Falstaff teams in four countries tasted a total of 700 wines to select this summer's rosé favorites. We present the best of the best outside Austria, Germany and Switzerland here.
In Italy, rosé wine is called Rosato. The first Rosato was produced in Salento, the boot heel of the Apennine Peninsula, in 1943. A second area with a rosé tradition is also located in Apulia, a little further north near Castel del Monte. There, the Bombino Nero grape has its own DOCG designation of origin as a rosé. At the tip of the boot, in Calabria, the Cirò Rosatolangeis a household name. In Abruzzo, rosé wines made from the Montepulciano grape are widespread, where they are called Cerasuolo, thanks to the cherry-red color of the wines. Rosé wines also have a long tradition in Bardolino on the south-eastern shore of Lake Garda. There, the rosé is called Chiaretto di Bardolino. On the opposite bank, Valtenesi Rosato is made from the Groppello grape. In South Tyrol, the Lagrein Kretzer is produced from the intensely colored Lagrein after a few hours of maceration. Tuscany has also been one of the major suppliers of Rosati for a decade.
When people think of rosé, they often think of Provence first – no other wine-growing region in the world is as closely associated with this wine color as the southern French vacation region. According to figures from the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Provence (CIVP), 90 percent of producers in the three appellations Côtes de Provence, Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence and Coteaux Varois en Provence made rosé wine in the 2022 vintage. A total of 157 million bottles, which corresponds to 43 percent of French rosé production and around six percent of all rosé wines in the world. It is therefore hardly surprising that almost all rosé producers in the world emulate the Rosé de Provence, the light, fruity, fresh rosé that conveys an attitude to life like almost no other wine - sun, sea, beach and total lightness.
