Pink wine has changed the wine paradigm in recent years. Separating itself from the traditions of food-matching, terroir and vintage and even traditional bottle shapes, Provence rosé – and its emulators - has behaved more like Champagne or spirits than any other category of still wine. At one level, people buy Whispering Angel or Clos du Temple without worrying about the grape variety or soil; they are acquiring a luxury experience in the form of a beverage. At another, like the French consumers who now purchase huge quantities of Bag-in-Box, ‘European’ (mostly imported Spanish) rosé, it’s simply a drink.
In both of these cases, the category will continue to gain in importance. IWSR estimates that it will grow by 70% between 2020 and 2024.
Provence will inevitably be the focus at the premium end of the scale, but other regions will become stronger, as – though more slowly - will a broader range of styles, including the deeper coloured examples welcomed by Rosé expert, Liz Gabay MW, and more barrel-fermented, super-premium ones.
Wine opinion formers will focus on dry rosé and argue over how broads a range of colours is acceptable, and whether pink ever really deserves to be treated as seriously – and command the same high prices as – white. Much of this wine will be off-dry or frankly sweet, like Barefoot rosé and Gallo Pink Moscato, with its whopping 64 grams of residual sugar per litre, but the trend towards reducing the levels of RS - and the carbs with with it is associated - will grow.
Bota Box, for example, the fourth biggest seller on US distributor Drizly’s list of rosés, was traditionally a wine with seven grams of RS. Now fans of this brand can choose between two 'dry' versions.
