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Drink Pink: exploring the diversity and versatility of rosé

So said Tom Fahey, co-founder of the Terrace Rooms & Wine (the winner of the Best Rosé Wine List UK 2025), speaking at this year’s Drink Pink Wednesday.

Challenging this narrow perception of rosé is exactly what the event is intended to do – introducing members of the trade to the great breadth that rosé has to offer and encouraging them to diversify their lists.

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While the great range of producers in attendance was a testament to this goal – ranging from places as far and wide as Israel, South Africa, Austria, Portugal, Spain and France – an emphasis on education was also evident.

Speaking at one of the masterclasses, Elizabeth Gabay MW, who organises the event, explained that “we have a much better vocabulary for red and white wines than we do for rosé.

“We’re saying, ‘it’s less tannic than a red wine’ or ‘it’s as acidic as a white wine’ and often we are struggling to actually give a definition to the rosé.

“If we can’t give a definition, it’s difficult – how do you sell it if we ourselves do not know what we’re describing?”

The solution to this problem, said Fahey, is defining categories for your rosé list that both you, and the consumer, can understand, rather than relying on regions or technical descriptions.

For example, labels across his list include crisp, light and juicy; lactic, buttery or creamy softness; touch of funk and natty complexity; skin contact; reductive and smoky; fruit concentration; and oak influence.

Additionally, he explained that this great diversity of rosé styles can be a strength when it comes to food pairings. 

“People think of rosé pairing in quite linear ways – its got to be served with very light dishes and salad-y stuff, tomatoes and things like that. But actually, it's pretty versatile, when you look at the range of styles we've got here.”

Interestingly, he added that a particular opportunity for getting consumers to drink more unusual rosés lies in the intersection with light reds.

Fahey asks his hotel guests if there are any styles of wine that they don’t like, and the most common answer, he says, is red wine.

He believes that this is because of the tannic ‘dry’ texture that such wines often have, explaining that this is an opportunity for rosé.

“Our second-best selling wine is a dark rosé, and the way we sell that, is we explain that typically, rosé, if it’s really dark is actually just red wine without the tannin.”

While he acknowledged that this is a massive simplification, he said that the description tends to chime with consumers when they try the wine.

Incentives for the trade to get into rosé have never been better – with the category currently ‘bucking the trend’ of wine market shrinkage (as Harpers reported).

This is perhaps reflected in the attendance, with many more sommeliers, buyers and educators this year, according to Gabay.

Overall, she noted: “One of the joys of rosé is the diversity, so you can have dark Navarra and dark Greek, fruity Moscato, and so on.

“For us that was the main achievement, to get people out of their comfort zone and try something they’ve never tasted.”

Rosé may be growing, but – in-line with some of the excellent advice provided here – it seems there is still an opportunity for the trade to capitalise on the category further, by exploring its diversity. It's an opportunity the trade should not waste. 

• Education
• Elizabeth Gabay MW
• Navarra
• communication
• rose
• dark rose