Yes Way Rosé

“We all really liked the ones with the onionskin colour,” states Cape Wine Master, Allan Mullins. He’s addressing the crowd gathered at The Radisson Blu Hotel waiting for the announcement of the top Rosé wines in South Africa. Rosé Rocks is a wine competition (now in its second year) created to underscore the excellence in our Rosé winemaking and to promote the South African Rosé wine category as a whole.

The ‘we’ Allan Mullins was referring to was the judging panel, which I had been a part of for the second year running. The judging panel* did lean towards the wines in the shade of the onionskin colour spectrum, which makes sense. It seems Rosé, more than any other wine category, is judged by its colour, simply because of the massive disparity in hues. The wines we tasted ranged from vivid fuchsia to the more appealing salmon pink, and of course the covetable copper-toned onionskin. It wouldn’t be fair to say that some of the deeper-hued wines didn’t deliver on taste, because many of them did—and in fact the top still wine in the competition was unabashedly pink.

According to the statistics from SAWIS (the folks responsible for the ‘collection, processing and dissemination of wine industry information) Rosé is one of the fastest growing categories of wine in both in South Africa, and internationally. 

For the competition we tasted 113 still wines and 23 MCCs. The best in show were undoubtedly the bone-dry, crisp and fruity styles. And though the wines were tasted blind, I was very happy to see on unveiling that the labels were relatively restrained, and it must be said, gender neutral.

The overall winner in the still wine category was made from pinotage (aka our patriotic grape).  It also should be noted there’s nothing onionskin about this wine - the Antebellum Saffronne Pinotage Rosé 2015 is definitely a pink drink. 

“We’ve been producing the Saffronne Rosé since 2012 and was given 90 points by Robert Parker, but it has been a struggle for us to be taken seriously,” say the Swartland producer. But when we won the still wine category in Rosé Rocks it was like a bomb went off. We were almost sold out overnight.

“The difference between our Rosé and the others on the market is that we bottle it before it goes into the second fermentation.” 

“Now in its second year, the judging panel of Rosé Rocks are gratified to see a measurable improvement in the quality and styles of the wines entered,” said Allan Mullins. “These winners represent the best examples of Rosé wine being made in South Africa today. The South African Rosé wine industry is producing some world class wines.”

Top 10 Rosé wines in South Africa 2016:
Overall winner: Antebellum Saffronne Pinotage Rosé 2015 

• Allée Bleue Starlette Shiraz Rosé 2016
• Babylonstoren Mourvèdre Rosé 2016
• Bellingham Strawberry Rosé 2016
• Cavalli Pink Pony Grenache Rosé 2015
• Excelsior Caitlyn Rosé 2016
• Fable Mountain Vineyards Belle Flower 2014
• Fish Hoek Cinsault Rosé 2016
• Lace by Almenkerk Dry Rosé 2016
• Painted Wolf The Den Rosé 2016
• Thokozani Rosé 2015

Top Cap Classique Rosé wines in South Africa 2016:
Kleine Zalze Brut Rosé

?The three runner up Rosé MCCs were:

• Boschendal Brut Rosé 
• Lord’s Wines Brut Rosé 
• Le Lude Brut Rosé 

The wines were tasted blind with no indication of vintage, wine farm or technical analysis. All the results were independently audited by Grant Thornton South Africa.

*The judging panel was chaired by wine expert and industry legend, Allan Mullins and comprised; Tinashe Nyamudoka, the head sommelier and beverage manager at acclaimed restaurant The Test Kitchen, Malu Lambert freelance wine and food writer, and winner of the 2015 Veritas Young Wine Writer award, Marthelize Tredoux, a seasoned writer for winemag.co.za and winner of the 2013 Veritas Young Wine Writer award; Tatiana Marcetteau French trained sommelier and manager at The Cape Grace Hotel and Shante Hutton, wine judge and former editor of wine.co.za.

-Malu Lambert