In the pink: Australia’s Top New Season Rose wines
Nothing says Spring like Pink. The colour, that is, not the singer.
Rose is the all-purpose, good time girl for the new season. Its cheery tint suggests all the freshness and flavours of strawberries, new apples and perfumed roses.
Pink wine has come a long way in Australia over the past five years as local winemakers have sought to emulate the French preference for drier palates and fragrant bouquets. Judges look for long palates with fresh, crunchy flavours. It is also becoming Australia’s Beaujolais Nouveau – a wine to be drunk as freshly as possible after just long enough in the winery to get some colour into the juice and out the door.
That’s why the following list is required reading for any rose lover. It’s the freshest look at the current vintages on sale after reviewing about 25,000 wine show ratings logged so far this year. While well-known compendiums released just a few months ago shout “2018” on the cover but only cover 2016 wines, this is the first list to assess the 2017 vintage on sale now.
Here’s our interim list of Australia’s Top 25 Rose wines this year:
| 1 | Shingleback Aficionado Rose 2017 |
| 2 | Bird in Hand Adelaide Hills Pinot Rose 2017 |
| 3 | Deep Woods Harmony Rose 2017 |
| 4 | Lerida Estate Pinot Rose 2017 |
| 5 | Shingleback Haycutters Salmon Rose 2017 |
| 6 | Robert Oatley Vineyards Hancock & Hancock McLaren Vale Grenache Rose 2017 |
| 7 | DeBortoli Wines Sacred Hill Rose 2017 |
| 8 | Shingleback Red Knot Rose 2017 |
| 9 | De Bortoli Wines Down The Lane Rose Gris De Gris 2016 |
| 10 | Trentham Estate ‘ The Family’ Sangiovese Rose 2017 |
| 11 | Jericho Wines Rose 2017 |
| 12 | Pinnacle Drinks Krondorf Growers Barossa Valley Rose 2017 |
| 13 | Innocent Bystander Rose Pinot Noir 2017 |
| 14 | Jacob’s Creek Barose 2017 |
| 15 | Brokenwood Nebbiolo Rosato 2017 |
| 15 | Howard Vineyard Rose 2017 |
| 15 | Lost Buoy Wines Pink Sky Rose 2017 |
| 15 | Simon Tolley Pinot Noir Rose 2017 |
| 19 | De Bortoli Wines La Boheme Act 2 Pinot Noir Rose 2017 |
| 20 | Grant Burge Wines Two Pinots Rose 2017 |
| 21 | Deep Woods Estate Rose 2017 |
| 22 | Sieber Wines Abigail Rose 2017 |
| 23 | Ninth Island Rose 2016 |
| 24 | Jacob’s Creek Le Petit Rose 2016 |
| 25 | Evans & Tate Breathing Space Rose 2016 |