"South Africa is producing world-class Rosé!"

“South Africa is producing world-class Rosé!” – Allan Mullins CWM

09/2019 Mike Froud Leave a comment

THERE ARE some quaint names among South Africa’s 2019 Rosé Rocks competition winners: “The Quintessential Couple” (Bellingham), “Pyjama Bush” (Darling Cellars), “Frankly My Dear” (Esona) and “The Strawberry” (Mooiplaas), for example. Hopefully they’ll be back again next year, and then some; good, long track records are not something that pink, salmon and onion-skin-colour wines are renowned for in South Africa. But there are exceptions: see below for six still and two bubbly rosés awarded double gold medals for successive vintages, including a Pinotage Rosé from De Krans of Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo (whose bistro is pictured above).

Cape Wine Master Allan Mullins has always chaired the panel of judges, who this year also included sommeliers Tatiana Marcetteau (Cape Grace), Shirley Muswema (Chefs Warehouse) and Munashe Kwarambe (Le coin Français), with winemakers Praisy Dlamini (Bosman) and Kelly-Marie Jacobs (Zonnebloem). “Growers and winemakers have learned to take rosé seriously,” says Mullins, “and the large number of high-scoring wines prove this.” There were some 140 entries judged, of which 39 earned double gold and 36 gold. Full results available here.

Wines were marked down if they were were watery, lacked fruit. Some were showing oxidation. And there were some wooded examples that showed too much green oak, a lack of fruit and freshness. However, the panel noted that the top entries compared favourably with the best Provençal-style rosé wines of Europe. “In line with international trends, South African consumers are increasingly choosing drier, paler styles of rosé, and this is reflected in the winning wines.”

What the judges liked: fruity nose and lively; good follow-through and excellent finish. “Balance is most important,” says Mullins, who thinks that a lot of what makes for a good rosé is due to grape selection in the vineyards. “There must be fruit, a reasonable middle-palate and bright acidity.”