English rosé gets serious

Duncan Schwab, veteran winemaker and CEO at Sharpham in Devon, explained that climate change has transformed his ambitions for pink wine. In the old days, he made an off-dry wine from Dornfelder, which he admits was a ‘struggle to sell.’ Now the business has moved to the warmer slopes of the Sandridge Barton estate, on the other side of the river Dart to the old vineyards, he can ripen Pinot Noir enough for still wines, which are much easier commercially: ‘everyone understands Pinot Noir,’ he said.

Also in Devon, Lyme Bay produced two Pinot Noir rosés in 2022: a full-fruited entry-level example and a more ambitious reserve. The question behind the latter is ‘why not treat the wine in the same way you’d treat a top-class Pinot or Chardonnay?’ said managing director James Lambert. He uses red wine clones and the rosé finishes its malolactic fermentation in oak barrels, leading to a wine that’s seriously complex and laden with spice. Lambert says it makes a contrast to the ‘plethora of crisp, light, mildly fruity and barely coloured rosés on the market.’

Lambert uses Essex-grown grapes for his premium pinks. Gareth Maxwell, formerly of Hattingley Valley, is another one who is doing something special with Essex Pinot. Using grapes from Missing Gate vineyard, he’s just released his first wine, the Heretics Blow Horn 2023, made by Ben Smith at Itasca in Hampshire. The inspiration was L’Eclans from Whispering Angel, so it was fermented in old Burgundy casks with a price of £30 to match. On Instagram, wine-a-mile marathon ‘Wine Guy’ Tom Gilbey described it as the best English rosé he’d ever tried.

Ruth Simpson is another winemaker inspired by Provence and her Railway Hill Rosé is the result: ‘Provence has had a huge influence in encouraging people to pay more for high quality rosé. It has also been hugely influential in raising the quality of the packaging and making it a highly desirable, Instagrammable product,’ she said. Simpsons in Kent was early into the quality still rosé market with the 2018 vintage. Now many sparkling wine specialists are moving in. After years of saying he wouldn’t make a still wine, Simon Roberts, winemaker at Ridgeview, released a rosé in 2024 that is only available from the cellar door. ‘England’s cool climate and characteristic acidity make it the ultimate region for the contemporary style of crisp and fruit-forward rosé ,’ he said. Meanwhile, canned wine specialist The Uncommon released its first still wines this year, including a pink.

Still rosé is a small but growing part of the portfolio of wines produced by Gusbourne, another English sparkling specialist. It makes a rosé with a mixture of still and sparkling clones. Skin contact is minimal, just the time it takes to load the press, and winemaker Mary Bridges used a technique called ‘stabulation’ to retain the delicate red fruit aromatics and stabilise the pale colour. ‘Red wines are very tricky to achieve full ripeness’ she told me, ‘but rosé can strike a really nice balance because you can capture both the red fruit character and the pure freshness.’

Lambert thinks we’ll see more sparkling wine producers make the jump: ‘With an ever-growing supply of sparkling wines, with supply still outpacing demand each year, the pull of quicker cash returns from fresh, young, still rosés [which can be bottled and offered for sale within six months from when harvested, versus typically three years for sparkling wines] will increasingly lead to more still rosé wines.’

Pinot Noir isn’t the only game in town for high-quality rosé, however. There’s Folc, vinified at Defined in Canterbury, which is made up of a cocktail of varieties, including aromatic Germans. Then there’s a vibrant red rosé called Rage Against the Dying of the Light made by Chris Wilson at Gutter & Stars in Cambridge. He made it on a whim in 2022 when he had a batch of particularly ripe Pinot Noir from Brenly Farm in Kent and decided to add some of the still fermenting wine to a batch of fermenting Bacchus. According to Wilson, it proved a particular hit with restauranteurs because it was so versatile as a pairing.

Verillo, in contrast, has had some resistance to his unconventional pinks: ‘Some people flat-out refuse to try the rosé because it is darker.’ He continued: ‘They haven’t got their heads around the fact that colour has nothing to do with sweet or dry.’ On the whole, it’s pale that sells. Gusbourne produced a cherry-red rosé in 2020 but have switched to a paler colour, complete with snazzy clear glass bottle all the more suited to Instagram.

Schwab at Sharpham has done consumer trials and clear glass outsells green every time but unfortunately leaves the wine inside susceptible to a fault known as lightstrike. He has moved to green glass but it takes a lot of explaining to the customer. Ever the maverick, Maxwell released his Heretics rosé in a dark bottle; it’s essential for a wine that is designed to improve with age.

Packaging is not the only problem English rosé producers face. Phil Norman from The Uncommon explained: ‘Fluctuating yields are a significant challenge.’ He continued: ‘Price is another factor; the challenge will be to make rosés that can compete with those from Provence and Languedoc on quality but that aren’t three times the price.’

But with people willing to pay more than £20 for Provencal rosé if the image is right, premium English rosé doesn’t look so expensive. There’s a real confidence and style about the wines today. The Simpsons have even managed to export some of their award-winning wine to Sweden and Norway. The future is bright for English pinks and some of the best aren’t only for summer.

Six ambitious English rosés