Rosé Revolution

Nuria Stylianou meets Provence wine producer Stephen Cronk to find out what’s behind the rose resurgence and what we should be looking for in a quality bottle of the pink stuff.

Here are a few of her questions taken from the full article “How Provence has led the way in the Rosé Revolution

Why has Provence-style rosé become so popular?

Not only does Provence rosé offer a wine for almost any occasion, but there is also a guarantee of quality that covers most products from the region. It is the only wine region specialising in rosé and most producers have made enormous strides in terms of investment and mastering rosé winemaking, which is very complex to get right.

As with Champagnes, the region delivers in terms of quality, style and a festive feel-good factor that makes it a very attractive product. It’s easy to drink, yet a great pleasure and it goes with an enormous variety of cuisine.

What do you love about food and wine, and matching the two?

Good food and good wine are such a great combination and the return of wine to being “cool” is so nice to see, as I cannot think of any other beverage that has ever really cut it as a food accompaniment – well, apart from beer and sausages. We don’t really believe in making the food and wine matching too much of a science, because it is so personal and frankly, if you enjoy red wine with your fish, then that’s great. Rosé goes really well with spicy foods, for example, and the more weighty styles are great with cheese.

What is your approach to drinking wine?

Our approach, like for many others, has become to drink less but better. Savouring the moment and what you drink is an integral part of actually enjoying it. That doesn’t mean to overcomplicate things, we’ve had brilliant moments drinking out of a plastic cup soaking up the salty air on the beach, as well as more elegant occasions enjoying really good food, or just kicking off our shoes on a Friday evening with a glass of rosé and slice of steaming-hot pizza.

Read the full article at http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/national-rose-day-provence-resurgence-france-wine-region-trend-vineyards-a7775641.html

Stephen Cronk could be credited with leading the revolution of good-quality, affordable rosé that has flooded our markets since 2009.” Heathcliff O’Malley