Who says there's nothing to beat Rosé from the Med? |

Who says there’s nothing to beat Rosé from the Med? SA Rosé Rocks!

10/2020 Mike Froud One comment

THE FELLAS are just too nice, is all. The Rosé Rocks convenors – media man Eamon McLoughlin and Cape Wine Master Allan Mullins – are fans of the category, eager to raise the status of wines that, apart from the ‘pink’ bottle-fermented bubblies, often tend to be dismissed by snooty critics. Of the 147 entries in the 2020 competition, the panel considered over 40 worthy of gold medals and over 30 deserving of double gold. But for some years now, they have stopped short of publishing a Top 10, say, let alone singling out an overall winner.

For the names of all the medallists, see here. However, vee haf vays and means of coming up with a shortlist! You could of course opt for those that rocked for the judges and which are also particularly pleasing on the eye – such as the beauties pictured here from Elgin Vintners, DeMorgenzon and Zandvliet. Or you could go according to proven reliability: see below for a case of double gold medallists at Rosé Rocks 2020 that have received good reviews from one or more of the top panels for several vintages over the past few years – including four at under R100pb.

Judging for Rosé Rocks this year were Mullins (chair), sommeliers Tatian Marcetteau (Cape Grace Hotel) and Munashe Kwaramba (Le Coin Francais), winemakers Praisy Dlamini and Kelly-Marie Jacobs (Distell), as well as restaurant GM and wine connoisseur Shirley Muswema (Chefs Warehouse). In 2019, Mullins was quoted saying that South Africa is producing world-class Rosé, and now that the vines have fully recovered from the severe drought of a few years ago, he reckons that some of the Cape’s best is better than some of the best European versions coming from around the Mediterranean. There’s now more to SA Rosé than those made from Pinotage or Shiraz. Mullins describes what winemakers are doing with varieties such as Mourvèdre and Grenache as exciting, although it’s a pity that the type of grapes used is not always disclosed on the labels.