When I was small, my Dad used to buy an easy drinking rosé in the summer months. The name eludes me, but it was so damn good that he called it strawberry juice.

Years later I found myself in the Cederberg Wines tasting room, which is located at the winery and surrounded by gorgeously dramatic mountains. The atmosphere was festive (FYI, I had just got engaged, yeah!) and the charming winemaker, David Nieuwoudt, was there himself, chatting merrily away to us.  We tasted the Cederberg Sustainable Rose 2013 and holy smokes, was it good. It was freezing and there was snow on the mountains, but as I sipped on that sexy rosé all I could think was, “dang! I gotta get my bikini and head for the beach!”

According to the tasting notes, the Cederberg Rosé is made of single vineyard shiraz and shows “elegant aromas of strawberries, watermelon and cotton candy. It has a dry entry with a creamy palate yet it has a crisp finish.” Now that sounds pretty impressive, but I prefer to just summarise it in one word: yummy. I had found my own strawberry juice and promptly bought several bottles. The bonus? It’s super well priced; you can get it from R49.95 a bottle from places like Makro. Um, yes please!

Now, rosé has taken a lot of flack from wine snobs, who still associate it with the nasty sweet rosés of the 80s. This is completely unfair, because for every crappy rosé, their are a zillion crappy chenins, merlots and so on.

So, a few facts about rosé:

• It’s made from red grapes (no, they don’t dilute white wine with red wine, as I once thought). Red grapes are crushed and left to macerate for a short time. After that, the juice gets strained and hey presto, it’s got a pretty pink colour.
• Rosé isn’t made from any particular grape. A range of grapes can be used to make it, such as Grenache, Sangiovese, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cinsault, and Pinot Noir.
• Drink it dry. Sweet rosé tastes vile and it’ll give you a headache and a bad mood.

Cederberg Rosé is the stuff of summer evenings. Chill it nicely and then have a braai, plan a picnic, or just drink it on the beach as you contemplate how amazing rosé is.

Image from The Fashion Lab on Pinterest

The lowdown

Name: Cederberg Sustainable Rose 2013
Winery: Cederberg Wines
Price: From R49.95 a bottle
The verdict: Buy as much as you can