrus and tropical fruits with white pepper and mint; saline and mineral.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Ideal as an aperitif accompanied by a platter of Proscuitto and Mozzarella.