ITS time we began to take to take pink wine seriously, so celebrate World Rosé Day next week by grabbing a bottle or two from as little as €8.99. WHILE cynics believe sipping Rosé wine is a fad that won’t last, they should be aware that that this “unfashionable” tipple has been around for something like 3,500 years! It all began with the Phoenicians around 1550 B.
C., followed by the Greeks , circa 600 B.C.
But these ancient wines were a very distant relation to the salmon pinks we thirst for today. Rosé in those far-off days was made by simply watering down red wine. Then, water was not the healthiest thirst quencher, but when combined with red wine.
.. the alcohol killed the dodgy bacteria responsible for causing dysentery.
The Phoenicians shipped vines across the Mediterranean from their homelands in the east to Massalia (now Marseille ), and Provence in the South of France . Provence is generally considered the birthplace of the French vineyard because of these early plantings. Winemaking became popular in the area, boosting the revenue for monasteries.
In the 19th century, tourists flocked to places like the Côte d'Azur in the south of France, and as evening descended, they would relax with a chilled glass of Rosé. Since then, the local pink wine has become a symbol of glamour, leisure, and summer. And the growing worldwide success of Provence’s pale pink wines has inspired Irishman Ronan Rafferty to set up Rose.
ie and begin to import the best of what t.
