With summer around the corner, Bloemendal winemaker Francois Haasbroek shares his passion for Waterlily Shiraz Rosé – a dry low-alcohol wine that’s fresh and crisp.
It`s 5pm Saturday afternoon, I lock up the shop, race home and grab a bottle of chilled Bloemendal Waterlily Shiraz Rosé, before sitting down to watch the Bokke play Argentina. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a real man, but instead of beers during a rugby game, it`s dry Rosé for me. Fresh, complex and so easy to drink.
Half-time yields a predicament, an empty bottle!
This style of wine has had its critics for decades, mainly because of the connotation that all Rosés are sweet and mostly enjoyed by women. This perception started just after World War II, when two Portuguese producers, Mateus and Lancer’s sweet, slightly sparkly Rosés had record sales around Europe and the USA.
In South Africa however, we have had amazing growth in dry Rosé sales, so much so that there are currently over 100 producers of Rosé wines in SA – most of which are made in a dry style.
Bloemendal winemaker, Francois Haasbroek, shares with us his passion and love for Rosé.
“Making Rosé is always a tough call for both the vineyard and winemaking teams – which style, how dark, how light, how sweet, how dry. What would my mates say when they find out? But ultimately it is the same process as that of red and white wines, with the potential of unlimited creativity.
“There are no proven ‘recipes’ for Rosé,” says Francois. “The obvious choice would have been to use Pinotage as our go-to grape at Bloemendal for Rosé, as it has been done before by others and has proven successful. But we have hedged our bets on Syrah delivering unique and site specific qualities, no green flavours when picked early and with the added bonus of low alcohol – we can drink an entire bottle! It has stable colour – even at the very low level of colour extract – and more importantly it delivers a wide spectrum of flavours. Who says Rosé is not a complex beast?” adds Francois.
“To obtain the correct colouring and style we decided on pressing bunches of whole grapes, picked with a potential alcohol content of 11-12% at most. It’s fermented when not too cold, but chilly enough to remind the juice it is destined for refreshing greatness.
“After settling its nerves, the wine goes straight into the bottle, which preserves the freshness and zestiness of the grapes. Due to the fact that these grapes are picked specifically for Rosé, there is no need to use the saignee (bleeding) method, which eliminates the need to hide the high alcohol with sweetness,” says Francois.
Rosé for us must be as dry as your great uncle’s humour. Everyone loves him, especially when he tells tall tales about the wars he never fought in! Viva pink stuff. *
SPECIAL:
Blomendal Waterlily Shiraz Rosé 2013, R85, available from La Cave Liquors, La Lucia Mall, 031 572 6073