The Ten Best Rosè Wines

2. Rosanda Cava - £6.99
This is everything a cheerful summer pink sparkler should be: a good price, great colour and a mouthful of luscious summer fruits with a sparkling zing to top it all off. It makes for a great aperitif before lunch in the garden (when it stops raining). Good for parties or with summer fruit based puddings.
Marks and Spencer

3. Fruite Catalan - £3.99
An unpretentious, budget-priced wine in a stylish, butterfly- logo bottle which has caused a stir in France for its terrible sin of having printing directly onto the bottle, instead of a label. It is made near the Spanish border from Syrah and Grenache grapes and is packed with berry-fruit flavours. Great for glugging with picnics on the beach.
Sainsbury’s

4. Pirineos Mesache Rosado 2005 - £5.99
This rosé is a flavoursome mix from a Spanish producer, who is located between the Pyrenees and the Rioja region and specialises in reviving the ancient grape varieties, such as the Moristel, which is native to the Somontano region. For this wine, the Moristel has been added to the Tempranillo and the Merlot, and the result is terrific. This rosé is a complex dry wine.
Oddbins

5. Monte Arles 2005 - £6.99
Made from Garnacha and Cabernet grapes in the Navarra region of Spain, this is one of the best value rosés around and it holds its own against much more expensive wines. Packed with red fruit flavours, a terrific aroma of fresh strawberries and a big, long, lasting mouthful. Perfect with garlicky fish dishes or barbecued meats.
www.adnams.co.uk

6. Visionario Rosato 2006 - £8.99
A serious, elegant rosé from Italy, a country currently overshadowed in the rosé stakes by terrific wines from Spain and the New World. Made in northern Italy’s mountain-fringed regions of Friuli and Collio, it’s a great aperitif wine, or, according to its maker Alessandro Gallici, goes well with antipasti, ideally on a sundrenched terrace.
www.laithwaites.co.uk

7. Carménère Ventura 2006 - £5.49
It may be made from the Carménère grape, which the Chileans have made their own, but this has the purplishred colour of raspberries – and tastes of them as well, backed up with the right hint of spice. An exotic, memorable wine, utterly characteristic of the New World, from a reliable organic mailorder specialist.
www.vinceremos.co.uk

8. Camel Valley Pinot Noir Brut - £22.95
It is well established that English vineyards make fantastic fizz, such as this sparkling rosé from near Bodmin in Cornwall. Last month, the 2004 vintage was voted Wine of the Year and Best Sparkling Wine in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year Competition, and Camel Valley says the 2005 is even better.
www.camelvalley.com; 0120 877 959

9. Domaine Begude 2006 Pinot Rose Vin de Pays d’Oc - £7.49
Wonderfully light in colour, fragrant in aroma and yet surprisingly substantial and refreshing on the palate, this wine comes from a southern French vineyard. Run by a British couple, it operates on both organic and biodynamic principles, with minimal intervention between grape and bottle. Great with salads and lighter fish dishes.
www.majestic.co.uk and www.festival wines.co.uk

10. Château d'Aqueria Tavel Rosé Les Vallognes 2005 - £8.54
A classic southern Rhone wine, from an area near Avignon dedicated to producing only rosé wines on its limestone soils, using a mix of Grenache, Syrah and other local grapes. This is a big wine, full of rich fruit flavours with a nice, crisp acidity that makes it a perfect accompaniment to rich olive oilbased Mediterranean or Middle Eastern dishes.
Waitrose