The Enduring Power of Pink

RUMASINGH writes persuasively about the growing trend towards rosé wine in India and abroad

- RUMASINGH

One summer, several years ago while on holiday in Europe, I wandered into one of the largest supermarkets in Paris in search of a wine for the evening.

I was stopped in my tracks by a splendid wall of pink bottles — a floor-to-ceiling display of rosé wines. It was a mesmerising sight. As far as the eye could see was every shade of pink on display from onionskin orange to pale, barely-tinted Provencal blush. Prettily curved flutes-a-corsets jostled for space alongside elliptical bockbeutels and slender high-shouldered beauties. Cheeky, eye-catching labels made this an aisle most wine lovers would enjoy browsing. Here was a clear signal: summer is here, and it is time to drink pink.

More recently, I was reminded of rosé’s universal appeal and sheer approachability when I opened a bottle of rosé from France’s AOP Luberon the other day. Named La Douceur de Juliette, it was a delicious vin de soif or thirst quencher wine, loaded with fresh berry fruit and a zing of acidity, made expressly for warm summer evenings. The bottle emptied faster than you could say, oeil de perdrix.

Five years ago, the naysayers predicted that the growing proclivity for pink was not going to last. Rosé was just a passing fad that would be gone in the blink of an eye. It was a wine that was not serious, just pretty. Today, a few years later, they have to eat (or drink) their words.

Not only does the wall of pink continue to dominate summer wine store displays, but the trend has spread to every other part of the world. Even India, initially slow to adopt rosés, has joined the band of pink enthusiasts.