It’s wonderful that rosé is now being appreciated in the absolute sense, but it’s still considered to be an exclusively “summer wine” by far too many of us.

September is here, school and work are back in session and the halcyon days of summer are behind us. The coming of autumn means that many of us assume we should now stop drinking rosé until next May. But does the end of summer really mean we have to abandon a love affair so delicious?

The marketing of pink wines has always been disappointing, mostly because too much focus has been placed on their colour. I once heard a winery rep describe her particular rosé to a group of consumers as “sunshine in a glass” (gag me with a spoon!). Other descriptions of rosé have included “an English rose” or “Scottish smoked salmon”.

Why do we make such a big deal about the colour? Can’t we just enjoy a particular wine without physically objectifying it? As a point of comparison, few people wax poetic about the colour of white burgundy or Australian shiraz before evaluating them as wines.